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Cool Culture provides 50,000+ families underserved families with free, unlimited access to 90 cultural institutions so that parents can provide their children with educational experiences that will help them to succeed in school and in life!

HistoryIn 1999, with support from Scenarios from the Sahel, Maura Minsky and Kristen Joiner started Scenarios USA in 2 high school classrooms, one in NYC and one in the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas. Students were asked to share their ideas & write stories about coming of age in the era of AIDS. Those stories would become Scenarios USA's first films. Scenarios USA grew from two classrooms of 50 students to engage over 100,000 students in our REAL DEAL program in our first decade. Students have responded with an outpouring of their stories - dramatic, comic, and sometimes tragic. Those stories have gone on to engage award-winning screenwriters and movie directors who have collaborated with the young writers to produce a growing library of films. The REAL DEAL films get seen by an estimated 15 - 20 million a year in classrooms with lesson plans in all 50 states; they have aired on Showtime, BET, mun2, MTV, Oxygen, NYC Media's Channel 25 and numerous cable access stations.SpecialtiesFounded in 1999, Scenarios USA is a national non-profit organization that uses writing and film to foster youth leadership, advocacy and self-expression in students across the country, with a focus on marginalized communities. Real Deal Education Professional Teaching Workshops Real Deal Common Core Aligned Curriculum Teaching Artist Program Real Deal Films Thousands of students who go through the Real Deal curriculum submit stories to the Real Deal writing contest. Stories are chosen, and the young writers are partnered with acclaimed Hollywood filmmakers to transform the stories into short films for national distribution. Showtime, bet, mtv, Mundos, hbo Real Deal Youth Leadership and Engagement Advocacy Projects Public Speaking Opportunities Youth Conferences Mentorships and Internships We believe that by valuing youth and their stories, we strengthen academic achievement, promote civic engagement and support young people in becoming engaged citizens and healthy individuals.

NY Writers Coalition Inc ( NYWC ) provides free creative writing workshops throughout New York City for people from groups that have been historically deprived of voice in our society. We also publish our workshop participants' writing and organize public readings of their work. Writing with others in an atmosphere of respect and acceptance, participants discover the value of their own stories, gain confidence and a stronger sense of self and become less isolated from themselves and from society. By creating a community of writers and leaders from diverse backgrounds, we galvanize the voices of the marginalized and create opportunities for all writers to connect with the larger community. NYWC's goal is to create an inclusive city, one that is aware of the diversity of voices within it and honors the lives of all of its citizens. Each person's experiences are a source of strength and power as a writer and an artist ; In creating and maintaining a non-judgmental, open and respectful community where everyone is encouraged to support and listen to each other and to take risks and grow as writers ;