Young Storytellers Foundation Email & Phone Number

The Young Storytellers Foundation is dedicated to developing literacy, self-expression and self-esteem in elementary school children. YSP targets “Title 1” schools; these are schools and school districts with the highest concentrations of poverty in which academic performance tends to be low and the obstacles to raising performance are the greatest. What was started eight years ago with ten children at one elementary school has reached over 2,000 children today. The Young Storytellers Foundation offers a means of self-expression to kids at a time when most public schools have fewer and fewer opportunities for artistic and creative activities as part of the curriculum. Our belief is a simple one: that every child has natural storytelling ability; and that, through the expression and celebration of the talent and imagination that exists in every child, they can discover their own unique and special voice, and with it a confidence and pride that will last their entire lives. In each school that offers our program, we pair 10 elementary school students with 10 creative professionals – all volunteers, who, over the course of six weekly meetings, guide and encourage the students as they imagine, develop and write their own short “screenplay”. Our philosophy is to welcome each student into the program as the talented, capable and creative artist they are - from the first moment they walk into our classroom. Each mentor serves only as a facilitator; the student is the storyteller – of every idea, plot, character, and word. By encouraging and coaching, mentors reveal the young writers inherent talent, giving them the opportunity to fully explore and express their individual creative voices. At the end of the six-week session, professional actors, all volunteers, join students and mentors in staging "The Big Show," a spirited staged reading of each script for an audience of family, teachers and friends.

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  Associate Director

  The Young Storytellers Foundation

  Oct 2006 - Present