826 National is a family of seven nonprofit organizations dedicated to helping students, ages 6-18, with expository and creative writing.
Our mission is based on the understanding that great leaps in learning can happen with one-on-one attention, and that strong writing skills are fundamental to future success.
Each chapter offers drop-in tutoring, field trips, workshops, and in-schools programs — all free of charge — for children, classes, and schools with particular interests or particular needs.
826 is especially committed to supporting teachers, offering services and resources for English language learners, and publishing student work. All locations offer unique retail experiences as well.
826 National
826 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415-642-5905 x 202
415-642-5914 fax Email us
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Ann Arborites and visitors have a new shopping destination this spring: 826michigan’s Liberty Street Robot Supply & Repair. The shop, which opens Saturday, May 17th in 826michigan’s space at 115 E. Liberty Street, Ann Arbor, is stocked with robot-themed toys, novelties and unique gifts.
The Grand Opening event, sponsored by GOOD Magazine, includes a robot dance off, an 826michigan student-performed and robot-inspired puppet theater presentation, refreshments and the public’s first chance to view and purchase items from the store.
Never been to a robot supply and repair shop? Liberty Street Robot Supply & Repair carries the perfect combination of products for robot enthusiasts and robots themselves. Here are some examples:
826CHI presents: PROM! Join us on Saturday, May 17, 2008, 8 p.m.-midnight, for the (secondhand) formal event of the season! There will be free drinks (21+), a silent auction, and the musical stylings of The Power of Love and DJ Frier Tuck. No dates are required.
Buy your tickets for $38.26 (see the 8, the 2, the 6…) in advance here or $50 at the door (which, like the event, will be at Pulaski Park Fieldhouse, 1419 W. Blackhawk St., just a few blocks from 826CHI). Hope to see you there!
826NYC hosts a Dungeons and Dragons game unlike any other to raise money for its free writing and tutoring programs on Friday, May 9th, 7 to Midnight, at 826NYC (372 5th Avenue, Brooklyn)
That's right, fellas. Dungeons and Dragons isn't just for teenage boys anymore. We know you miss those late Friday nights in your parents' basement, with your friends, your Doritos-stained fingers and your lucky D20. And now that one thing that was missing from those perfect Friday nights wants to join the game: girls.
To join the game, all you need to do is visit http://www.826nyc.org/DnD to create your character, then start raising money to buy magic spells, weapons and items, to ensure that your dwarf, warrior, wizard, or thief comes home with the prize. And all the money you and your character raise will go to support the free writing programs at 826NYC.
Next Tuesday, April 8th, join 826CHI as they celebrate the release of their latest student publication, Right In Front of Us, a collection of powerful short stories written by forty-seven Chicago high school students. The festivities will begin with readings by the students, followed by a reception—complete with a book signing by the accomplished authors. Foreword contributor and author of There Are No Children Here, Alex Kotlowitz, will also speak. The event will be held at Aspira High School (currently located at the Haugan Middle School Campus, 3729 W. Leland). Doors open at 6:00 p.m., readings begin at 6:30. Books will be available at the event for $12, cash or check, as well as at The Boring Store.
826 Boston and GOOD Magazine are pleased to present The North American Symposium on Sasquatch Research – a night of drinks, music, readings, and “undauntable” science – hosted at 826 Boston’s new store, The Greater Boston Bigfoot Research Institute. Featured will be comedian Eugene Mirman (HBO’s Flight of the Conchords), acclaimed authors Jim Shepard and Josh Bearman, and renowned cryptozoologist Loren Coleman.
Symposium registrants can browse the Institute’s strange and wondrous wares including specimens like Baby Giant Centipedes and field research supplies such as monoculars, nets, Anti-Chupacabra Gloves, and the Institute’s inimitable Jungle Hygiene Kit.
As a recipient of this years' TED Prize, 826 National cofounder, Dave Eggers, was given the opportunity to make "a wish to change the world." At the recent award ceremony, Dave presented this wish:
"I wish that you—you personally and every creative individual and organization you know—will find a way to directly engage with a public school in your area, and that you'll then tell the story of how you got involved, so that within a year we have 1,000 examples of innovative public-private partnerships."
