Mighty Writers Announces Expansion to Kennett Square

Next month, Philadelphia-based education nonprofit Mighty Writers will expand to Kennett Square to reach the area's rapidly growing Hispanic population. Roughly half of the region is now Hispanic, with migration to the area from Mexico and Central America driven by the region's large mushroom farms. The organization will bring its award-winning free reading and writing classes to Kennett Square's youth starting in October. The new location continues Mighty Writers' rapid recent expansion in its tenth year, as the nonprofit has added four new locations in the past two years, making eight total in the Philadelphia area. 

Mighty Writers Kennett Square will begin with an entirely bilingual schedule of weekly Girl Power Poetry classes for young girls and Girl Power Futures classes for teens, plus a monthly Bilingual Family Write Nights for families and children of all ages. The organization plans to add more classes as it grows. 

"We are excited to begin bilingual writing workshops for the children of the Kennett Square mushroom-picking community," says Mighty Writers executive director Tim Whitaker. "In the face of so much fear-mongering and anti- immigrant sentiment, it's especially critical that immigrant kids learn to think clearly and express themselves with clarity."

Mighty Writers Kennett Square will be led by new Bilingual Program Manager Sara Dickens-Trillo. Dickens-Trillo has lived in Chester County since 2014 and is very involved in the Latinx community. She is the Vice President of Casa Guanajuato "Por la Cultura y las Artes," a nonprofit organization focused on Mexican culture, arts, and education in and around Kennett Square. She is also a Board Member of La Communidad Hispana, a diverse, bilingual health center in Kennett Square, Oxford, and West Grove. 

"I can't express enough how excited we're to start this awesome initiative of bilingual writing workshops in our community of the Kennett/West Grove area," says Dickens-Trillo. "This program is going to help our children in so many aspects of their lives, for example higher self-esteem, more positive attitude, opened-minded, as well as creating an advantage for their future. My mother used to tell when we moved to Unites States as a teenager, 'Si hablas dos idiomas vales por dos / if you speak two languages you're worth twice as much' I can attest that her statement was right." 

Information, photos about Mighty Writers here: 

http://shorefire.com/client/mighty-writers

About Mighty Writers: 

Mighty Writers was founded in 2009 with the mission to teach kids to think clearly and write with clarity. The organization offers free programs for 

students from elementary through high school at centers in many Philadelphia area neighborhoods, including two bilingual locations for Spanish-speaking students. Mighty Writers offers daily afterschool academies, long- and short- term writing classes nights and weekends, teen scholar programs, mentorships, College Prep courses and college essay writing classes. Over 400 of the city’s best creative minds (writers, teachers, journalists, etc.) teach 150 writing classes a year to 3,500 kids at Mighty Writers annually at eight locations. In the past year, they've been recognized by Mayor Jim Kenney for their work in literary arts and received a City Council Citation. 

Founder and executive director Tim Whitaker began his career teaching fifth and sixth grade in Philadelphia before becoming a writer and editor. He is the author of “Crash: The Life and Times of Dick Allen.” He was the editor of Philadelphia Weekly (1994-2008), and previously the editor of PhillySport and Pittsburgh magazines. Whitaker was a head writer at NBC Radio and has written for The New York Times, Washington Post and Philadelphia Inquirer.