At Fourth POV, we see it differently.

Reading is the beginning. But it is not the destination.

Because literacy, when fully realized, leads somewhere. It opens the door to expression. It builds confidence. And when supported intentionally, it creates pathways to ownership — of ideas, of stories, and ultimately, of opportunity.

That belief is not just a philosophy. It is reflected in how Fourth POV is designed.

Instead of a single program, the organization is built around three connected pathways — the Parent Literacy Power Initiative, Fourth Healing, and the Small Press Incubator Program. Each one serves a distinct purpose. Together, they form a continuum.

Parent Literacy Power Initiative: Building the Foundation at Home

Every journey starts somewhere.

For too many children, the literacy gap begins not in the classroom — but at home. Not because parents don't care, but because parents haven't always been given the tools, the confidence, or the invitation to be active participants in their children's literacy development.

The Parent Literacy Power Initiative changes that.

PLPI works directly with parents and guardians in underrepresented communities to build reading and writing skills, develop advocacy tools, and create the kind of home literacy environment that gives children a real foundation to build on. Parents engage with practical skills and with each other — building a community of caregivers who are informed, empowered, and ready to show up for their children in new ways.

Because when parents are equipped, children don't just catch up. They take off.

Fourth Healing: Creating Space for Expression

Not every story is easy to tell.

Fourth Healing creates space for youth and young adults to use writing as a tool for reflection, emotional processing, and growth. Through journaling, poetry, and personal narrative, participants explore their experiences in a safe, supportive, and culturally responsive environment.

This work matters because for many young people — especially in underserved communities — there are very few spaces where expression is both safe and valued. Creative writing becomes more than an activity. It becomes a way to name experiences, release what has been carried, and begin to reshape personal narratives.

Healing, in this context, is not separate from literacy. It is an extension of it.

Small Press Incubator Program: Turning Voice Into Ownership

The final step is often the one that is missing.

People learn to read. They find their voice. They build confidence in their ideas and their stories.

But then what?

The Small Press Incubator Program bridges that gap. SPIP guides participants through the full arc of the publishing and business formation process — from developing an original manuscript to producing a finished product, registering a legal business entity, and actively selling their work in the marketplace.

This is where literacy connects directly to economic opportunity.

Because ownership matters. Owning your work means having control over your story. It means understanding the business behind publishing. It means seeing creative expression not just as something meaningful — but as something with real market value.

For many SPIP participants, this is the first time that connection has ever been made clear. And it changes everything.

One Mission. Three Pathways. Shared Impact.

Each of these programs can stand on its own.

But together they create something more powerful than any one of them could alone.

A parent builds literacy skills and advocacy confidence through PLPI — and brings that energy home to their children. A young person finds emotional language and creative courage through Fourth Healing. And when they are ready, they step into SPIP and turn that voice into a published work, a registered business, and a new economic reality.

This is not a rigid linear path. People enter at different points. They move at their own pace. They take what they need.

But the through line is always the same.

Literacy should lead to expression. Expression should lead to confidence. Confidence should lead to ownership.

That is the model Fourth POV is building — one community, one family, one story at a time.

By connecting family literacy, creative healing, and publishing entrepreneurship, Fourth POV is creating pathways that extend well beyond the classroom — into confidence, economic opportunity, and long-term impact for the communities we serve.

Explore our programs and find your place in the work. Whether you are a student, a parent, a partner, or a supporter — there is a pathway here for you.

"Variety's 'Sinners' Headline Controversy Feels Like a Gut Punch to Black Cinema."

The piece unpacked the backlash surrounding Variety's coverage of Sinners — Ryan Coogler's Black-led film that, like so many before it, was met with a tone and level of scrutiny that rarely appears when white-led projects underperform. The kind of scrutiny that shows up specifically when Black creativity succeeds in ways that make certain people uncomfortable.

And I want to be clear: this is not about one film or one headline.