In order to make this wish a reality, the great folks from Hot Studio and TED, in collaboration with 826 National, developed the website OnceUponASchool.org. Here, interested people and private companies can pledge their support to teachers and community organizations that need them. Please visit this site to find ways to get involved.
We are offering an informational seminar at 826 Valencia in San Francisco on Friday, April 11th 2008 from 9am-5pm. In addition to getting the inside scoop on our operations, you will also get an opportunity to meet and chat with 826 National's founders: Dave Eggers and Nínive Clements Calegari.
826 students have been involved in some interesting recording projects at our centers. Here's a sampling:
Hile reads her story which was recently published by 826 Valencia in the The Mission High Magazine. Under the wing of 826 and Pirette McKamey, a language arts teacher at Mission High School, seniors were encouraged to write objectively on current, controversial topics. Listen to Hile read her story, "Not Another Funeral."
Written, performed, and scored by the students in the recent 826NYC Writing for Radio workshop, students read us stories that "will take you to the farthest reaches of reminiscence."
Listen to Storm read "Magic."
Last fall, Michigan Radio’s Jennifer Guerra taught a four-week workshop at 826michigan in which middle school students put together their own radio documentaries. These students interviewed people, wrote up scripts, and went into the studio at Michigan Radio to record their pieces. The final product was played on WCBN a few weeks later. Listen here.
Unfortunately, the deadline has passed for new cheaters to enter this game of "verbal smarts and fraudulence," but you still have a few more days to help your favorite team win by purchasing cheats such as "Flip a letter over and make it blank" or "Invent a word."
Go here to read all about this unique event. All proceeds will go towards supporting student programs at 826NYC.
826michigan has received a $10,000 grant from the James A. & Faith Knight Foundation in support of 826michigan’s plans to expand and enhance its volunteer base in 2008. Specifically, the grant will provide 826michigan staff the opportunity to:
Evaluate the volunteer base and develop strategies to expand it
Develop systems to track volunteers' involvement and abilities
Identify ways for youth to be involved as volunteers
According to Knight Foundation Executive Director Margaret Talburtt, “We are pleased to support the expansion of an organization that can help so many aspects of the community; educational attainment is critical but other important targets include neighborhood revitalization and organizational stability."
On January 16th, 826NYC and Penguin Books present The Book of Other People: A Benefit Reading at Symphony Space. Zadie Smith hosts the event, which celebrates the release of The Book of Other People, a collection of brand new stories by contemporary writers that benefits 826NYC. George Saunders and Vendela Vida will both read, along with very special guest Maggie Gyllenhaal!
Jeffery Eugenides, who wrote The Virgin Suicides and Middlesex, has collected an anthology of 26 love stories called My Mistress's Sparrow Is Dead. It includes authors ranging from Faulkner and Joyce to Miranda July. All proceeds from the book go to 826 Chicago.
Jon Scieszka, 826NYC's beloved board Vice President, has been named the USA's first national ambassador for young people's literature by the Library of Congress. Besides being the author of the classic books The True Story of the Three Little Pigs and The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales, Jon, 826NYC's neighbor in Park Slope, has been pitching in at 826NYC from the start.
Give someone you love one of these unique student-authored books while helping to fund our free student programming!
826LA: The cart-pushing, corn-selling elotes man will soon be gone, warn the students of John Marshall High School. So, too, will they go; this stand-out generation of students will soon disappear into adulthood. The newest 826LA collection, The Elotes Man Will Soon Be Gone, captures and preserves their spirit for all to read. This anthology of narratives, essays, and more tells you what life is like for these students. After reading musings on moving and the places we call home, confrontations with glass and dogs and death, an ode to Kurt Cobain, and a (literally) gut-wrenching fantasy, you'll be glad you caught The Elotes Man... before it's gone.
826 Seattle: Consider picking up a copy of 826 Seattle's lates book, Burning the Past (with audio CD), with a foreword by Charles Mudede. This is a collection of essays and stories on the topic of change written by 47 students at John Marshall Alternative High School. According to Audre Gallegos, a teacher at John Marshall involved with the project: "Remember what it was like to be twelve, fifteen, seventeen? Ask yourself how you can help a child grow into an adult with grace and dignity. Remind yourself how much children depend on us to guide them, and remember to do so as well as you possibly can."
