Serves San Francisco Unified School District
Neighborhoods Mission District & Tenderloin
Satellites Buena Vista Horace Mann K-8, Everett Middle School, & Mission High School
Storefronts The Pirate Supply Store, King Carl’s Emporium, & Woodland Creature Outfitters, Ltd
The Pirate Supply Store and King Carl’s Emporium are the Bay Area’s top outposts for all your nautical needs. For landlubbers, they also offer a range of publications written by the students of 826 Valencia.
For Sale : Hooks, flags, message bottles, rat traps, peg legs, pirate perfume, wax seals, dice, and lard (for bartering, not sale).
Serves New York City Public Schools
Neighborhoods East Harlem, Park Slope, & Williamsburg
Satellites Brooklyn Public Library, Willamsburg Branch & MS 7/Global Tech Prep
Storefront Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co.
The 826NYC Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co. sells capes, grappling hooks, antimatter, and more. All the proceeds from the store go directly to 826NYC. The store also gives passersby a reason to walk in and see what’s going on in the writing center.
For Sale : Capes, masks, grappling hooks, muscles, antimatter, secret identity kits, suction cups.
Serves Los Angeles Unified School District
Neighborhoods Echo Park & Mar Vista
Satellite Manual Arts Senior High School
Storefronts The Echo Park Time Travel Mart & The Mar Vista Time Travel Mart
826LA is home to The Time Travel Mart , with locations in Echo Park and Mar Vista. A leader in convenience retailing, both locations sell everything you need for any kind of trip through the fourth dimension. Stock up on plenty of time-machine fuel, mastodon meat, viking odorant, and robot parts, because once you’re too far inside the wormhole it will be a real bummer to have to swing back.
For Sale : Dinosaur eggs, robot milk, dodo chow, duel starter kits, time-machine parts, and sometimes coffee.
Serves Chicago Public School District
Neighborhood Wicker Park
Storefront Wicker Park Secret Agent Supply Co.
The Wicker Park Secret Agent Supply Co. has a not-so-secret mission. Every purchase supports 826CHI’s free writing programs, which provide thousands of Chicago students with a platform for self-expression. Our products are intended to unlock creativity and trigger new adventures for agents of all ages.
For Sale: Spy glasses, diversion safes, fake moustaches, emergency bowties, invisible ink pens, magnifying glasses, and much more.
Serves Ann Arbor Public Schools, Detroit Public Schools Community District, & Ypsilanti Community School District
Neighborhoods Ann Arbor, Detroit, & Ypsilanti
Satellites beezy’s cafe, Detroit Public Library, & Ypsilanti District Library
Storefronts Liberty Street Robot Supply and Repair Shop & The Detroit Robot Factory
826michigan has two stores serving the robotic needs of the Great Lakes State: the Detroit Robot Factory in Eastern Market in Detroit and Liberty Street Robot Supply & Repair in downtown Ann Arbor. Both stores feature products for robots, humans, and robots disguised as humans.
For Sale : Positronic Brains, Emotion Upgrades, Robo-scout Survival Gear, robot kits, cords, connectors, and books of student writing.
Serves Boston Public & Greater Boston Area School Districts
Neighborhoods Egleston Square, Roxbury
Satellites Boston Public Library, Jeremiah E. Burke High School, & John D. O’Bryant School of Mathematics & Science
Storefront The Greater Boston Bigfoot Research Institute
The 826 Boston Greater Boston Bigfoot Research Institute has all the necessities for your Bigfoot, Research, and Institute needs! Visit today before you end up in a hairy situation.
For Sale : Cyptozoologist’s Career Starter Kit, Jungle Hygiene Kit, unofficial Yeti Hairball, Baby Giant Centipedes, and Sea Serpent Secretions.
Serves D.C. Public Schools & D.C. Public Charter Schools
Neighborhood Columbia Heights
Storefront Tivoli’s Astounding Magic Supply Co.
