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About SOAR

So Others Ascend Righteously

Purpose is to empower others to claim their space through our writing for healing workshops and retreats.

 

Mission is to use writing as a tool to create a safe space that promotes healing and emotional literacy.

Goal is for black women to reclaim their voices to address barriers to their potential.

Vision is to heal our collective village one circle at a time.

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Executive Director Kimberly A. Collins, MFA, founded SOAR in 1990 after working as a teacher and bearing witness to the trauma, conflict, and confusion some of her young students faced. Ms. Collins is a published poet, writer and professor of English at Howard University who created SOAR’s six and eight-week workshops that use her trademarked Writing Training Wheels™ included in her workbook: Choose You! Wednesday Wisdom’s to Wake Your Soul! SOAR seeks to target BIPOC young women ages 18 to 26 who are out of work, out of school, attending adult literacy programs, in returning citizen programs, young women aging out of foster care, teen-mom facilities and other community groups as needed. SOAR seeks support for its Writing for Healing workshops and annual My Daughter’s Power Circle Retreat which is the culminating activity of its six and eight-week writing workshops. The Power Circle is transformative in its design to catch young women at pivotal moments in their lives to impact choices that affect their physical and mental well-being by connecting them to Mother Mentors who volunteer to provide their mentees a continuum of care.

Our Successes

Since 1990, SOAR has conducted Writing for Healing workshops for various organizations in and outside of the Washington, DC Metro area: D.C.’s Green Zone Environment (GZEP) Summer Youth Employment Program, Break Free Education for incarcerated youth, Maya Angelou Youth Adult Literacy Program, HIPS (Helping Individual Prostitutes Survive); My Sister's Place and The House of Ruth women’s shelters; The Regional Addiction Prevention Program (RAP); Crossing the River, a program for at- risk women; North Carolina’s HIV Symposium for Historically Black Colleges and Universities; The Empowerment Program, St. Ann’s Infant Home, AmeriCorps Literary conference in Houston, Texas, North Carolina’s AIDS Alliance: Life is Golden Empowerment Retreat.

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