826 Valencia: Exactly is our first hardcover book, and was recently awarded a Moonbeam Spirit Award from the Jenkins Group, for its “inspired writing and illustrating, enthusiasm for words and the printed page, and compassion for children and humanity.” Student authors from Wallenberg Traditional High School worked closely with Valencia tutors and Bay Area artists to create Exactly: 10 Beavers, 9 Fairies, 8 Dreams, 7 Knights, 6 Princesses, 5 Dogs, 4 Otters, 3 Old Men, 2 Robots, 1 Traveling Shoe & Everything Else it Takes to Make a Great Children’s Story Book, More or Less, an unprecedented anthology of fifty-six beautifully illustrated and heartwarming children’s stories. A perfect gift for your favorite young reader.
826 Michigan: Last spring, we released the highly successful and critically lauded Vacansopapurosophobia, or V. We had so much fun doing it and were so proud of the final product, we decided to do it again. The title, which means “fear of a blank page,” was chosen by the same group of people who chose the content: a group of teens from the Neutral Zone. This volume features sixty-six stories, poems, essays, and a play, all of which will most certainly astound and amaze you.
826NYC: You can purchase Behind the Uniforms, a wildly creative collection of graphic stories by the students of Brooklyn's Academy of College Preparation and Career Exploration. These stories, truthful, sincere, at times incredibly funny, showcase the lives and imaginations of students who, at a young age, have something honest to say. This book features 20 graphic stories written by 9th graders during an in-schools project that took place in February and March 2007.
826 Chicago: A Sunday Afternoon Hotdog Meal is a guide to Chicago written and illustrated by 205 elementary school students. As the book’s subtitle suggests, this Chicago guide will give you the skinny on many of the city’s time-tested locales and traditions, but it will also allow you a glimpse into where to find more unique offerings, including but not limited to “shrimp from the future, a park shaped like a spot of paint, six-foot tall smelly, sweaty men, a pizza crust that’s humongous, kind and friendly neighbors, and cabs that smell like fresh flowers.”
Saturday’s housewarming included original readings by 826 writing students from Greater Egleston Community High School. The students received warm words of praise and encouragement from local Boston poet Charles Coe. Rousing performances by Teen Empowerment, OrigiNation Dance Group, and Spontaneous Celebrations echoed through the spacious center while families worked on writing projects, munched home-baked cookies, and snapped souvenir Polaroids with our special guest, the Jackalope.
“We are so happy to be part of this community,” Executive Director Daniel Johnson said Saturday, speaking both in Spanish and English. "We welcome you as students, we welcome you as tutors, we welcome you as volunteers.”
We are proud to announce that 826 National co-founder, Dave Eggers, is one of this year's TED Prize winners. Winners are granted "a wish to change the world." According to the TED website: "There are no formal restrictions on the wish. Winners are asked to think big and to be creative. The goal is that it creates an incredible sense of excitement and common purpose. It inspires the TED community, and all those who hear about the wish, to offer their help in making the wish come true."
Winners of the TED Prize "must be people who the judges believe have the ability to inspire others to do something great for the world." This year's winners will announce their wishes at TED2008 in Monterey, on February 28, 2008, and videos of their presentations will be available online here.
TUTORING
826 sites are packed five days a week with students who come in for free one-on-one tutoring after school. More »
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STUDENT PUBLISHING
Each year we partner with an acclaimed author to work closely with a teacher and students from a low-income school to create an unique and professionally-made book.
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FIELD TRIPS
Up to four times a week at many of our sites, 826 welcomes an entire class for a morning of high-energy learning.
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IN-SCHOOLS
It is not feasible for all classes to come to us, so we dispatch teams of volunteers into local schools.
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WORKSHOPS
826 offers free workshops that provide in-depth writing instruction in a variety of areas that schools often don’t include in their curriculum. More »
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SCHOLARSHIPS
We award three $10,000 scholarships each spring for students entering college the upcoming fall. More »
826 Valencia
