Community Writing Center Wins NEH Grant

Now, thanks to another grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), that work will be fortified for years to come.

Purdy has been awarded a $59,983 development grant for his project Taking Humanities to the Hill: University Community Writing Center Storytelling Initiatives.

CWC staff, which consist of students from across the University, will continue such projects as their work with the Macedonia FACE Active for Life Senior Center, through which they help senior citizens from the Hill District preserve their stories in a regular newsletter.

“The goal is to make a series of publications that will be ongoing so that participants can continue to share their work and we can draw a new membership into participating on the newsletter,” Purdy said. 

The CWC also partners with the Elsinore Bennu Think Tank for Restorative Justice to compile and edit narratives of the formerly incarcerated for publication.  

“The book with the Think Tank has a very sort of conscious note of trying to help shape the understanding of populations that may not be greeted that way to try and facilitate healing through stories,” Purdy said. 

As with any grant-dependent initiative, Purdy will work to continue to secure funding as time goes on, but this boost from the NEH is particularly helpful and assures the work they have established will continue to thrive. 

“Part of what I think these initiatives help to cultivate are the dialogue, the sharing of stories, the valuing of life-lived experience that folks have, and working with them to get that to circulate in a broader public audience,” Purdy added.