Causes matches Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel's $5,000 donation to YCA.

At present, YCA directly serves 2,500 teens a year through workshops, performance and publication programs, and reaches 30,000 young people and adults through readership of its publications and audiences at its events.

YCA continues to expand. The Writing Teachers Collective, formed by and for writers who teach and teachers who use writing in the classroom, offers workshops on special topics in creative writing. The WTC has been integral in several initiatives, such as the Chicago Teen Poetry Slam, WordWide, GirlSpeak,Men as Allies: Swaggerzine, and Say What, a literary magazine tying together creative writing with youth culture and personal expression. Now the focus of YCA is to reach as many youth as possible.

Let's help support Young Chicago Authors by raising $5,000 to fund these amazing programs!