KENNETT SQUARE, PA — Literacy nonprofit Mighty Writers has received a $75,000 grant from the Longwood Foundation of Chester County to increase educational and emergency services for kids in need. Over the next year, the partnership between Mighty Writers and the Longwood Foundation will provide hundreds of kids with high-quality bilingual literacy instruction, virtual writing workshops, and food, books, diapers and other supplies to families in need.
Mighty Writers’ mission is to teach kids, ages 3 to 17, to think and write with clarity so they can achieve success at school, at work and in life. When the COVID-19 pandemic forced a closure of its brick-and-mortar writing centers, Mighty Writers quickly pivoted towards an online format: developing workshops and virtual events for kids and their families. As the economic shutdown and forced school closures took a toll on its vulnerable communities, Mighty Writers additionally began distributing essential resources, like meals and groceries, to their students and families at five locations throughout the region.
Mighty Writers began serving students in the Kennett Square region of Chester County, where half of students live below the poverty line, in the fall of 2019. The organization is the only nonprofit in Chester County to offer students in the immigrant population free, high quality, culturally-oriented and completely bilingual writing programs. Since opening at the Garage Youth Center, Mighty Writers has expanded this initiative to serve over 200 kids with arts and culture workshops and provided over 6,000 meals to those in need.
“We are deeply committed to serving the children of farmworkers in Chester County,” says Tim Whitaker, Mighty Writers’ executive director. “We are grateful to the Longwood Foundation for their belief in our tenacity.”
Since 1937, the Longwood Foundation has invested in the quality of life and future of Delaware and southern Chester County. The Foundation intends to benefit the residents, environment, and culture of the state of Delaware and within a four-mile radius of Longwood Gardens. The Foundation seeks to invest in nonprofit organizations that empower individuals and communities. Their grants aim to address challenges within the Foundation’s geographic boundaries by accelerating success in the nonprofit sector. The Foundation provides support across a variety of sectors, including (but not limited to) the arts, civic, education, environment, health and hospitals, housing, and social service areas. To learn more, visit http://www.longwoodfoundation.org.
For the latest news on everything happening in Chester County and the surrounding area, be sure to follow MyChesCo on Google News and Microsoft Start.