I received an email today from the Pongo Teen Writing Project.  I’ve mentioned them before.  They have two teams that work with at risk youth to help them find ways to express themselves through poetry.  I interviewed once hoping to be one of the team members and even though they didn’t need my help, I want to promote what they are doing as much as I can.

Check out their site and maybe even buy some of their poetry collections to help support them.  If you are in the Seattle area, learn more about them Thursday, March 1 around 5:45 on King5 News.

Pongo Friends,
BRILLIANT news! This Thursday, March 1, KING5 News in Seattle is
airing a 7-minute (!) story about  the Pongo Teen Writing Project
in juvenile detention. It features youth, Pongo volunteers, and a
supervisor from detention. The story occurs during the 5 pm news,
at about 5:45.

Set in the dramatic context of detention, the story is all about
the youth and the Pongo writing process. It doesn't make light of
the crimes that brought the teens to detention, but it focuses on
the childhood traumas that burden these teens, and the role of
Pongo writing in healing.

I was very happy to work with the award-winning team of reporter
John Sharify and photojournalist Doug Burgess. Their story is
sensitive, insightful, and artistic. I believe it's a very special
production!

You can look for the Pongo story on the KING5 web site
http://www.king5.com/) right after the Thursday broadcast. I hope
you'll have a chance to check out the story on TV or the web, and
I hope you'll forward the link to friends and colleagues.

FYI, Pongo is in its 16th year, and has provided therapeutic writing
to youth in King County juvie since 1998. Overall, we've worked with
5,500 distressed youth (in homeless shelters, the state psych
hospital, and other sites, as well as detention), published 13 books
of youth poetry, given away 13,000 copies of our books, and talked
to over 10,000 people in the community about the poetry and lives
of abused and neglected youth. Pongo's latest book, "There Had to
Have Been Someone," is our 8th book from juvie.

Please visit our web site, which includes 50 interactive writing
activities for youth, as well as resources for counselors and teachers.

Best,
 Richard
 Pongo Teen Writing Project
 www.pongoteenwriting.org