Write Around Portland:
- Provides high quality, skillfully facilitated workshops in safe, accessible and respectful environments for people to write and share in community
- Holds community readings to promote the exchange of stories
- Publishes anthologies to connect writers and readers.
Our History:
Founded in 1999 by Liza Halley and Ben Moorad, Write Around Portland is a nonprofit organization dedicated to transforming lives and building community through writing. Write Around Portland has provided more than 450 writing workshops for more than 3,000 adult and youth participants, published 36 anthologies, trained over 200 volunteer workshop facilitators and partnered more than 175 community organizations, social service agencies, the state, county and public schools.
Write Around Portland has served as a model for writing programs in Seattle, Utah, New York, North Carolina, Idaho, Texas, Colorado and Arizona and has inspired workshop participants to complete their GEDs, attend college, stick with treatment programs, transition back to our community after incarceration and break cycles of abuse.
Write Around Portland believes:
- Everyone can be a writer and benefit from and contribute to their community through the literary arts.
- Writing is a powerful tool for individual and societal transformation, self-expression, healing and the realization of the dignity of one’s self and others.
- Writing and sharing stories helps us access our common humanity and connects individuals and groups who are often separated by age, race, income level, gender, ethnicity, language, sexual orientation, health status, education level and the geographic and social boundaries of neighborhoods.
- In any life, especially one lived in poverty or isolation, there is a vital need for art, community, and joy.
Diversity Statement:
Diversity is a fundamental part of Write Around Portland’s value system and is essential to our ability to develop and deliver programming that is consistent with and supports our mission to use the power of writing to connect the diverse people of our city.
We believe that diversity is a strength that makes our workshops, anthologies and readings rich and reflective of our greater community.
We are intentional in our recruitment, support and inclusion of diverse people throughout our organization, including our board members, staff, volunteers, workshop participants and agency partners.
We value diversity in all its forms and work to create meaningful and respectful connections among people of different socioeconomic levels, races, ages, ethnicities, nationalities, genders, sexual orientations, health statuses, physical and mental abilities, education levels, religions and backgrounds.
We continually work to cultivate an environment and organizational culture in which all who are involved in our organization feel respected, included and valued. Our commitment to inclusiveness will be evident in our organizational policies and procedures, as part of our strategic plan, within our organizational goals and throughout our programs.
"Writing has made me brave."
Shirley, Write Around Portland Participant
