Advisory Board Spotlight: Bruce Morrow, Bank Street College of Education

By Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux
Soapbox Inc./Girls Write Now Intern

Bruce Morrow is an educational leader, a passionate believer in lifelong learning.  Talking with him is a delight—one could easily discuss anything from black masculinity to Bruce’s children, to his work with Bank Street College of Education, in New York, to the book he’s currently reading (Let the Great World Spin, by Colum McCann), or even his favorite six-grain Mediterranean yogurt. And of course, Bruce has watched Girls Write Now grow over the past few years, and has nothing but praise for the work that he has both participated in and watched. “I would say that our biggest challenge has been capacity,” he said, laughingly turning my question on its head.  “There’s just so much demand for what Girls Write Now has to offer.”

From his early days working at Teachers & Writers Collaborative in New York, Bruce has always been a mentor, although he quickly admitted that his very first experience was somewhat serendipitous. “I had a friend who was an actress,” he recalled, “and she was leaving New York to move to Los Angeles. She had someone who she was a mentor for, very informally, and she thought that we would work well together. He was a student at Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx, so although it was a private Catholic school, it’s still an underserved area.” Morrow’s friend’s mentee wanted to be a writer, and thought that he and Bruce would get along well.  Bruce finally agreed to meet with him, and the two formed a three-year friendship and mentoring relationship, during which Bruce’s mentee was able to attend the Young Writers Workshop of the University of Virginia. Bruce now works at the Bank Street College of Education, where he is the Associate Director of Institutional Giving, which means that he helps raise money and support for this independent graduate school. He writes every day—whether it’s letters and grant proposals or poetry and short fiction. His advice to aspiring artists comes from Grace Paley, a fiction writer who founded Teachers & Writers. Like much of the work Bruce does, his guidance is at once practical and inspirational: “If you’re going to be an artist, you really have to keep your cost of living down,” Bruce explained. “You can’t let your life and expenses control your art.”

Working on the Advisory Board for Girls Write Now, Bruce uses his development skills to expand GWN’s capacity. But his connection is also very personal: Although it may seem odd for a man to be a member of the board for an organization that serves girls and women, Bruce made it clear that his passion for education and empowerment transcends gender. He began telling me about his daughter, and the pride with which he watched her growth and the development of her love for books and languages. 

“She happens to be in a family of writers,” Bruce told me, “so there are lots of people around her who love language and books and writing. We can encourage her in that area, but imagine someone who doesn’t have that kind of support.” He recalled his own childhood, when his passion for art, writing, and music was mostly a solitary pursuit. “You need people around you saying, ‘You’re a great artist, you should go to art school,’ Bruce says, “or ‘You’re a great writer.  I know this great organization that helps young writers.’”