YWCA of Delaware County

YWCA of Delaware County - Dr. Kathryn Ludwig: Students involved in this section of Writing for Change conversed with partners at the YWCA during the first semester to learn about the organization’s work to serve women and children in the community who face homelessness. They asked our partners about the major issues facing residents of the shelter and conducted secondary research to learn about those issues, which include racism, addiction, mental health, single parenting, and Cliff Effect. During the second semester, students identified experts in the community to interview on the subject of their research and began planning portfolios of texts that would support the mission of the YWCA. In groups, students developed texts to address one issue. Projects include an educational campaign on Cliff Effect, a COVID cleaning supply drive proposal to local high schools, a proposed program and editable promotional materials for next year’s YWCA Stand Against Racism event, and a proposal to install little free pantries/”freedges” in the Muncie area. At the end of the year, students are preparing annotated bibliographies for next year’s Writing for Change students, so that our multi-year partnership with the YWCA may build toward new goals each year. Two key takeaways from the immersive composition experience for these students have been (1) strong awareness that texts are rhetorically situated and that composition choices depend on the context in which a text is created and (2) an understanding that change happens not through a single, powerful speech or action but, rather, through networks of texts working in tandem to raise awareness and mobilize people.

Students:

Taylor Bennett, Faye Christy, Myah Cunningham, Noble Dennie, Lillian Dover, Steven Edwards, Catherine Esquivel, Allyson Farkas, Cade Ferguson, Alexis Hall, Brayden Hissong, Tiffany Le, Katherine McAninch, Abby Naumann, Aaliyah Roberts, Jenelle Rogers, Jennah Rogers, Aaliyah Sansone, Emma Woods