Volunteer
When you volunteer with 826NYC, you’re joining hundreds of dedicated and passionate New Yorkers who make our daily programming and operations possible for over 3,000 young writers each year.
WAYS TO VOLUNTEER
After School & Weekend Programs
Volunteers support our young writers’ growth in after-school and weekend programs by leading weekly book club conversations, guiding collaboration during group work, and helping students fine-tune their masterpieces. Commitments range from five-week Write Away Workshop series to fantastical full semesters in Dungeons & Dragons & Writers. Orientations and program-specific trainings give you all the tools you need to help with everything from adjectives to zeroing in on a prompt.
Field Trips
If your schedule doesn’t have room for a weekly commitment, jump in and join a field trip! Field trips in our Write Together program meet on weekday mornings, and volunteers fill essential roles, including illustrating original stories (no experience or artistic skill required!), assembling brand-new student books, helping small groups choose the next step in their choose-your-own adventure stories, and playing the role of our beloved grumpy editor, Dr. Mildew.
Skills-based
826NYC’s beautiful chapbooks, annual reviews, and school anthologies are all copy-edited, proofread, and designed by talented volunteers. The same goes for many of the graphics we use regularly, materials for events, and even the gorgeous photos on this website. Whether you have an eye for punctuation or picture-perfect layouts, we want to hear from you! Contact volunteer@826nyc.org to get involved.
Volunteer of the month
Katrina Sharpe
Q: What’s your favorite part of 826NYC?
A: It has been an amazing opportunity to meet such gifted storytellers and writers and see how their stories evolve over the five week program. The students really get to know their characters and take them on incredible adventures. Also, it’s been a while since I was their age, so it’s fun to see what elementary school students are like now—I always learn something new!
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Volunteer Community
826NYC celebrates our volunteers as crucial and unique members of our creative community. Volunteering and mentoring go beyond working with our students, and are also excellent ways to create new connections with other adults in the space. Our volunteers come from a plethora of backgrounds, skills, and interests, and their passion for supporting NYC youth brings them together.
We invite volunteers to stay connected by attending 826NYC book launches, learning from our educational materials and community events, and sharing their reflections with staff members on a regular basis.
We provide a variety of benefits for volunteers, including a 40% discount on any purchase at the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co., end-of-year appreciation gifts, and ongoing free opportunities for professional development.
COMMITMENT TO INCLUSION
As an organization committed to encouraging youth in their creative expression, personal growth, and academic success, 826 National and its chapters recognize the importance of diversity at all levels and in all aspects of our work.
In order to build and maintain the safe, supportive 826 environment in which great leaps of learning occur, we commit to inclusion: We will not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, ethnicity, age, gender identity, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, nationality, marital status, English fluency, parental status, military service, or disability. See About 826NYC for more on our core values.