Name of Project: Cultural Literacy Collaboration

Name of Organization: 1)Women in Transition 2000 (WITT) and 2)Three Rainbow Press (TRP)

Type of Organization: 1)community service organization
2) small literary press

Amount Requested: $4,000.00

Target Group/Area:Immigrant Teens and Adults in Arna Valley

1. Describe your project: its goals, activities and when and where it will take place.

The goals of this collaboration are to increase understanding and positive interactions between Arlington immigrants and their U.S.-born neighbors, to promote community awareness and self-esteem among immigrant youth and increase their respect for their elders, to encourage and promote literacy among immigrants, and to raise funds for WITT. Volunteers and staff will conduct writing workshops for a period of six weeks, producing a bilingual (Spanish/English) multi-ethnic anthology of poetry, short fiction, memoir, and narratives of the immigrant experience. We are seeking locations within the Arna Valley/Arlandria area through our community contacts.

2. The Neighborhood Partnership Fund supports projects that 1) increase interaction between immigrant cultures and other Arlington residents and/or 2)that help newly arrived immigrants and refugees become self-sufficient. How does your project meet either or both of the above objectives?

This project will address some of the social and mental health needs of the immigrant elderly and youth in Arna Valley by bringing together people of different ages and ethnic backgrounds to work as writing partners. Young people, both immigrants and non-immigrants, students and young mothers, will listen to the stories of the elderly and learn to write about what they have learned. The resulting book will be distributed throughout Arlington.

In order to promote self-sufficiency, each writing session will include a fifteen-minute presentation by WITT on practical topics of interest to the immigrant community. The Arna Valley Action Planning Process identifies several activities associated with daily life that are problematic for immigrants and could be addressed in the workshops. Members of the writing group will receive the same assessment, services, information, and referrals as other WITT clients.

3. Positive interaction between all residents and self-sufficient community members are key to building strong neighborhoods. Describe whom your project will reach. How many people will be served?

Although the writing group will be small, (10 to 15 people), this project will have an impact on the entire population of the county by making available the life stories of positive immigrant role-models.
Upon publication of the anthology, WITT and TRP will invite the community to a reading and book-signing by the authors. Copies of the book will be distributed to Arlington schools and libraries. It is expected that all thousand copies of the book will be read, and by more than one individual, for many years, having an impact on hundreds of thousands of people.

4. What effect will your project have on the community? Short-term? Long-term? In addition to meeting either or both of the two Neighborhood Partnership Fund objectives, what other benefits, if any, will your project bring to your community?

The immediate short-term effects will be to increase the self-esteem and understanding of the target group and to raise funds for the work of WITT's programs such as its Bilingual Information and Referral Clearinghouse, literacy classes, and DMV test preparation classes. Proceeds from the book-signing event will go to WITT, and the authors will each receive a stipend of and 50 copies of the book.
The long term effect of the project will be to increase understanding of the problems and strengths of different immigrant groups. In addition, it may serve as a literary model. Although recent anthologies and projects such as Writer's Corps are similar in many ways, the bilingual format and variety of voices will make this book unique.
An additional benefit is that this project will begin the groundwork for outreach for the County's projected community improvement project.

5. Describe your group, number of volunteers, number of paid staff, its activities and any relevant experience it has sponsoring similar outreach efforts. If your group's sole purpose is to carry out your project, describe how you became organized and how many people are involved in the effort.

Two staff people and 10 to 20 volunteers, writers and outreach workers, will be involved in this effort.
Women in Transition 2000 (WITT) was established in 1994 to empower families through literacy, individually tailored self-sufficiency opportunities, housing, and human services. WITT's founders, Irma Garcia, Dottie Moorman, and Rosa Lizama have combined their extensive range of expertise and brought together on their board of directors other women and men who are active in their communities, with the goal of providing a continuum of comprehensive and individualized services to help clients break the cycle of poverty. WITT's staff members, in addition to being highly qualified in the housing counseling arena, have been very successful in their interactions with low and moderate families and individuals, and have implemented programs such as case management, self-sufficiency programs, relocation, and home ownership programs.
Three Rainbow Press is a small publication company dedicated to the synthesis of literature and community. The publisher, Denise DeVries, a professional translator and community organizer, was a Co-Editor of Hispanic Culture Review at George Mason University for two years and Co-Director of the Word Works Washington Prize (poetry contest) in 1996. She is now Poetry Coordinator for Sunrise Studio Gallery in Kilmarnock, Virginia. She has led poetry workshops at elementary schools and senior centers, and has been looking for a community organization with which to collaborate.

6. Because Neighborhood Partnership Funds are limited, it is important that they be monitored carefully to realize their potential. What is your project's budget? Please list expenses. Are there other sources of income for this project? Who will be responsible for managing the funds? If your group has an annual budget, please include a one-page budget summary.

WITT (annual budget attached) will manage the funds for this project. Three Rainbow Press is seeking additional grants for stipends and fellowships, and the two organizations will seek donated artwork, meeting space, and additional refreshments for the book-signing.
Expenses:[omitted]