Writing for Their Lives

Keaira, age 13, reads aloud from one of her poems, which she was inspired to write after reading a story about a teen mother. She is one of more than 20 girls from Roosevelt Middle and High Schools participating in the Young Women's Writing Project, created from a partnership between Planned Parenthood Nassau County (PPNC) and Hofstra University's Reading/Writing Learning Clinic in New York.

Now in its fourth year, the Young Women's Writing Project provides a place for girls to talk with peers and counselors about issues in their lives, express themselves through writing, and develop leadership skills. "This is a place where [the girls] have a lot of ownership," says Dr. Andrea Garcia, director of the Reading/Writing Learning Clinic. "They can shape what is happening in the program."

Afterschool Special

The Roosevelt school district has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in Nassau County, but the Young Women's Writing Project is working to change that.

Nadyne Ellis, director, Community-Based Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention (CBAPP) at PPNC, says the Young Women's Writing Project gives girls something creative and productive to do after school, a time when parents are often at work and kids may be unsupervised. A 2003 study by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy reports that, nationally, two-thirds of teens report having sex for the first time in their homes or in their partners' homes, and 15 percent of teens had sex for the first time between the hours of 3:00 and 6:00 p.m. For teens who are African American — as are the majority of Roosevelt's residents — the rate increases to 24 percent.

"[The girls] are at Hofstra, as opposed to being home alone, where they could easily have a classmate over and be engaging in sex," Ellis says.

To that end, the program has met with measurable success — none of its participants has experienced an unplanned pregnancy while in the program. But keeping busy isn't the only factor involved; Ellis says that the program's positive role models and focus on developing skills have shown the girls that they have more options in life than being teen mothers.

Getting It Down

Girls enter the writing program as seventh graders with the recommendation of their teachers. They have the option to return as mentors, and then, as expert writers. (Keaira wrote her poem while she was in the mentoring program.) Each week of the 12-week program, the girls take a bus from Roosevelt to the Hofstra campus. They read books by women of color, analyze newspaper articles, participate in writing exercises, and share their work with each other. "They've really been drawn to poetry," Garcia says.

Twelve-year-old Liliana, currently in her first year of the program, says that she felt shy at first, but after witnessing the other girls' comfort and camaraderie, she soon felt like sharing her work, too. "I do a lot of writing at home, but I never really shared it with anybody," she says. "Here, you feel more comfortable because there are girls who are interested in what you write, and they write also and they share. Sometimes it could be deep, and sometimes it could just be for fun."

At the end of the program, the girls receive a published anthology of their writings, and they present their work at a closing ceremony attended by family members as well as representatives from Hofstra, PPNC, and the Roosevelt schools. "It's a proud night," says Ellis, remembering last year's packed ceremony. "I don't think there was a kid there that didn't have two to three family members present."

Transforming Lives

At last June's ceremony, the girls asked each of their guests to donate a book about women of color, and they were able to collect more than 60 books for the Roosevelt High School's library. Now, they're aiming to start a mentoring program with girls at their schools. "We want to get them to the point where they know they can contribute to their community," Garcia says. "We want to make sure they are using writing as a venue for transformation, for doing things in their own community. Not just writing about them, but doing something."

Garcia says a lot of the girls talk about going to college. And some of the girls say they plan to become writers and poets — at least part-time. Naomi, 13, says that attention from the media and support from friends and family have given her a big boost of confidence. "Out of nowhere," she says, "people just come up to me and tell me how proud of me they are."