CAN, Community Action Network, seemed like a natural partner for us. An organization focused on serving families from public housing communities in Washtenaw County, CAN helps them lead successful lives by providing educational and life skills programs for children and teens, and supportive housing services for families.
When they approached us last spring about heading up their writing program for summer, we were happy to help.
Since the middle of June, we’ve been making weekly jaunts over to Hikone, a public housing site located not far from 826michigan. The focus of their summer youth programming is “Puppies are People Too,” a program based around teaching children how to properly treat and care for animals. Ellen (aka Intern #4) has been working with students every week on writing projects from poetry to fiction to essay, many centered around the theme, and some veering in other directions (as things involving creativity are wont to do).
 |
 |
We’ve been so impressed with how hard these dedicated students have worked on their writing. What could be better than a class where the special guests are all dogs?