About Us

Young people’s learning experiences should enrich their lives and equip them with the tools they need to create positive change. Our programming honors the multiple identities and lived experiences of people. We use learning spaces as sites to resist and interrupt long-standing patterns of marginalization and oppression.

In collaboration with our partners, we strive toward the vision that all young people have high-quality learning experiences with educators who are deeply skilled and continuously learning.

In 2002, the late Mayor Thomas Menino and faculty at Harvard’s School of Education saw a problem. Low scores on the English portion of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) suggested that Boston Public School students weren’t writing.

Jake Murray and Rick Weissbourd from the Harvard Children’s Initiative created the initial outline for WriteBoston. Then they hired our first employee: Betty Southwick, who served as Executive Director for 14 years.

In those early years, WriteBoston brought critical attention to youth writing. We coached teachers in three schools, sponsored teen poetry slams, and organized author visits to classrooms. Over time, the depth of our work increased. We launched the Teens in Print newspaper with The Boston Globe. We developed student writing centers in local high schools. Our professional development spread to more schools and districts beyond Boston. We partnered with other youth organizations to improve literacy outside of traditional classrooms.

Nearly two decades later, WriteBoston has developed an effective coaching model, published thousands of young people, and provided direct writing support to thousands more. Today, we provide high-quality professional development and coaching to educators across Massachusetts. We engage Boston students in our after-school and summer journalism programs and publish their work for a wide audience. And we maintain our core belief: that student voice matters.