COMMUNITY SERVICE

Service work is a core component of the Impracticum program.

Once the necessary safety conditions are in place, all enrolled students will be expected to meet weekly requirements at local helping organizations selected by our faculty members. Our hope is that when these groups return to the classroom each week, the work experiences they’ve shared will activate more existentially serious conversations about what’s on the page and what can be expressed in literary form.

In the meantime, we’ll continue to honor our commitment by donating to organizations our instructors identify. Please explore their projects and consider supporting them.

If you are a nonprofit interested in learning more about our community work or getting involved, please contact us.

THE PRACTICAL WRITER — CATHERINE LACEY

Serving older adults in New York City, JASA provides critical services to over 40,000 people annually. Founded 50+ years ago, JASA is a leading expert and innovator in aging services that recognizes the diversity among the aging population and honors older adults as vital members of society.

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EIGHT PRISON-BREAKS — DAVID SHIELDS

Inspired by Justice William J. Brennan Jr.'s devotion to core democratic freedoms, the Brennan Center for Justice is an independent, nonpartisan law and policy organization that works to strengthen democracy, end mass incarceration, and protect liberty and security.

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READING THE DREAM SONGS — JOE WENDEROTH

Mr. Bones & Co. is an all-volunteer based animal welfare non-profit supporting animal rescue and advocacy in New York City, as well as on a national and global level. They specialize in dogs facing extraordinary challenges, whether it be extensive emergency veterinary care/surgery, unfair breed discrimination or those languishing in municipal shelters with behavioral issues that make them harder to place.

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Sean Casey Animal Rescue is a no-kill shelter specializing in the rescue, rehabilitation and placement of dogs, cats, reptiles, birds and small mammals. Their rescue takes in over 2,000 animals per year, the most of any other private rescue in New York.

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DONATE TO IMPACTICUM


FIELD REPORTS

Every time we finished a class, I would go back to my writing practice with a greater sense of enthusiasm and purpose and so much of it was informed by Catherine's input and the creative safe space the class provided.
~Alexandra: Athens, Greece

Impracticum has provided me an area where I can be completely open to learning and engaging as a student,  and a feeling that's been oddly therapeutic in this strange moment in time.
~ Garret: Brooklyn, NY

The advanced level of textual examination and instruction by authors of this caliber is essentially nonexistent outside of a university.  It’s a classroom of authors and critics and students.
~ Jessie: Brooklyn, NY

It just doesn't get better than hearing directly from people making great work.               ~Impracticum Student: NYC

The readings and exercises sparked new ways of writing…throughout the course I wanted to write new things without much heavy-thought or over-analyzing. I found myself writing in a way I hadn't before.
~ Kyle: Clermont, NY