Honoring, recognizing and commending Mighty Writers for its efforts to educate people to think and write with clarity in order to boost self-esteem and create a generation of young people who are successful in school, their careers and ultimately their lives.

WHEREAS, Mighty Writers is a nonprofit organization founded in 2009 to combat Philadelphia's literacy crisis and increase educational skills by offering a variety of free educational programs; and

WHEREAS, Too many of the students in Philadelphia drop out of school before graduating high school and a large portion of our working-age adults are functionally illiterate; and

WHEREAS, Mighty Writers offers a range of educational programs including daily afterschool programming, writing workshops on nights and weekends, a weekly Teen Writers Lounge Program, intensive SAT preparatory courses and college essay writing classes; and

WHEREAS, By harnessing the talents of over 300 of Philadelphia's most creative teachers, journalists, artists and professionals on a volunteer basis, Mighty Writers teaches and mentors almost 1,000 children each year and provides much needed after school activities for our youth; and

WHEREAS, In order to foster reading and writing skills, Mighty Writers uses innovative strategies like its comic book club where instructors teach students how to construct compelling plotlines and characters; its Garden Reader Program where teachers help students study garden-grown fruits and vegetables; and a poetry class where students hone their prose; and

WHEREAS, Mighty Writers aims to help disadvantaged youth from low-income families and provide them with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed; and

WHEREAS, Mighty Writers' free afterschool program has been extremely successful. The 75 students in the program participate in at least ten projects a year and at least 75 percent improve their writing grades. In addition, 650 students participate in over 50 themed night, weekend, and summer writing workshops; and

WHEREAS, In 2011 Mighty Writers was a winner in the Knights Arts Challenge for a documentary project chronicling the historical influence of Philadelphia Black radio stations, and Mighty Writers was also awarded Citizens Bank's “Champions in Action” grant; and

WHEREAS, Mighty Writers has collaborated with various community partners including Philadelphia Futures, Fleisher Art Memorial, Art-Reach, Universal Institute Charter School, Afterschool Activities Partnership, and English departments from Drexel, Temple and the University of Pennsylvania; now therefore,

RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That we hereby honor, recognize, and commend Mighty Writers for its efforts to educate people to think and write with clarity in order to boost self-esteem and create a generation of young people who are successful in school, their careers and ultimately their lives.

FURTHER RESOLVED, That an Engrossed copy of this resolution be presented to Tim Whitaker, Executive Director of Mighty Writers as evidence of the sincere sentiments of this legislative body.

End