WriterCoach Connection was born out of a clear and practical need. A group of concerned Berkeley High School parents and teachers recognized students’ needs for individual support to improve their writing, a critical skill that mattered far beyond the classroom. Good writers are good thinkers and good communicators, and clear, effective, thoughtful communication is essential to everything we do as citizens.ย
WriterCoach Connection existed as a small but mighty community organization. From 2000 till now, we grew from a parent group out of one school to a nonprofit organization that trained over 5,600 volunteers and served over 42,000 students across 20 schools in the Bay Area. Our foundational and community partners, our individual donors, our dedicated volunteer coaches and community members who helped get the word out about WCC at schools and local events all made this achievement possible.
Why is WriterCoach Connection Closing?
Simply put, our reason for dissolving WriterCoach Connection is due to ongoing financial challenges. Over the last ten years we have gradually lost grant funding that caused us to reduce our operational expenses and staff, restricting our ability to grow. We were able to weather the challenges of COVID and the pandemic, but it still took a concerted effort to bring back coaches and regain funding when schools reopened. While being a smaller organization had certain advantages like allowing us to focus our resources and provide consistent support to the schools who partnered with us, it also affected our ability to secure larger grants from foundations seeking to support organizations where their funds could have the most impact.
The loss of federal funding that has impacted many organizations across the country meant we were also competing with these worthy organizations addressing critical immediate needs like food insecurity, homelessness and health care. Increasing budget deficits in the schools also meant less funding for programs like ours. Facing these losses, our board made the decision to dissolve WriterCoach Connection rather than not be able to adequately serve the students who deserve only our best care.
We are grateful to all in our community who supported WriterCoach Connection over the years. Though we are saddened by this conclusion, we also remain confident that the impact of our work will continue on for future generations. If you would like to continue your support of youth writing as a volunteer and/or donor, Chapter 510 and Oakland Serves are two of many that we recommend.
