Last week, as students cleared their desks, zipped up backpacks, and hugged friends goodbye—some crossing graduation stages, others just beginning summer break—another story was unfolding around them.
A harder one.
Across the country, we’ve seen protests erupt, and federal actions once again target immigrant communities—communities our students are part of, care for, and call home. Many are not watching from the sidelines. They are living this moment from the center.
At 826, we do what we’ve always done in times like these: we stand with our students. We make space. We listen. We write. We stay in community. We help young people process, reflect, and imagine their way forward—one word at a time.
We’re reminded, as always, that young people are not passive observers of crisis. They are storytellers. Truth-tellers. Visionaries.
I left my Nicaragua hoping
That my future would look brighter here
I left hoping
Y todo por el
“American Dream”
—Valeria, Grade 11, recounts.
“If the world was mine,
It would feel safe
instead of afraid.”
—Zaria, Grade 3, imagines.
“In a world reborn…
Borders no longer divide, but lovingly unite”
—E.M.E., Grade 11, hopes.
Even when left out of the national conversation, they keep writing—in classrooms, on living room couches, in libraries, and in 826 writing labs, insisting on a more just, free, and kind world.
As the ground continues to shift, let’s meet the moment—together. This is a call to action for all of us:
- Create space for young people to write and process what they’re living through. Explore our 826 Digital Writing to Process resources (Elementary and Secondary) created to help the young people in your life write through uncertainty, and feel seen and supported along the way.
- Listen closely to what their writing reveals about who they are, what they see, and what they dream.
- And stay connected to your people, and to ours, the 826 community—by sharing stories. Because it’s through connection that stories grow, and hope has a place to land.
Together, let’s keep creating the conditions for youth voices to rise and for all of us to listen.
In community,
Laura Brief
CEO, 826 National