december community outreach

Dear Friends of Project Write Now:

Ten years ago, Project Write Now began with a vision: to create spaces where stories could connect, heal, and empower. 

Thanks to YOU, that vision has flourished. 

You’ve helped amplify voices and foster meaningful connections, and we couldn’t be more grateful.

A big highlight of the year was coming together in November for our Community Celebration, during which we honored our community partners with awards, including the team at Red Bank Middle School; educators Amy Campbell (Red Bank Middle School) and Christine DeMarsico (Asbury Park High School); Shore House, Lunch Break, and the Source at Red Bank Regional High School; and the Grunin Foundation.

You can read all about our 2024 accomplishments here.

As we look ahead, we invite you to continue shaping this journey with us. Your support powers the programs that change lives. Please consider making a year-end donation to help us write the next chapter together.

With love & gratitude,

Jennifer Chauhan & The Project Write Now Team

Asbury Park High School The Spoken Word Project

Hands down our most engaging sessions of the semester, this month APHS students enjoyed participating in their first-ever word circle games as well as a “write around,” where they all got to pass their journals around in a circle, adding a line to each other’s stories. Additionally, we had the pleasure of welcoming Jordan Hayes of Asbury Book Cooperative as a special guest speaker. Jordan shared info about ABC, handed out some materials, answered questions, invited students to the bookstore, and encouraged anyone interested to visit and/or volunteer. Congratulations to Jordan and the entire team on ABC’s recent announcement of receiving 501(c)(3) nonprofit status from the IRS!

Asbury Park High School Voices & Vision

The students at Asbury Park High School are moving into the next level. They are selecting the college, career, business, or military branch they want to pursue. Next, they will focus on community. The students will consider the problems they want to solve and the light they want to bring. We will discuss their thoughts going forward and structure how they will make the community a better place.

Lunch Break Community Playmaking

We are thrilled to collaborate with the Two River Theater for a new Community Playmaking program. Our first group was Lunch Break, and we spent six weeks coaching nine staff and community members to write their own original 10-minute plays. On December 17, these plays were brought to life by professional actors directed by the Two River Theater’s education director, Kate Cordaro. It was an incredible evening of joy and connection through live storytelling. Thank you to all the playwrights and to Justin Waldman, Kate Cordaro, and the Two River Theater team for inviting us to be a part of this very special program.

Lunchtime Write-In

On Fridays, we host a one-hour writing workshop on Zoom during which we write in response to themed prompts. This month, we explored the themes: “Party,” “Friday the 13th,” and “Pine.” Though writers never have to share, we always enjoy hearing one another’s pieces and have formed an incredible, supportive community. Join us for our next Lunchtime Write-In to see what our upcoming themes will be!

PWN India (Adults)

With our PWN India journaling club, we wrote in response to poetry. We read “Sign” by Sahar Romani and then picked a line, idea, or image to write off of. One of the lines in the poem mentioned Shah Rukh Khan, a famous Bollywood actor, so we learned more about his films. We love how we not only share our writing but also our cultures during our sessions together.

Red Bank Middle School 

• 7th & 8th Grades (in-school)
  We wrote letters to our future selves with the 7th & 8th grade AVID students, opening with Maya Angelou’s “Letter to Her Younger Self.” Our letters included predictions, advice, and more. Each letter is private and sealed shut, waiting to be opened again by its writer in June. We also did a Write-a-Thon, reading “What I Want to Tell You” by Laura Gamache and then taking ideas from the poem as writing prompts: “What I want to tell you … Bravery is … Love is … It’s okay to forget … As long as you remember …” We gave each writer only 3 minutes with each prompt, having them keep their pens moving the whole time. We also read “Burning the Old Year” by Naomi Shihab Nye and, over lollipops, we wrote about our favorite 2024 memories—the parts of the year we don’t want to burn away.

• 6th Grade (in-school)
  With the 6th grade AVID students, we read “Abstract with Red Square” by Jenny Xie and then we looked at the art that inspired the poem. We made a list of what the art evoked, including feelings, shapes, sounds, flavors, and more. And then we used that list to come up with new imaginative stories of our own. We continued our lesson on ekphrasis (writing inspired by art) on our second day by reading “Starry Night” by Tupac Shakur as an example. Then each student used art that they brought in as their own personal writing prompt. One of our favorite things about this activity is how students find themselves putting words together they might never have thought of before. It’s a great way to stretch language and imagination!

• PWN Quest Club (after-school)
  For our last day of Quest Club, we worked on collaborative writing. We read “Found in Your September” by Valeria N. Lopez Lemus, 13, and Daniela Rojas-Trejo, 13 from Bridge Ink, our online literary journal. Then we came up with ideas together for characters, setting, and conflict. We each chose elements from our brainstorming to write new original stories. We loved how our writers tapped into their wild imaginations! We ended by asking our students to tell us one thing they liked the most and any suggestions to improve our club going forward. All suggestions were about bringing in more snacks—so we will be sure to do that going forward!

• PWN Writing Club (after-school)
  The fourth and fifth graders ended the session by sharing their favorite piece of writing. We brought rubber sensory poof balls into class that had tentacles and were colorful and squishy. The students used all of their senses to describe the poof balls and got to take them home! The students enjoyed this session so much that they asked for two days of after school writing for the next session. And the teacher enjoyed sharing writing as much as the students, if not more!

Shore House

The end of 2024 was a celebratory one for the Shore House crew! In the beginning of December, we celebrated some important birthdays with a disco ball themed celebration! Our collaborative poem below, “Be The Disco Ball,” was born of this particular workshop! At the end of the month, we focused on writing and sharing the holiday traditions that feel important to us; some of these were traditions that have been established by our families and others are traditions we look forward to originating and integrating into our future holiday seasons.

Teen Writing Space 

We had our last class of the session this month. On December 12, teen leader Skyla ran the group with an incredible lesson on extended metaphors and open letters. They ended the last 20 minutes with the workshopping of outside pieces, giving each other valuable and encouraging feedback. Join us for our next session beginning January 16!

Write Out Loud

We had our last Write Out Loud of the year, focusing on cold, time, and repetition. That’s cold, time, and repetition. (See what we did there?) Every second Tuesday of the month, we gather at the Asbury Book Cooperative to write and share in community. This month, we read “Time Study” by Marvin Bell and then used words from the poem as inspiration. After sharing new material, we opened the floor for writers to share any outside pieces they might have brought in as well. Attendees were then given the chance to submit a theme for our next Write Out Loud, which will be January 14, 2025. Join us to see what theme we picked!

Scholarship Seats

Through our mission as a nonprofit organization, we remove barriers to participating in our fee-based classes by providing full and partial scholarship seats as well as payment plans. Since 2020, we’ve seen a dramatic increase in the need for financial assistance and therefore have met that need by offering more scholarship seats. For 2024, we provided 59 seats totaling $14,342.50. For information about our scholarship program or to become a valuable donor providing these seats, please email Jennifer Chauhan at jennifer@projectwritenow.org.