prepared by: Travis Kiefer

updated: [March 22, 2008]

Website: http://www.826valencia.org/

Mission:“Simply put, 826 Valencia is dedicated to supporting students ages 6 to 18 with their writing skills, and to helping teachers get their students excited about the writing.”

Inspiration/History: It was founded in 2002 by Bay Area writer Dave Eggers (author of the autobiography A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and the novels You Shall Know Our Velocity and What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng) and is run by a small regular staff along with hundreds of volunteers and professionals. In addition to our founding site at 826 Valencia in San Francisco, there are also 826 chapters in NYC, Los Angeles, Michigan, Seattle, and Chicago.

Business Model: After being turned down for regular use of church basements and school facilities, the founders discovered an empty store for sale on Valencia Street. The city ordinances stated that any businesses in that particular area of the city must be either retail or catering, so the Pirate Supply Store was developed as the "legitimate" business front for the writing center.

Theory of Change: Whether the students are working in the realm of fiction, nonfiction, or English as a second language, the goal is to help individuals explore their love of writing, and to help students better express their ideas through the written word.

Core Programs: The services they offer are drop-in tutoring, field trips, specialized workshops, in-school assistance, and extensive student publishing help.

Recent Developments (if applicable): 826 National (the parent organization) was named as a winner at the 2007 TED conference.

Biography of [Presenter’s Name]: ???

Questions to be Raised During Visit (3-4):

1. Do you have any new programs in development?
2. Where do you see the program heading in the next 3-5 years?
3. What proportion of your operating budget comes from the store, individual donors, grants, etc?
4. How do you organize and effectively manage relationships with hundreds of volunteers and professionals?
5. How does 826 National relate to 826 Valencia and what is happening with 826 National?
   

Further Resources (2-3):

News Article: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/05/15/DDGGD6KRL61.DTL
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/826_Valencia
826 National: http://www.826national.org/chapters/