Nestled in Colorado State University’s Eddy Hall is the Community Literacy Center, an office and program focused on community advocacy and uplifting voices across Fort Collins, particularly those that may not always be heard. With 20 years of experience working with local nonprofits, the center advocates for literacy and writing as a tool for connection through numerous workshops and projects — many of which are tailored for incarcerated individuals and those at crisis centers.

With around 10 to 15 student interns and 10 additional volunteers each academic year, the center facilitates relationships with students and their communities.

CLC workshops are focused on creating opportunities for all voices to be heard, especially amplifying those that have historically been marginalized. In particular, the SpeakOut! Journals is a project designed to help members of the community publish their work and build connections through self-expression.

“(We) try to make space for people to use writing as a tool for … connection (and to) make space for voices,” said Tobi Jacobi, CLC director.

The project began in 2005 and has since published 36 journals. Physical copies are available around campus and surrounding areas, and digital copies are also available in an online archive.

Mary Ellen Sanger, the associate director of the CLC, explained the process of each meeting. Attendees are able to spend time writing and then have the opportunity to share with the group.

“In essence, it sounds simple because we sit in a circle and write, … but it gets deeper,” Sanger said.

Sanger said the authenticity and sincerity of the storytelling is what makes the process something that can be both challenging and rewarding for those sharing and listening.

“It’s pretty emotional — one of the most important parts of the whole process,” Sanger said.

Each issue of SpeakOut! contains a variety of writing, including several poems written by those participating in the program. The Fall 2023 and Spring 2024 issue titled “The Soul Speaks” contains work created in collaboration with the CLC and numerous programs throughout Fort Collins, such as Larimer County Work Release, Larimer County Probation, Harvest Farm and AspenRidge Recovery.

“The writing contained in this SpeakOut! issue was not generated in a vacuum,” the introduction reads. “Every piece grew from a writer touched by their world. They echo with the inexhaustible material of loved ones’ laughs, but also memories writers would often rather forget. They are interwoven with fragments of joy and hope but also remnants of injustice and grief. Each piece is as complex and multifaceted as the writers’ divergent stories that coalesced to create them.”

The most important aspect is creating a true sense of belonging and community, Jacobi said. Each participant is asked to engage with themselves and one another to work toward the creation of something both beautiful and vital for growth and connection. Education and literacy become tools used to inspire and heal rather than to further inequity and injustice.

“It’s a different kind of relationship we’re inviting them to be a part of,” Jacobi said.

Maddy King, a graduate teaching assistant in the English department, was a student intern at the CLC and worked with incarcerated women at the Larimer County Jail doing creative writing workshops. The Center’s work is inspiring, King said, and she discussed the purpose of the workshops and how they help with transitions following incarceration.

“More often than not, any programs offered at halfway houses, recovery centers and jails are geared toward helping rehabilitate the person back to life after whatever it is they are going through,” King said. “A huge way to help do that instead of just forcing them into the world is to increase activities like reading and writing in community settings. Literacy helps people in every way.”

King highlighted the impact of the program for marginalized people who often lack the resources and connections that are foundational to collective healing.

“It offers a space that invites learning and creativity to groups who just do not have regular access to those spaces,” King said. “That is invaluable in any type of recovery process.”

Reach Aubree Miller at life@collegian.com or on social media @aubreem07.