This is about a pattern. A long, exhausting, completely predictable pattern.

It's the way stories from Black creators are questioned before they're celebrated. Picked apart under expectations we never agreed to and never signed off on. Called "too niche" while nearly identical stories from other communities are praised as "universal." Called "raw" as a criticism while the exact same quality earns other filmmakers the label "gritty," "authentic," or "bold."

We have been here before. We will be here again.

At Fourth POV, Inc., we recognize this for exactly what it is — an extension of a system that has never fully valued our voices. A system that benefits from our creativity while simultaneously working to minimize our ownership of it, our credit for it, and our right to define it on our own terms.

That recognition is part of why we exist.

We were founded on the belief that storytelling is more than self-expression. It is liberation. It is how communities preserve culture, reclaim history, and protect identity across generations.

For Black communities specifically, storytelling has always been resistance. Resistance to erasure. Resistance to misrepresentation. Resistance to the quiet, persistent pressure to make ourselves smaller so that others are more comfortable with our presence.

That is not a new fight. It is an old one. And it is still being fought — in film criticism, in publishing, in classrooms, and in every space where Black creative work is produced and evaluated.

That is why our mission is urgent.

We are not simply helping young people improve their reading levels or write cleaner sentences. We are helping them understand the power of their voice — and then placing real tools in their hands so they can use it.

We are building writers who understand that the act of telling their story is itself a political act. That putting their truth on paper is a form of ownership. That publishing their work — owning it, selling it, controlling it — is a direct response to every system that has tried to tell them their stories don't matter or don't sell or don't belong.

The Sinners controversy is a reminder that these systems are still operating. Still evaluating. Still finding creative ways to minimize what we build.

But it is also a reminder of why we do not wait for their approval.

We are not here to seek validation from institutions that have spent decades pushing us to the margins. We are not building Fourth POV to fit into someone else's definition of what literacy or creativity or value looks like.

We are building something of our own.

We are building it so that children from underserved communities — from Hartford, from every city where talent is abundant and opportunity is manufactured to be scarce — never grow up believing their stories are too much or not enough. So they never sit in a classroom wondering if there is a version of this world where someone who looks like them gets to be the author, the publisher, the creative director.

There is. We are building it.

Because when we write, we resist.

When we tell our stories with clarity and confidence and ownership, we reclaim something that has always been ours.

And when we teach our young people to do the same — we do not just change their lives.

We change the story.

Fourth POV exists to make sure that Black youth in underrepresented communities have access to the tools, the space, and the support they need to tell their stories — and own every word of them.

It is part dream, part paperwork, and part full sprint toward a mission you believe in with everything you have. There is no roadmap. There is no orientation. There is just the work — and the belief that the work matters enough to figure it out as you go.

At Fourth POV, Inc., our first 90 days have been exactly that. Big decisions. Late nights. Meaningful conversations. Unexpected obstacles. And the kind of momentum that reminds you — in the moments when doubt creeps in — that you are building something real.

We officially registered as an organization on January 10, 2025. Ninety days later, here is what we have learned, what we have built, and where we are headed.

Our First Board Meeting

On March 27, 2025, we convened our Founding Board of Directors for the first time.

In the room sat educators, creatives, nonprofit leaders, licensed professionals, and community advocates — people who did not just agree to lend their names to this organization, but who believe in its mission deeply enough to give their time, their expertise, and their accountability to it.

We did not waste that first meeting on formalities.

We mapped our early strategy. We aligned on values. We had hard, honest conversations about what we are trying to build and what it will actually take to build it. No ego. No posturing. Just clarity, shared purpose, and a collective commitment to doing this right.

I left that room knowing something real had begun. Not just an organization — a community.

Our 501(c)(3) Application Is In

One of the most significant early milestones was submitting our application for federal tax-exempt status.

Filing for 501(c)(3) recognition is not a formality — it is a foundation. It unlocks the ability to receive tax-deductible donations, pursue foundation and government grants, and signal to the community and to funders that this organization is built to last. It is the difference between a good idea and a recognized institution.

