The Dater Foundation - Serving Cincinnati

WordPlay Cincy

4234 Hamilton Avenue
Cincinnati, OH 45223

Hear Our Voices

When no grant application was received by June 2023, the Foundation made a "renewal grant" for the program for which funding had been provided in the previous year. For more information about the program, see the Grants Section of the 2021-22 Dater Foundation Annual Report on this web site and/or go to the grantee organization's web site.

Program Results:

No formal Grant Evaluation Report was submitted with results for the program. This “Success Narrative” was submitted in February 2024.

Funding from the Charles H. Dater Foundation is supporting the growth of WordPlay’s “Hear our Voices” teen programs in creative writing, spoken word and playwriting/theatre. These programs support youth across the Cincinnati region in our school-based programs as well as our efforts at our Creative Community Hub in the Northside neighborhood. Dater funding is also sustaining WordPlay as the regional home of the National Youth Poet Laureate program, which is in its second full program year. Funds support staff and 1099 Teaching Artist costs, operation of our WordPlay Creative Hub in the neighborhood of Northside, program materials, and student publications for the 2024 Fiscal Year.

WordPlay’s Board of Directors and Staff recently (December 2023) updated our mission statement to reflect the evolving depth of our work in the community: “WordPlay sparks storytelling through creative expression and arts in healing with Cincinnati’s young people to cultivate belonging, celebrate our strengths and empower the community in its pursuit of social justice. Our vision is a just world fueled by creative expression.” At the core of our work in the Greater Cincinnati Region, our efforts amplify the voices and lived experience of young people, centering their experiences through storytelling and art-making. The work we do is founded on our core beliefs that creativity catalyzes learning, our young people are a vast resource of strengths, and self-determination lies in being the authors of our own stories.

Through our CPS partner school programming and efforts in our newly renovated, 7,000 square foot headquarters in Northside, we’ve deepened our partnerships with area schools, teachers, community partners, parents, and more! Our program year presents the extraordinary opportunity to thoughtfully engage best practices in creative youth development program pedagogy, mental health best practices, arts in healing techniques, as well as literacy-building activities. Through this programming, we’re deepening our focus on arts-in-healing practices, increasing youth mental health protective factors through creative programming, integrating strengths and asset-based pedagogies, and improving youth leadership development in the region. This funding will support key staff positions, program materials and costs associated with design and evaluation of programs.

The National Youth Poet Laureate Program’s Cincinnati Chapter is thriving! The 2023 Youth Poet Laureate Rimel Kamran and her cohort of “peers in poetry”, wrote and published an anthology of youth poetry called “Hear our Voice” in collaboration with the Hamilton County and Cincinnati Public Library system. Gabrielle Walker is WordPlay’s second Youth Poet Laureate, for the 2023-2024 program year, and she’s been well-received as a youth voice throughout the city! She offered a poetic performance at the welcome celebration for Little Amal, reading a piece she wrote about immigration and identity to thousands. She was invited to offer a performance for City Council’s Inauguration in January 2024, representing youth arts leadership for the City of Cincinnati. She’s engaged in multiple additional public performances and educational opportunities.

We’d love to share about our student demographics, to offer a sense of who we’re serving through programmatic efforts. Across all our programs, 90% of our children, teens and young adults are from low-income backgrounds, just over 70% identify as BIPOC, and we specifically engage other historically marginalized (and resilient!) populations, such as refugee and immigrant students, LGBTQIA, those with developmental and/or physical disabilities, those experiencing housing insecurity, foster and other systems-involved youth.

Support for these programs strengthens our work as we deepen our programmatic capacity with self-discovery, arts-in-healing and community building at their core. Our programs provide opportunities to youth to connect to their communities through publication, performances, and community events. Our excellent community partnerships and collaborations with local youth Mental Health providers such as Beech Acres, 1N5, and Cincinnati Public Schools also determine the impact and trajectory of our programming in the region. For example, our evolving partnership with Beech Acres is building towards serving as their primary arts-integration provider, specifically to “amplify youth voices.”

