The Community Literacy Center
PLEASE READ: THE CLC IS CURRENTLY "COCOONING"
For 20 years, the Community Literacy Center has been shaped by the guiding belief that every person carries stories worth telling and worth sharing. We have written across differences, gathered across ages and languages, and made space for voices too often pushed to the margins.
Like all meaningful creative and activist work, community literacy evolves through periods of growth and reinvention. We are currently cocooning while we consider future possibilities for this work.
While this site may grow quieter for a time, the work of community storytelling, literacy, and connection continues wherever people gather to listen deeply and speak honestly.
Please contact Dr. Tobi Jacobi at tjacobi@colostate.edu for more information or with questions about access to archived copies of the SpeakOut! Journal. Visit https://speakoutclc.wordpress.com/journals/ for electronic access.
I love creative writing and never have a chance to do it as a Bachelor of Science major. I always appreciate when writers share experiences and background from their personal lives that infuence their writing.
Student intern, Natural Resources
This learning process is not one-sided. I am encouraging the writers to explore various parts of themselves, and they are teaching me so much in the process. They put my in-class studies to practical use, and give me new, clearer lenses through which to see the world, our languages, and ourselves.
Student volunteer, English
We all have a story and everyone's scars are different. We sometimes don't have anyone to listen to our stories or writing, so it's nice to be heard and have programs like this for people who are incarcerated, so that we can voice our story, and others can listen.
Writer, Larimer County Jail (Men)
I love those moments when the room is completely silent, aside from the scratch of lead on paper. Silence enough to think clearly in here is uncommonly precious.
Writer, Larimer County Work Release
How we help
Studies show that literacy activities for confined populations help to address the hopelessness and powerlessness that may follow a person from before confinement, into their time inside, and after return to their community. Through writing, readings, and discussion, SpeakOut! facilitators write, listen, and grow with hundreds of confined writers each year, encouraging individual growth and civic engagement.
Some numbers
We made it through COVID with remote workshops and reduced numbers. We are hopeful that it won't be long until we are back at our pre-COVID numbers of:
12 workshops annually
20 student and community volunteers
Up to 250 writers each year
400 published pages of writing and art
What we need
We rely on donors and community partners to support and fund our work. We welcome those who share a commitment to creating space for the writing and circulating of stories that enrich our collective undrstanding of justice, joy, and change in the world.
CLC Featured Work
Spring 2024 Newsletter
CLC in the community — Pop-ups around town — Spring Professional Development — Intern Insights (What Makes a Writer; Harmony in Words; Writing Across Difference) — Writing from Community Corrections — Opportunities to Volunteer/Intern See full online newsletter by clicking here.
Fall/Winter 2023 Newsletter
SpeakOut! by numbers, Fall 2023 — Insight from Interns (Reimagining Masculinity; Weaving Together the Words of Women; Creating a Space Where Writing Can Be Valuable) — Book Recommendation See full online newsletter by clicking here.
Fall 2023 Newsletter
Welcoming new interns — Fort Collins Water Stories at 1883 Waterworks — Conference on Community Writing See online newsletter by clicking here!
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