United States
ELC’s WRITING CHANGE Initiative, Established with Amanda Gorman, Announces New Grants to Advance Literacy
The WRITING CHANGE Collective now includes 52nd Street Project, American Library Association, Art Start, Girls Write Now, Latinx KidLit Book Festival, Make Way for Books, MIGIZI, We Need Diverse Books, WriteGirl, and Wide Angle Youth Media.
Company Feature, Oct 8, 2024
Today, The Estée Lauder Companies’ (ELC) WRITING CHANGE initiative, established in partnership with poet, activist, and Estée Lauder Global Changemaker Amanda Gorman, announced that it is renewing its current grantee partnerships and awarding funding to an additional 5 organizations to advance literacy as a pathway to equality, access, and social change. Through these additional grants, WRITING CHANGE meets its initial goal of providing $3 million in funding over 3 years and expands to support 10 nonprofit organizations across the United States.
As a global leader in prestige beauty, ELC has long believed in the importance of creativity and artistic expression in driving social impact. Launched in 2021, WRITING CHANGE has supported programs in the United States that enable access to literacy and education resources, advocate for representation in literature, and encourage artistic expression. The work aims to reach artists and writers in emerging and established institutions, with a focus on girls and gender-expansive youth.
“I’m so proud of the work of our incredible WRITING CHANGE partners who have used this funding to extend the reach and resources of their impact to heights I never imagined were possible,” said Gorman. “Our work through WRITING CHANGE is creating new paths of access for the next generation of thinkers, leaders, and changemakers.”
“The impact of our WRITING CHANGE grantee partners has proven again and again the importance of creative expression to advancing society,” said Anna Klein, Senior Vice President, Global Corporate Affairs. “Through this new round of support, ELC is thrilled to continue championing the creative voice of the next generation of storytellers.”
The WRITING CHANGE Collective now includes organizations focused on a broad variety of mediums and creative formats, including digital and audio storytelling, playwriting, visual art, and production. New grantees include:
-
The 52nd Street Project (New York, NY), an organization that brings together young people and theater professionals for year-round programs and performances
-
Art Start (Milwaukee, WI, and New York, NY), which organizes creative workshops for youth that will include a pilot program dedicated to the topic of self-expression
-
The Latinx KidLit Book Festival (Bronx, New York, and virtual nationwide), an organization that champions the voices of Latinx KidLit book creators and will expand their program that brings Latinx authors into classrooms
-
Make Way for Books (Tuscon, AZ), which focuses on supporting language and literacy in early childhood and cultivating a Story School program that organizes cross-generational, bilingual literacy activities
-
Wide Angle Youth Media (Baltimore, MD), an organization dedicated to creative media workshops
Over the past few years, WRITING CHANGE has supported community-centric experiences, expanded proven writing programs to new markets, supported author tours, provided free books to young readers, and more. Programs have included The American Library Association (ALA)’s Civic Imagination Stations that pair local artists with libraries as well as MIGIZI’s storytelling program in Minneapolis that encourages young Native women to share their stories. Additionally, mentorship organizations continued to successfully expand their reach and their geographic footprints: WriteGirl, based in Los Angeles, brought their expertise to a girls’ school in Uganda; Girls Write Now, based in New York City, expanded its flagship program to more than 30 states; and We Need Diverse Books organized new school visits that brought Black and Native authors to speak with students.
Learn more about the work of WRITING CHANGE.
