Connectingauthors

ConnectingAuthors illuminates a potential career path of becoming an author, one which the students who we serve might not otherwise have considered.  When we start our workshop series, we ask how many children are writers. Few, if any, hands go up. At the family reading night, we pose the same question and EVERY hand shoots up! They see themselves as authors. ConnectingAuthors began its work in Oakland in 2005, sending diverse authors into schools where they are reflective of the predominant population.  We got our 501(c)3 status in 2011 and expanded our programs into San Jose and Santa Clara.  The CHARM (Children's Authors as Role Models) program of ConnectingAuthors brings an author into a school for an in-depth, Common-Core aligned, month-long series of workshops in which students are mentored through the book publication process. At the end of the workshop series, we host a culminating Family Literacy Night at which students showcase their books for parents and community members. They are also given a surprise, autographed, personalized copy of the author's book.  Current and past funders include: The Target Foundation, The Rogers Family Foundation, The Bernard E. & Alba Witkin Foundation, Penguin-Random House, The East Bay Community Foundation, Arianna Huffington and Dan Harris.  We have plenty of schools requesting an author, and more than enough award-winning authors, what we need is more funding in order to inspire more students to become lifelong readers and writers. There are several schools in Silicon Valley that deserve this valuable program. We offer it in Spanish and English.  The funding goes directly to programs bringing local authors into local schools.