In its brand new location, 826DC is proud to introduce Tivoli’s Astounding Magic Supply Company . The District’s only illusionarium and de-lux haberdashery now stocks everything a budding magician needs to embark on their own path to mastery, from Stage Fright Antidote to Micro Escapes (for starting a career in escapology). Every purchase makes real magic happen—in the writing center beyond the secret door.
For Sale : Capes, white gloves, pizzazz, and juggling balls
SERVES New Orleans Public School System, Louisiana Recovery
School District
NEIGHBORHOODS 7th Ward, Upper Ninth Ward
SATELLITES Sylvanie Williams College Prep Elementary
STOREFRONTS The New Orleans Haunting Supply Co.
The New Orleans Haunting Supply Co. supplies the ghostly denizens of the Crescent City with souls, human disguises, shirts, and other goods and services for the non-corporeal.
For Sale: Haunting Grade Slime, Messages from the Crypt, Unfinished Business Stationary, Boo in a Can, Corporeal Dust, Temporary Living Solution, Flicker Lightbulbs.
Serves Minneapolis Public Schools, St. Paul Public Schools
Neighborhoods Seward
Satellites Writers’ Room at South High School in Minneapolis
Storefronts Mid-Continent Oceanographic Institute
Located in the landlocked Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Mid-Continent Oceanographic Institute is the premier portal for midwest oceanographic studies. Here, you can spend your (sand)dollars on goods to help you search for the lost ocean of Minnesota, and hats, shirts, and books published by our very own young authors.
For Sale: Poems in a Bottle, Cuttlefish Gear, Anglerfish Apparel and MOI-themed Winter Hats.
826 chapters work with students over periods of two hours or many years. Students write poems and essays, stories and podcasts. They write about pizza and aliens, and they also write about social justice and democracy. They write in traditional classrooms, in our Writers’ Rooms, and in our centers, behind our imaginative storefronts. Every community is unique and so is the way that 826 serves the communities we work within. What defines our core programming across our chapters is a commitment to project-based learning, amplifying youth voice, collaboration and community, student-driven learning environments, and space for exploration. We offer students opportunities for practice in the writing process and individualized support within a culture of creativity and joy.
AFTER-SCHOOL
Four to five days a week, students come to our writing centers after school to build community, complete their homework, and write. 826’s after-school programs are designed to inspire learning, foster creativity, and help students understand and complete their homework each day. We accomplish this by providing invaluable academic assistance, individualized support, and unique opportunities to write.
FIELD TRIPS
Entire public school classes journey to our writing centers for two hours of interactive, high-energy writing. In our signature Storytelling and Bookmaking program, for example, students compose an original story as a group — crafting plot points and characters — and then individually write their own unique endings. They return home with personalized books and a deepened understanding of storytelling, bookmaking, and collaboration.
IN-SCHOOLS PROGRAMS
We dispatch 826 chapter staff and teams of trained volunteers to local, high-needs public schools to support teachers and students. We provide individualized assistance as they tackle various writing projects — including school newspapers, college entrance essays, oral histories, and more.
WORKSHOPS
Our free workshops encourage students to explore their creativity and strengthen their writing skills. Topics range from academic essentials like SAT-prep and college-entrance essays, to more imaginative forms of writing like fiction, cartooning, and bookmaking. Workshops are project-based and taught by experienced, accomplished professionals.
YOUNG AUTHORS’ BOOK PROJECT
The Young Authors’ Book Project (YABP) partners local schools with professional writers and editors. Students spend three to four months writing about a particular theme and collaborate with volunteers throughout the editing and publishing process. Once the project is complete, students, volunteers, and families celebrate with a book release party in which students read excerpts from their work.
Based on the success of our chapters, 826 National’s Chapter Development Process supports local communities in building an organization that enables local youth to access the power and the joy of writing. Following a rigorous exploration, organizations enter into a five-stage process towards joining the 826 Network.
Organizations in Chapter Development
Founded 2019
City Dallas, TX