I recently donated a signed copy of Beautiful to this amazing Bay Area organization, The Beat Within. They’re currently holding a fundraiser for their important cause, and my book will be one of many thank you gifts. Maybe it’ll be your thank you gift for your tax-deductible donation to Books for the Beat, which helps empower incarcerated youth in the Santa Cruz juvenile justice system through writing and art.
If you’re an author, please consider joining fellow writers Isabel Allende, Karen Joy Fowler, David Sheff, Joyce Carol Thomas, Paul Fleischman, Jill Wolfson and many others, by donating a signed copy (or copies) of your book to this cause. Everybody else, please donate what you can to make sure the group can keep running, and to make sure every teen gets a chance to find their voice.
Click here for more info about how to donate
And click here to read past issues of their magazine, which features the writing of teens in their workshops
And here’s some more info about The Beat Within:
Thirteen years ago, The Beat Within was founded in San Francisco when social worker David Inocencio teamed up with a non-profit media/communications organization to offer writing workshops to youth detained in S.F.’s Youth Guidance Center.
The mission is to provide incarcerated youth with consistent opportunity to share their ideas and life experiences in a safe space that encourages literacy, self-reflection, critical thinking skills, non-violence and healthy, supportive relationships with adults and their community.
Originally, their work was printed in a 6-page magazine, which was brought back to them the following week. For some, it was the first positive recognition they ever received that they had a voice worthy of an audience.
Today, this mission continues. The Beat Within staff and volunteers hold weekly workshops in many county juvenile halls, including the Santa Cruz facility on Graham Hill Road. We publish a full-fledged 70-page weekly magazine of writing and art that circulates in youth facilities all over the country.
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