Podium RVA Builds Equity Through Literary Arts Education

By Lyra McKee

Communications Assistant

The COVID-19 pandemic and the public health measures put in place to curb its spread, such as mandatory quarantines and social distancing, had serious negative effects on K-12 students’ progress toward standard learning outcomes in 2020 and beyond. Even before this global health crisis, student literacy rates were seeing a troubling decline. The work of reversing these trends and fostering educational equity among young people is both urgent and complex, but Podium RVA has nearly two decades of experience mobilizing peer mentorship and community connections to tackle these issues. 

Since its founding in 2008, Podium RVA has helped thousands of students across the Greater Richmond area find their voices and showcase their writing skills. The nonprofit organization’s mission is to empower youth ages 11 to 19 to become confident and capable writers, communicators, and leaders, setting the stage for their continued success in all areas of life.  

In pursuit of this mission, Podium offers weekly after-school and summer workshops at local schools, quarterly youth publications and showcases, and an annual professional development conference for teens. Often, the organization partners with local community centers and middle and high schools to facilitate these programs. 

“Our founders did an assessment of the Greater Richmond area,” Executive Director Vicki Yeroian said. “They found that in the city of Richmond, there weren’t any extracurricular publications for young folks—literary magazines, journals, newspapers, things like that—sharing students’ words, their stories, and their perspectives.” 

While Podium’s primary focus in providing its programs is the positive impact that writing opportunities and skill development can have on youth well-being, their publications and showcases also reach the broader community of the Greater Richmond area.  

“There’s so much that our young people can share with us and can help us learn and grow from,” Vicki noted. “We like to offer up multiple opportunities for our students to shine, not just in our programs and not just in their schools, but within the greater community as well.”  

Whether students come to Podium’s programs with extensive previous writing experience or none at all, they find a supportive environment to hone and platform their expressive literary skills.  

When deciding which partnerships to pursue, Podium prioritizes students’ demonstrated need for educational support in writing and reading.  

“We work in communities where there aren’t as many resources—where there is an intentional and systemic pushing of resources to other areas,” Vicki said.  

The organization also considers high schools that receive students from middle schools where Podium already holds programs, so that mentors can maintain long-term relationships with students. In fact, many of Podium’s program staff are alumni of Podium programs themselves. Vicki emphasized how important these community connections are to Podium’s work: “There’s just something so special and unmatched when our alums come in and work with our students as mentors. It’s really beautiful.”  

Podium’s work of fostering educational equity by building youth literacy has an especially positive impact on the lives of students whose educational opportunities and resources are stymied by socioeconomic inequity. Because a public school’s resources are determined by its district’s tax revenues, the tendency of wealthier families to send their children to private or charter schools often results in under-resourced school districts. And because of decades of intentionally racist housing policies and practices, these districts are composed primarily of low-income students of color. 

“Our school systems are just as segregated today as they were before Brown v. Board of Education,” Vicki said, “and it’s because of systemic issues like white flight.”  

Although Podium doesn’t engage in governmental advocacy, it does empower students to communicate in healthier ways and develop skills in self-advocacy and expressing their needs.  

“Communication is in every part of who we are as humans, whether we’re engaging with our family members, our peers, our colleagues, or conducting an interview with a with a wonderful organization,” Vicki explained. “We all need these skills.” 

Virginia Humanities is proud to support Podium’s work through our grants program. To learn more about Podium RVA’s community services, publications, and student showcases, visit their website at the link below!