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People And Stories/Gente Y Cuentos

People & Stories / Gente y Cuentos, a non profit organization, brings literature to underserved adult communities. We are a reading and discussion program offered in English or Spanish that focuses on short stories by acclaimed authors. It is truly a transformative program!

Description:
People & Stories / Gente y Cuentos is a grassroots humanities program designed to create an enjoyable and enriching experience with literature for those who are not presently reading it independently. In our program, short stories of literary merit are read aloud and discussed using our well-developed method that draws upon the life experiences of basic readers to understand literature. Participants, often people who have had less access to education, are introduced to difficult texts in a reading and discussion that brings forth their inherent abilities to tackle topics usually reserved for the college classroom. The structured dialogues that develop encourage participants to move beyond stereotypes, communicate better across racial and cultural differences, refine critical and analytical thinking skills, and lead to a sense of mastery and accomplishment as challenging issues and texts are examined in rigorous ways. Because the chosen stories are complex in the way life is complex, coming to know and appreciate these texts can lead to the perception of wider and, therefore, more liberating choices. Participants, who are often at challenging crossroads in their lives, are thus encouraged to take tangible steps toward greater empowerment such as pursuing previously intimidating educational or vocational venues.

History:
People & Stories / Gente y Cuentos enjoys a thirty-year history of connecting basic readers, nonreaders, and at-risk audiences with the rich world of fiction. The program began in Spanish in a housing project in Cambridge, MA, when founder, Sarah Hirschman organized a group of Puerto Rican women for a Gente y Cuentos pilot series. Programs in Spanish continued in community centers in Trenton, New Jersey, and in a barrio outside of Buenos Aires, Argentina. A National Endowment for the Humanities grant in 1981 enabled the project's expansion to Florida, Texas, New York, and Puerto Rico. The program in English, People & Stories, began in 1986 in New Jersey under the sponsorship of the New Jersey Council for the Humanities, whose support has been continuous. The project became a non-profit corporation in 1993. The California Humanities Council supported an expansion to California in 1996, and a grant from the Pennsylvania Humanities Council in 1999 began the program in Philadelphia, where the program continues. The New York Humanities Council is currently sponsoring programs in English and Spanish, offered in collaboration with the Westchester Library System, Ardsley, New York. The scope of the project has grown to include participants in prisons, homeless shelters, residential treatment centers, learning centers, and libraries among other community groups in diverse urban locations such as Jersey City, Union City, Camden, Newark, New Brunswick, Elizabeth, Trenton, San Francisco, Philadelphia, and New York.

Contact person: Stephanie Hanzel Cohen, Program Manager, (phone), (email)

Address:

140 E. Hanover St. Trenton, NJ 08608 (See a map)

Web Site: http://www.peopleandstories.org

Last updated on March 10, 2010