Nonprofit Highlight: WordPlay

From kindergarten through early adulthood, WordPlay helps Cincinnati’s young people fulfill their potential through reading, writing and storytelling. In workshops, at schools, in community centers, and during the important summer months, participants are mentored by enthusiastic teaching artists who bring refreshingly innovative approaches to learning. Their methods? They are people-driven, research-based, and effective. 

Learn more about WordPlay and how PBPO has helped it grow

When high school student Red first came to WordPlay, he was a silent observer who seated himself outside the circle of his peers. Red was unsure about his abilities as both a writer and a public speaker. Watching him now, confidently performing an original piece at a slam poetry competition, one would never guess him to be the same shy teenager. He has become a leader. 

From kindergarten through early adulthood, WordPlay helps Cincinnati’s young people fulfill their potential through reading, writing and storytelling. In workshops, at schools, in community centers, and during the important summer months, participants are mentored by enthusiastic teaching artists who bring refreshingly innovative approaches to learning. Their methods? They are person-based, research-based, and effective. From its first months in 2012 working with 25-50 students each week, WordPlay is now reaching 200-250 young people weekly throughout the school year, 150+ in the summer.  

“PBPO has helped us with a variety of matters that has really helped our organization grow to the next level. It was essential information that we couldn’t have gotten any other way. The direct impact to WordPlay is that we can preserve our resources, and still have subject-matter expertise, which is invaluable to us in our field working with children. We can focus on what we need to most: delivering our program, paying our staff, and making sure we are legally safe.”

– Libby Hunter, WordPlay Executive Director 

Young readers and writers practice reflection, self-expression, community-building, and goal-setting. And while 85% of WordPlay kids are from low-income households, the beauty of their creative programs is that they are open to all students from across the city, giving all participants the opportunity to grow relationships with a diverse range of peers, celebrating their accomplishments by performing for audiences across the city and publishing their work in WordPlay anthologies. And that’s when magic happens–students gain a deeper understanding of themselves and the world around them, build confidence and resilience, and even do better in school. They start to write the stories of their futures. 

On May 11th, the annual Ride for Reading will deliver thousands of books by bike from downtown to a local school. WordPlay Cincy is partnering with Spun Bicycles for Cincinnati’s sixth annual Ride for Reading, providing the students at the Academy of World Languages with 4,000+ books to create personal libraries. To learn more, follow this link.

WordPlay is now enrolling for summer programs, helping students like Red avoid the “summer learning slide” so they can reach their full potential. To learn more and stay in the loop, you can visit www.wordplaycincy.org, or email [email protected].