List of Portland Lit Organizations Highlighted In Willamette Week's 2009 Give Guide

Wilamette Week has released their 2009 Give Guide, and among the 79 non-profits highlighted are several with ties to Portland’s literary community.  Here is the list of those non-profits along with their mission statements:

• The Library Foundation- A strong public library system is the very foundation upon which a community builds for the future. The Library Foundation mobilizes private support to enhance Multnomah County Library’s leadership and innovation, helping the library address emerging community needs. The foundation’s vision is that every person builds a relationship with learning and libraries that lasts a lifetime. Through this relationship, every person can have access to all of the tools needed to succeed in life.
• Write Around Portland- Write Around Portland provides high quality, skillfully facilitated writing workshops in safe, accessible and respectful environments for people to write and share in community, holds community readings to promote the exchange of stories and publishes anthologies to connect writers and readers.
• Independent Publishing Resource Center- The IPRC is one of the only nonprofit self-publishing centers of its kind anywhere in the world.  We offer access to workspace and tools to aid in the production and distribution of zines, comics, hand-bound books and artwork.  This includes computer workstations for writing, scanning, graphic design & desktop publishing, and high-speed internet access for research and networking purposes; two copiers, five table-top letterpresses, three Gocco printers, a YuDu screenprinter, and various other tools for creating, binding, and assembling publications.  We also have two art galleries and one of the nation’s largest circulating zine libraries.
• Literary Arts- Literary Arts began in 1984 with a small lecture series designed to bring leading authors and cultural thinkers to Portland, which was hardly a dot on the literary map. Within four years, demand for tickets moved Portland Arts & Lectures to the 2,700–seat concert hall at which it currently resides. Since that time Literary Arts has continued to support and celebrate Oregon writers and publishers through programs like the Oregon Book Awards,  Oregon Literary Fellowships, Writers in the Schools, Poetry In Motion®, Oregon Book Awards Author Tour, Poetry Downtown, and the Delve: Readers’ Seminars. In all, our programs reach more than 12,000 writers, readers, teachers and students across the state each year.
• Live Wire- Live Wire’s mission is to harness the intimacy of the theater experience and the power of the public airwaves to enliven, inspire, and engage audiences—connecting communities through live music and performance, unpredictable conversation, and original comedy. Live Wire! delivers old school variety with a modern twist to you, wherever you may roam.
• Wordstock- Wordstock is an annual festival of books, writers, and storytelling in Portland, Oregon. To date it has hosted over 550 writers, who have read and performed for nearly 55,000 people at past festivals. Wordstock features ten author stages, a book fair with over 150 exhibitors, a special children’s area and children’s literature stage, a series of workshops for writers and for K-12 teachers, a special broadcast of Live Wire!, the popular public radio variety show, featuring writers from the festival, and more. Although it only began in 2005, Wordstock is already the largest celebration of literature and literacy in the Pacific Northwest, and is one of the largest festivals of its kind in the nation.
• SMART (Start Making A Reader Today)- SMART recruits thousands of volunteers to read one-on-one with K-3 children in need in literacy support. Every week for seven months, volunteers read aloud with kids to help them gain confidence in their reading ability. Educators agree this helps reinforce reading and language skills learned in the classroom. Research proves that children who participated in SMART are 60 percent more likely to reach state reading benchmarks.
• p:ear- p:ear builds positive relationships with homeless and transitional youth, ages 15 to 24, through education, art and recreation to affirm personal worth and create more meaningful and healthier lives. Each year our programs serve more than 350 homeless and transitional young people.

You can donate to these or any of the other non-profits highlighted directly through the Give Guide website.  Willamette Week has partnered with several local businesses to provide a little extra incentive for donors.  You can learn more about the Give Guide program through their extensive list of FAQ’s, or you can watch this short introductory video about the project:

Welcome to the Willamette Week’s Give!Guide 2009 from Give!Guide09 on Vimeo.