826 Boston
826 Boston is a nonprofit writing and tutoring center located in Egleston Square, a community situated between the Jamaica Plain and Roxbury neighborhoods of Boston. It is dedicated to supporting students ages 6-18 with their creative and expository writing skills, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write.
826 Boston provides a wide range of programming, including free tutoring, field trips, creative writing workshops, in-school tutoring, help for English language learners, and assistance with student publications. All programming is free, and there are no eligibility requirements beyond age in order to participate. Recent workshops have included cartooning, improv, spoken word poetry, and sock puppet theatre.
826 Boston is the seventh chapter of 826 National, an umbrella organization that works toward duplicating the successful 826 Valencia program in youth writing centers across the country. Recognized as an official chapter in December 2006, 826 Boston opened its doors in the fall of 2007.
The Greater Boston Bigfoot Research Institute
826 Boston is home to the Greater Boston Bigfoot Research Institute, an institute dedicated to research in the field of cryptozoology. Fondly known as the GBBRI, it offers for sale field equipment for cryptozoological research, high quality specimens, and a selection of publications by both 826 Boston and the other 826 chapters. Highlights in its inventory include unicorn tears, field notebooks, a vast array of teeth, bigfoot toenails, respectacles, high quality field cookware, and fashionable cryptozoological wear.
To enter 826 Boston, you must pass through the GBBRI; there is a secret passageway from the store into the writing center, known only to official, registered members of the Greater Boston Bigfoot Research Institute Research Team.
Publications
In June 2008, 826 Boston released its first publication, I Wish They Would Have Asked Me, a collection of writing by students at The English High School, the oldest consistently running public high school in the United States. A second publication, 2% of 2% of All The World's Stories, was published in 2009. It contains bedtime stories written and edited by students in 826 Boston's after-school tutoring program. In the tradition of publications by other 826 chapters, 826 Boston aims to publish a new title each year. In 2010, 826 Boston published a collection of writing and photographs created by the students at Greater Egleston Community High School titled We Turned Back to See Where We Came From and a collection of educational histories from The English High School (based on Sherman Alexie's essay "Indian Education") called Small Things Can Grow Tall: Words from the Underestimated.