The Storybook Project

One of the most energizing developments underway is the launch of The Storybook Project. Young people are convening to learn the craft of writing children’s books, engaging directly with published authors. AHSHAY’s team is connecting participants with illustrators and supporting each story through to publication.

Inside the Writing Sessions: A space that belongs to them

From the first writing session, something was clear: youth participants didn’t need to be convinced to show up. They arrived curious, engaged, and ready to dig in: storyboarding, world building, exploring the sequence and timing of their stories, and working to ensure that their voice is coming through on the page. They are reading and analyzing stories from an author’s point of view, and asking questions that reflect a genuine investment in their work.

Youth participants are also practicing pitching their concepts to one another — presenting their stories as if to publishers. From there, our space has become a creative workshop. Youth are building on each other’s ideas, offering feedback with care, and using feedback zines to refine their work together.

Take a sneak peek at the Storybook Project in action:

A Cross-Generational Exchange: What the littles are teaching us

One of the most meaningful elements of the Storybook Project, learned from our Fortifying Futures project, is its intergenerational design. At the heart of this approach is the inclusion of the “littles”—children ages 4 to 6—who bring curiosity, and joy that helps older youth step into roles as mentors, storytellers, and leaders. Youth participants recently convened with the littles for a cross-generational session that reminded everyone in the room why this work matters.

The older youth engaged with and observed the younger children, listening to how they respond to stories and watching how they make meaning from the world around them. The session gave our youth authors real insights into how to reach young readers.

The littles have also had their own sessions, designed around children’s agency. Parents have been invited to step back and follow their child’s lead, and allow them to create without redirection or constraint.

These sessions remind us that constraints are learned. For children, and especially for young people whose lives have been shaped by systems that try to limit their potential, giving explicit permission to create without boundaries is where healing and creativity meet.

Building Something Together

The Storybook Project is, in part, an act of building — building skills, building community, building stories that will travel far. It’s young people and published authors working side by side, as collaborators. It’s youth and littles informing each other’s creativity. It’s families leaning in, parents and caregivers showing up as witnesses to something their children are making entirely their own.

The stories are still being written and refined. But the belonging, the sense that this space was made for these young authors and that what they carry is worth honoring, is something that’s already here.

True Dawgs

This February, we welcomed back our now-senior True Dawgs documentary students to AHSHAY, marking one year since their first interviews. Over the past year, they’ve grown tremendously in sharing their experiences, thinking more broadly about the changes they want to see nationwide, and building lasting bonds with one another.

The True Dawgs documentary is in its final stages, and we’re excited to participate in a series of screenings about local documentaries at UW on March 20. For more details, click here.

Narrative Strategies

Narrative Strategies is how AHSHAY uses storytelling to build power and possibility. We’re working with communities across Washington State to shift the stories we tell about youth, systems, and change itself—reimagining collective futures and acting from abundance rather than deficit. Through broad partnerships, we’re amplifying voices that honor youth brilliance and challenge the status quo, creating culture change one story at a time.

The Power of Belonging

As a teen, Rashan spent time in juvenile detention. Today, he runs Shifted Theory—a community space that shows what’s possible when we invest in youth potential, juvenile justice involvement prevention, and support instead of punishment. We went down to Vancouver to see his work in action.

Honoring Youth Brilliance

In February, AHSHAY joined the Washington Youth Alliance (WYA) as they headed to Olympia to advocate for everything from mental health, gun violence prevention, and education equity—highlighting the kind of youth brilliance that is close to AHSHAY’s mission.

An AHSHAY profile about WYA’s youth-led work is in the works. Watch this space.

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