SLCC Community Writing Center

The Community Writing Center (CWC) supports, motivates and educates people of all abilities and educational backgrounds who want to use writing for practical needs, civic engagement, and personal expression. We provide opportunities to enhance writing abilities through such programs as Writing Coaching, Writing Workshops, the DiverseCity Writing Series and Writing Partners. These services are open to all Salt Lake area residents. You can learn more about how the CWC got started by reading our history.

The SLCC Community Writing Center opened in October 2001, the first of its kind in the nation, sponsored by Salt Lake Community College. The road to opening the CWC was one of collaboration among community members, college faculty and administrators, and many students. Together we took the leap to establish a new type of community education for the people of Salt Lake City.

The CWC has its beginnings in a service-learning writing course that partnered the SLCC English Department with the Artspace, Inc. community developer. Students in a special topics course produced the Bridges newsletter for the neighborhood that Artspace was located for four years, beginning in 1998. This writing in the community led to the development of the DiverseCity Writing Series, which again partnered the college with a community organization. This program brought together people in four different organizations over two years to write their stories, imaginations, histories, and dreams.

In the fall of 2001, the CWC opened in its first home, the Artspace Bridge Projects, on 5th West and 2nd South. With one faculty member directing the CWC, and six SLCC students working hard on developing the programs, the CWC began to establish itself as a fixture in Salt Lake City's community. People from the shelter came to work on resumes and life stories; partnerships were forged with other adult education programs around the valley, like the Literacy Action Center; the DiverseCity Writing Series published its third anthology of writing in collaboration with The Road Home Shelter, located just across the street; everyone worked to get the word out about the CWC through flyers, festivals and phone calls.

Two years later, other colleges across the state, and the country, started to develop their own community writing centers based on the CWC. Weber State University, in Ogden, opened a CWC in a community center downtown in 2003. Since then, seven other CWCs have either opened or are in development around the country, located at institutions like University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.

At the CWC, our programs grew rapidly. By 2004, we had worked with nearly 1000 people on their writing! People from all over the city participated in our Writing Coaching program and attended our writing workshops. The DiverseCity Writing Series grew to eight writing groups that met across the valley, and came together twice a year for publication and a public reading to celebrate their writing. And, the CWC had partnered with nearly 100 community organizations, city agencies and governmental programs on writing workshops and education for their clients, staff and volunteers.

In 2005, the CWC and the City Library met to talk about the Writing Coaching program that had been located in the library's technology center for over a year. We wanted to see how we could improve the services to the Library's patrons. During that meeting, the Library's director asked if the CWC might be interested in moving to Library Square. The CWC and the community college jumped at the chance to locate in the heart of Salt Lake City's community center. Partnering the Community Writing Center with the City Library seemed a natural fit, a collaboration that would serve the city's residents in ways that neither of us could do alone.

In January 2006, the Community Writing Center opened its doors at Library Square in Salt Lake City. The CWC is still led by SLCC faculty, and all the programs are still developed and run by students at SLCC and other local colleges and universities. In March 2005, the Community Writing Center was an national award of Writing Program Excellence, and was held up as a model of college/community partnerships for the rest of the country. We're looking forward to the next five years of writing with the community and serving the people of Salt Lake City.

Community Reading, Utah Arts Festival, Reelabilities Film Festival, 10th Annual Wasatch Iron Pen Literary Marathon.