The Community Writing Project (CWP) within the Program in Writing and Rhetoric began in 1988, and is one of the oldest national service-learning programs in writing and rhetoric. CWP students research and produce written, spoken, visual and / or multimedia projects that directly benefit area nonprofit or governmental agencies with which they work. These projects give students opportunities to work outside an academic setting in rhetorical situations of practical consequence. Ultimately their work will reach audiences beyond their teachers and serve tangible purposes for community audiences and for the students themselves.

The Community Writing Project has worked with over 250 Bay Area community nonprofits, linking PWR students with organizations needing help with research, writing, and speaking tasks. While students benefit educationally from their participation in the Community Writing Project, participating agencies benefit in tangible ways as well. Since so many nonprofit organizations are critically underfunded and understaffed, CWP students make a substantial contribution to helping agencies fulfill their missions.

According to Nancy Buffington, the coordinator of CWP, the next year will see some important new developments in the program. This coming winter quarter 2008 features two new CWP course offerings: “Indecision 2008: The Rhetoric of Politics,” taught by Patti Hanlon-Baker, and “Dude Look Like a Lady: The Performance of Gender,” taught by Clyde Moneyhun. Sangeeta Mediratta is offering her popular course, “Dirty Pretty Things: Objects, Objectification, and Cultural Meanings,” for the second time as a CWP section. These and other instructors are already developing courses with innovative new approaches to community partnerships, which will be unveiled in 2008-09 for the program’s 20 th anniversary.

To learn more about the Community Writing Project, visit its website at http://ual.stanford.edu/AP/univ_req/PWR/CWP.html.