Writing Partnerships

Writing Partnerships are the cornerstone of the Girls Write Now program. We pair professional women writers with teenage girls to help them find their voices as writers. 

Our demographics reflect New York City’s rich diversity, with over 90% of students girls of color and 40% recent immigrants. More than 90% of the girls accepted into our program are identified as “high need” based on the schools they attend and information they share. Students are referred from 80 public schools across the 5 boroughs, as well as directly and through service partners.

GWN mentors are successful female novelists, poets, playwrights, journalists and educators: our current group includes award-winning novelists, and writers and editors for such publications as The New York Times, New York, Vibe and The Wall Street Journal.  Mentor candidates undergo a rigorous screening and application process, along with a full-day training in September.

Pairings are made by staff and a trained volunteer committee, which evaluates all background information gathered through the application. 

The Mentoring Program runs concurrent to the school year, but selection and enrollment launches in the summer and continues through September.  At the start of the GWN school year, each teen ("mentee") is paired with a professional woman writer ("mentor"). All members work together to craft and sign a "contract" to support each other in writing and self-expression.

Once matched, each mentor/mentee pair meets weekly in person. To spur creativity and writing, pairs attend readings, plays, films, museum visits, and finally, write and edit stories, poems, plays, essays and more based on their activities, including GWN workshops, and shared experiences.

The resulting projects are incorporated into a six-genre developmental writing portfolio, edited with the help of the girls’ mentors, and submitted for publication in an annual anthology that showcases their polished work and the strength of their writing partnership.

Mentoring relationships can last for a girl’s high-school career, and often do.  We see over 90% retention rates within the year, and return rates for non-seniors above 70%. Where half of New York City’s youth fail to complete school, all of GWN’s seniors move on to college.  Last year’s class received 13 Gold and Silver Key awards from Scholastic – 34 mentee awards over a 3-year period.