Help CWP publish magazines

For more than 15 years, the Community Writing Project (CWP) has offered writing workshops in poor and immigrant neighborhoods in the Chicago area and beyond. We do so inspired by the belief that every person is a thinker and an artist, that the stories people tell about their lives contain important insights for themselves and their neighbors, and that the seeds for change can be found in the artistic and intellectual renderings of ordinary people.

 The CWP publishes writing from the workshops in the magazine Real Conditions, which is distributed to family, friends, and local organizations. Through these magazines, local writers gain recognition within and beyond their communities for their creative and critical work. The stories they share deepen our understanding of their distinct realities. Magazines have been incorporated into classroom curricula and school libraries, organizing campaigns, and other community programs.

 The CWP relies on the dedicated work of volunteer writers, workshop facilitators, and magazine designers. The most costly aspect of our work is the publication of the magazines. This fall, we are preparing three magazines for publication: one from the Whittier and Volta School writing groups, another from the "Empowering Englewood" writing group, and a third from the Little Village/Lawndale writing group. Magazines are produced bilingually in English and Spanish. Each magazine costs about $1.50 to print, and we print enough magazines to distribute them for free within and beyond the writers' communities.

We are asking supporters of the CWP to contribute to these publications. In exchange for your contribution of $10 or more, we are happy to send you a magazine to share with friends and family. Please include a note telling us where to send the magazine.