916 Ink is Sacramento’s arts-based creative writing and literacy nonprofit that provides workshops and tutoring to transform Sacramento youth into strong readers, confident communicators, and published authors. Our programs increase literacy skills, improve vocabulary, teach empathy, positively impact social and emotional learning, and expand communication skills. We envision a Sacramento region where every child and teen is given access to a culturally relevant creative writing program that leads them to believe in themselves and to understand the power of the written word.

Mission

916 Ink empowers youth through creative writing.

Vision

We envision a Sacramento region where every child and teen is given access to a creative writing program that leads them to believe in themselves and to understand the power of the written word.

Values

At 916 Ink, our core values inform and guide our work with every constituency, at every level - from our methods in the classroom to our messaging on social media to how we work with each other in the office.

• Empathy - We cultivate an open and compassionate environment.

• Empowerment - We encourage each individual to step into their own power.

• Equity - We commit to justice and advancing the unique experience and expression of all.

• Octopus - We celebrate creativity, bravery, and risk-taking.

Racial Equity Statement

916 Ink recognizes that communities of color in Sacramento have been left behind by decades of systemic racism and oppression. Of particular concern to our organization are the academic achievement and literacy gaps. Fewer than half of Sacramento County third graders read at grade level, and these rates are significantly lower for students of color. To advance our mission of empowering youth through creative writing, we know we must specifically address injustice and racial inequity.

In 2020, 916 Ink's staff collaborated to redefine our organizational values, resulting in a commitment to equity, empowerment, and empathy. Our focus on equity has led us to prioritize accommodations for participants and staff who may need them, and we developed structures for community feedback and culturally appropriate outreach. Utilizing these values as a framework ensures that accessibility and inclusion are better integrated into our daily work and our legacy.

Our workshops operate as a writing community with two trained facilitators participating fully in each session. This approach removes many barriers between instructor and student, allowing for freer and more honest self-expression. We are intentional about facilitator and volunteer placements, taking care to select individuals who come from the communities we serve. Additionally, students are encouraged to write in their own authentic voice, whether that is writing entirely in a language other than English, using cultural terms or slang, or incorporating their preferred dialect of English. Our emphasis that each student “write what needs to be written" means that the student makes all decisions about what pieces they choose to work further on and what gets published. Through these tactics, we affirm our commitment to lifting up the voices of youth of color and supporting our schools and communities in shifting the landscape of inequity.

916 Ink opened the doors to its whimsical creative writing center, The Imaginarium, in 2015.  This unique space allows all who enter to experience a world of imagination, storytelling, and a love for the written word. On any given day, 916 Ink’s dedicated staff can be found facilitating transformative workshops in the Imaginarium, in the classroom, or in conjunction with community partners throughout Sacramento.

By transforming youth into published authors, we create lifelong readers, articulate communicators, and self-confident youth writers who know the power of their own story.

Impact & Accolades

• Published over 4,500 youth writers in over 200 professional books

• Provided more than 45,000 hours of creative writing instruction.

• Won the “Arts Make it Happen" Endowment from the Sacramento Region Community Foundation

• Won the People's Choice Award and Coaches Award at Social Venture Partners Fast Pitch Program

• Awarded grants from the Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, the California Arts Council, Golden 1 Credit Union, and more

• Co-founded the Walk 4 Literacy Coalition

• Raised over $1,000,000 since we began our work in 2010

2020-2021 Annual ReporT

10th anniversary report

2019-2020 Annual report

Most recent 990: 2019-2020 990

Previous Fiscal Year’s 990: 2018-2019 990

The Method

Finding Their Voice

916 Ink delivers countless hours of creative writing workshops across the Sacramento region, primarily to at-risk or underserved youth. We have partnered with schools, local nonprofits, community groups, juvenile detention centers, and many more to bring our method to those who need it most. As we continue to publish the young people who come through our doors, we hope to extend our reach and provide access to thousands more youth from some of the most underserved populations in the region. 

Why it Works

In every 916 Ink workshop, you'll find a couple of key ingredients that make our programs unique. Our approach, an adapted version of the AWA method, allows youth and children to express themselves in a safe and positive environment. By providing a supportive feedback structure, our Inkers gain a better social and emotional understanding of themselves and their peers, an essential set of skills for everyone to develop. Youth leave our programs with increased self-confidence, improved academic ability, and are inspired to continue writing in their day-to-day lives. We witness this transformation throughout the process, and it truly shines when our youth read their published work at a book release party filled with their family members and peers. It's evident that they are a writer.

How it Works

The 916 Ink Method consists of four different phases that combine and build on each other, creating an exceptionally broad impact on the students we work with. Throughout the workshop experience, our “Inkers” learn to value themselves, to silence their inner critic, and to build empathy toward their peers. Through the act of writing and self-reflection, they often begin to heal trauma, gain newfound confidence to share their words aloud, and discover that they are not alone in their fears. They find peers across the table who appreciate their sense of humor and identify with their pain, often when all they saw before was a kid who looked different than they did. In tracing the “Hero’s Journey” of a storybook character, our students who face incredibly difficult circumstances even learn to see how—just like the protagonists they write about—their choices can change the ending of their own story.

The 916 Ink process begins with a generative phase. Our facilitators, aka “Wordslingers,” bring tactile and imaginative prompts that take the kids out of their element and into a new world of imagination and story. We pour fancy old keys onto the table and ask, “How would you describe the door that this key opens? What is behind the door once you put the key into the lock and turn it?” Crucially, we teach that everything written in our workshop will be treated as fiction. This allows the children to draw from personal experience without fear of judgment, even when they write about the most painful aspects of their reality.

This premise is also the foundation of the second phase of our program: feedback. After each write, students volunteer to share their piece, and their peers in the room give feedback exclusively on what they liked, what they felt was strong about the writing, and what pieces will stay with them. It’s such a rare thing today for kids to sit across a table from each other and compliment each other on something as deeply personal as a new piece of writing—we see remarkable results in this phase alone.

The third phase in the 916 Ink process is revision, where we teach craft and prepare the work for publication. We tell our students, “You are going to become a published author, so let’s find ways where we can make your piece even stronger,” and we work with them to find ways to improve and add to their written work. On the final day of their program, Inkers work together to generate three different titles for their book, one of which will be selected and used as the basis for the cover design done by our creative director. Each student then writes a final piece to the prompt “I leave here with…” where they share their thoughts on what 916 Ink meant to them.

Finally, each student receives an invitation to the program’s book release party, the fourth phase of the 916 Ink Method. There’s a special moment that happens at the book release party just after one of our young students reads their writing out loud, sharing it with an audience of friends, family, and complete strangers. We work very hard to create safety and trust in our classroom environment, but this is different. This is not just peers: this room has adults. But here, our student is at the microphone holding their very own, very real, professionally published book. They tell the audience the title, the page where they can find it, and they begin to read. Despite all of the positive feedback and encouragement our students have received about their writing, this is always a tentative moment. An audience, no matter how small, is always intimidating. For many of our Inkers, this is the first time they have read in front of a crowd. But read they do, and when they finish, there is invariably a moment of hesitation. You can almost feel their nervous anticipation: “Did they like it? Did I stumble over my words too much? Will people clap?” Sure enough, as soon as they’re done, the room bursts into applause. Parents and peers cheer them on, and the entire room radiates appreciation for the words that were just shared. As the Inker walks back to their seat, the smile on their face tells you all you need to know.