Mighty Writers planning to open an after-school program in Italian Market

Mighty Writers, the nonprofit organization that teaches kids the value of writing well, has been awarded a grant that will enable it to open a location in the Italian Market serving Latino students.

A $75,000 grant from the Knight Foundation will help pay for a literacy program catering to at least 150 Latino students from second to 12th grades in its first year. The exact location of the program has not been finalized, but a spokeswoman said they are shooting for 9th Street in or very near the Italian Market, which has become much more Mexican over the years, particularly the southern end.

They are still raising money to fully the fund the new center, which also has locations at 15th and Christian and in West Philadelphia.

Here’s what the Knight announcement had to say about the program:

To engage Latino youth in creative expression by expanding their award-winning after-school writing program that serves 2,000 Philadelphia students annually into a new center in the city’s Italian Market neighborhood. In an effort to engage the Latino community, Mighty Writers has collaborated with award-winning Mexican-American artist Nora Litz and local non-profit Puentes de Salud to design and launch a successful bilingual writing program. Now, Mighty Writers will develop a robust roster of literacy programs that when launched will serve at least 150 Mexican-American grade students in grade 2-12 in its first year.

Neat. We’ll keep you posted.