Established in 2007, ForWords is a literacy and publication project for students in the San Rafael, California "Canal" area. Our students have been historically under-served, are generally from immigrant families, and are often learning English as a second language.
      ForWords provides a variety of resources to help these students develop the ability to write effectively, and have their work published, whether poetry, fiction, music, drama, essays, or non-fiction.
      ForWords has provided training and mentoring for local teachers, has purchased computers, software, cameras, and other material, developed and implemented 21st century curricula, hired the world-renown University of California Bay Area Writing Project to work directly with our students and local teachers, and hired a talented digital-arts teacher. Since ForWords began in 2007, our students have graduated from high school and gone to 2 or 4 year colleges. Ninety-five percent of all revenues go directly to student services.
      ForWords has been asked to expand its unique program in Marin and also create a new one in Richmond California in 2010. We need your help...


 
ForWords grew out of the life of Catie Siegel, a young woman who loved writing and appreciated the diversity of our communities. She was a kind, self-effacing young woman who, in the last years of her life, worked at Borders where she could be found among the books and words that she so enjoyed. She was just beginning to find her own voice in poetry and fiction, and so we started ForWords as a testimony to Catie, but more importantly as a way to insure that other students could explore the wondrous world of writing.





        © 2007 The Catie Siegel Community Writing Center