Impact

Increased leadership skills, advocacy and awareness, and representation

Write

• Number of books published:10 (These books are available on Amazon.com and/or Lulu.com)
  • Bull City YouthBuild:
    • Focus: Gateway to Success (2022)
    • See Unbroken Pieces Through the Shadows (2019)
    • Strong and Unbroken (2018)
    • Blueprints (2017)
  • Juntos NC:
    • The Voices of Our People: Nuestras Verdades (2019)
    • The Roots of Our People: From One World to Another — Juntos (2018)
  • CORRAL Riding Academy:
    • Growing at CORRAL: Our Stories of Empowerment and Transformation (2022)
    • Healing Starts with a Story (2021)
    • A Leg Up (2020)
  • Refugee Hope Partners:
    • Brave Histories & Hopeful Futures: Voices of a Refugee Community (2022)
• Number of genres: More than 11 different genres including vignettes, poetry, memoirs, essays, letters and essay letters, collaborative pieces, reflections, blackout poems, autoethnography and interviews
• Strengthened writing skills (Lee et al., 2021)
• Increased confidence in writing (Lee et al., 2021)
• Number of student-written products: 610+ and counting!

Engage

• Number of students: 110+
• Greater student engagement (Lee et al., 2021)
• Active social and emotional learning and self-compassion (Donovan et al., in progress)
• Greater connection to peers (Lee et al, 2021)
• Improved relationships with program staff and teachers (Donovan et al., in progress)

Lead

• Better understanding of peers (Lee & Schoonover, 2020) 
• Strengthened advocacy skills (Lee et al,, 2021)
• Greater understanding of community issues and challenges (Mann & Lee, 2022)
• Increased critical awareness (Mann & Lee, 2022)
• Greater confidence, self-esteem and self-determination (Donovan et al., in progress)
• Strengthened speaking skills
• Programmatic components:
  • Podcast (example) with #PassTheMicYouth (3 in progress)
  • Participation in Dessert with Democracy
• Number of unique curricula developed by LCI: 8
  • Bull City YouthBuild: 5
  • Juntos NC: 2
  • CORRAL Riding Academy: 3
  • Refugee Hope Partners: 2
  • Overarching Theme Guide: 1

Audience Testimonials

• “This reading made me feel proud to be a Latino and to hear that there are students expressing their feelings and thoughts for society to hear.
• “Keep writing. Keep working. Keep dreaming. I loved your writing and hope one day everyone will be able to read it. Juntos somos fuertes.”
• “Literacy is a vital necessity for people to function as citizens in the world, locally and beyond.”
• “Literacy is crucial to understanding, across the board, many different cultures and societal norms. This understanding brings clarity and coherence within a community.”
• “I am impressed with their commitment to the project the bravery it took to share their stories. They were all so well-spoken and their stories were thought-provoking.”