My Biz: Iowa Youth Writing Project helps youth find ‘their voice’

Mallory Hellman feels very lucky to have pretty much found her dream job before hitting her 30th birthday.

Hellman, a graduate of the University of Iowa Writer's Workshop, serves as the director of the Iowa Youth Writing Project (IYWP), a not-for-profit organization dedicated to inspiring and educating K-12 youth through creative writing.

First started in 2010 by several Writer's Workshop graduates who saw a need for writing-related programming specifically for K-12 students in and around Iowa City, the program has expanded over the years to provide programming for students across Iowa.

In 2012, a new funding stream allowed for a partnership with the Frank N. Magid Center for Undergraduate Writing at the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Iowa.

'Our bread and butter is a one-hour weekly writing workshop that we host at 18 different sites around the community, such as schools, youth shelters, community centers and residential treatment programs,” Hellman said. 'These weekly engagements allow us to build a sustained relationship with students in kindergarten through 12th grade.

'And we work with all income levels and backgrounds, with special emphasis on marginalized youth, those voices most in need of amplification. We create a place where they can cultivate their confidence and discover their written and spoken voice.”

Within the program, she noted, 'students regularly talk about what is impacting the community and translate that into writing projects.”

Hellman, who is finishing up her second year as director, first started volunteering with IYWP back in 2012 while she was enrolled in the Writer's Workshop.

'During orientation, we heard from the then-director, and it seemed like it aligned with my interests,” she said, noting that she was interested in volunteer work while working on her own writing. 'So I started volunteering at one site weekly, then at two sites, then at three sites by the time I graduated from the workshop. Being involved with IYWP ignited something in me that no other work had before.”

Her volunteering led to Hellman being offered a fellowship to continue her work with the organization after she graduated from the Writer's Workshop. Then, as her fellowship was wrapping up and Hellman 'was desperately searching for a way to stay involved with the organization,” the director position became available and Hellman took over leadership.

She spends a fair amount of her time at the sites where IYWP runs weekly writing programs to observe how volunteers are facilitating workshops. Hellman also attends all the weekend IYWP workshops and master classes.

Just this week, for example, Hellman worked with her team to host the Junior High Writing Conference, in which 160 local middle-school students spent the day immersed in 16 genre-specific workshops.

'These are workshops they don't typically get at school so it's very exciting,” she said.

The IYWP also offers a number of special events throughout the year - it hosted 31 in 2016, to be exact - such as master classes and craft workshops with visiting authors such as Lois Lowry, Roxanne Gay and Bill Bryson. Plus, Hellman said, they are planning 10 genre-specific camps - which will be posted on the website soon - this summer. Hellman said one of the best things about all their programming is that it is offered at little to no cost to participants.

Currently the only full-time staff member, Hellman works with three part-time staff members and a core of 120 volunteers, including 16 undergraduate interns. They help with everything from grant applications and running programs to handling social media and events, she said.

Hellman said she likes everything about her job. 'But when I hear students read work they've written with us it's especially rewarding. We do a reading at Prairie Lights each year and it is standing room only, all to hear a nine-year-old read a poem about a goose. These students are learning to find power in their voice and that we can make a space for that is special.”

AT A GLANCE

Director: Mallory Hellman

Business: Iowa Youth Writing Project

Phone: (319) 384-1328

Website: https://iywp.org/

l Know a manager or business in operation for more than a year we should look at for 'My Biz”? Contact michaelchevy.castranova@thegazette.com