Ballou High School is located "East of the River," in Ward 8, SE Washington, DC. The Ballou Story Project series provides a platform for these students to tell their own stories on their own terms and act as leaders in their community. Learn more.

The teen tutors of Reach Incorporated noticed that few children's books reflected their reality. They decided to do something about that: they wrote their own. Now these teens have written eight original books, and are diversifying children's literature, one smart-fun-real-brave-bold story at a time. Learn more.

Beacon House is a community-based organization in the Edgewood Terrace community in NE Washington, DC. Their mission is to lift as many children as possible up and out of their often difficult circumstances. The Shout Mouse collaboration with Beacon House gives these young people a chance to write novels-in-stories that not only capture and process the challenges of their lives, but also to imagine for themselves and for their characters the futures they deserve. Learn more. 

Free Minds uses books, creative writing, and peer support to awaken DC youth incarcerated as adults to their own potential.  Through creative expression, job readiness training, and violence prevention outreach, these young poets achieve their education and career goals, and become powerful voices for change in the community. Learn more. 

The young women of Restavek Freedom Foundation are writing books with a mission: to end child slavery in Haiti. They have created two beautiful and powerful children's books raising awareness of this issue, inspired by their own pain and determination to overcome. Learn more.