Funding from the Dater Foundation allows us to maintain our top-notch program staff and a cohort of our teaching artists (1099 independent contractors) to maintain cohesion, continuity and teamwork among our deeply connected, high-functioning team. The support of our team led to direct benefit for the young people engaged in our programs. The following is programmatic impact data collected throughout the school year so far:

Culminating performances have been executed by 100% of participating students across programs.

The 2023 Poetry Residency had a taped performance of all of the poems created in class. 100% of participating students created 4 styles of poetry: Acrostic, Haiku, Abercedarian, and Limerick poems to present to their peers and the community.

100% of our Playwriting Residency students performed their written pieces in the SCPA black box through Readers Theater pieces in front of an audience of parents and peers.
Dohn students created 1 captivating podcast for their culminating performance, reading personal Haiku poems and I AM poems and documenting shareable content which has now been broadcast beyond the school community.

Shroder students implemented a live theater performance and readings of their Fear and I AM pieces.
100% of students agreed or strongly agreed that their WordPlay writing project was engaging and that they intend to write more in the future.
90% of students agree or strongly agree that the writing project inspired them to be the best student they can be.
“Thank you for giving me the confidence to read my poem on stage.”
“I really liked this program. I like that WordPlay taught us how to write I Am poems and how to express ourselves with words. This program was a way for students to show their creative side and I really enjoyed that.”

“I personally liked the writing project because it allowed the class to create a bond and learn more about each other.”
“I thank you all for giving us an opportunity to write about us and write about a topic we were interested in. I had a nice time with you guys.”
“I really enjoyed having Ms. Spring and Mr. Geoff come to our school and show us new things.”
“I actually like the writing because it makes me feel relief and gives me motivation when I go back to read them. Thank you for being the person to let out my feelings in writing.”
“I believe that other schools should try this program and see that poetry is a very interesting topic and I think it’s very important.”
“WordPlay was inspiring to me. The people that were teaching me put 100% into trying to entertain us and to be happy.”

On the other hand, as a result of multiple extraneous factors, including stress and trauma, many of WordPlay’s students are challenged in the expression of empathy, they display anger issues, difficulties in social skills and positive/health communication styles, demonstrate a lack of confidence, or demonstrate signs of depression and anxiety. At the beginning of the (I AM) and Page to Stage Residencies at Dohn and Shroder, we faced these challenges head on and observed measurable shifts in student capacity to locate personal strength and power by telling their story through writing. The challenges were addressed with love and patience and resulted in creating a beautiful culminating product at the end of the program.

Statement from Michael Starks at Dohn High School regarding his students:

““My students have encountered multiple traumas, and they have been severely and negatively affected. One of my favorite sayings to them is “Get comfortable being uncomfortable”. The “I Am” residency helped them do just that through their written word and getting on camera and expressing themselves in a powerful way. Thank you for asking this question. Honestly, if you met these kids 3 months ago, we would not have seen what was captured in the beautiful moments you saw. It warmed my heart to see them in this light of victory and the spirit of love and supporting each other.”

Statement from Michaela Buchek from Shroder High School:
“Outside of some type of therapeutic professional help, I believe visual and written art is the next best thing for someone who is suffering. My hope for this program was to face trauma through the therapeutic moments students created through the expression of written and performance art.”

We continuously share the Dater Foundation’s grant award in communications and proposals to individual and corporate donors we seek program support from. Dater’s funding is also listed on WordPlay’s website, demonstrating to other interested funders that our programs have the support of a local leader in educational grant-making.

We look forward to continuing this programmatic year and are immensely grateful for the support from the Dater Foundation! Please reach out with any questions and we’d also be happy to offer a tour of our Creative Community Hub in Northside.

Website: http://www.wordplaycincy.org
Amount: $20,000
Date: July 2023