We submitted the application and are awaiting our determination letter. But we are not standing still while we wait. We are moving forward as if it is already done — because the work cannot afford to pause for paperwork.

Editor's note: Fourth POV received its 501(c)(3) designation on April 11, 2025.

Designing Our Programs — The First Draft

In those first 90 days, we also began developing what we believed Fourth POV's programming would look like. I want to be transparent about something: what follows is where we were in March 2025 — our first honest attempt to put structure around the vision. As with any new organization, some of these ideas evolved. Some grew into something different. Some became clearer through conversation with the community we serve.

This is what we were thinking at the time — and I think there is value in sharing the first sketch alongside the finished painting.

Write to Rise A creative writing workshop series for youth ages 10–17 using storytelling to foster confidence, identity, and emotional healing. This was our earliest instinct — get young people writing and see what happens when you give them permission to be honest on the page.

The Story Lab A hands-on journalism and media literacy program teaching students to research, interview, write, and publish their own stories with integrity and agency. We believed then — and still believe now — that young people deserve to understand how stories are made and who gets to make them.

Family Literacy Circles Monthly reading and writing gatherings bringing families together around books and shared stories, bridging generations through literacy. The seed of what would eventually grow into the Parent Literacy Power Initiative.

Prompt the Future Our signature writing prompt journal series equipping youth with culturally responsive tools to spark creativity and self-expression. The journal has always been central to how we think about accessible literacy tools.

Youth Editorial Board A paid leadership and publishing program where teens collaborate to shape journal themes, review submissions, and serve as ambassadors for youth storytelling. The earliest version of what would become the Small Press Incubator Program's vision of youth as publishers, not just participants.

These were not final answers. They were first questions — asked out loud, written down, and brought into a room full of people who helped shape what came next.

The Work Feels Big — Because It Is

Some days the to-do list is longer than the hours available to address it.

There is still fundraising to build. Outreach to deepen. Materials to finalize. A website to grow. Partnerships to establish. Community trust to earn — and earning it takes time, consistency, and showing up even when it is inconvenient.

None of that feels discouraging. It feels urgent.

Because in those first 90 days we also heard from parents who said: "We needed this." From teachers who said: "Send me everything — I want to share it with my students." From young people who said things that I am still thinking about months later.

That is why we are here.

Not to check boxes or file paperwork or build a program portfolio. We are here to create space — real, consistent, culturally grounded space — for young people to discover that their story matters and that they have every right to tell it.

Ninety days in. The foundation is set.

The building has just begun.

Follow Fourth POV's journey as we grow from idea to institution — one program, one young writer, one story at a time.

Why start something new in the middle of this much political tension? Why launch a literacy nonprofit while executive orders are actively reshaping the landscape of education? Why invest in creative writing and storytelling when funding for the humanities is being cut and the dominant conversation about "value" in education is driven by numbers rather than narratives?

Here is our answer: Because now is exactly the right time.

We are living in a moment when the direction of public education feels more uncertain than it has in decades. From the rollback of DEI initiatives in higher education to dramatic shifts in how federal funding reaches community-based programs, it has become increasingly clear that underserved children — and especially Black children — are often the last consideration in these conversations, if they are considered at all.

And still, we press forward.

We press forward because no executive order can erase the hunger a child feels to be seen, heard, and understood. We press forward because our communities cannot afford to wait for permission from systems that were never designed with them in mind. We press forward because every young person deserves access to stories that reflect their lives — and the tools to write their own.

This is bigger than policy. It always has been.

Let's be honest about the landscape.

The ongoing tension between this administration and colleges and universities across the country is real. The appointment of Linda McMahon — a businesswoman with no background in education or child development — to lead the Department of Education raises legitimate questions about whose children this administration actually plans to prioritize. These are not abstract concerns. They are felt in classrooms, in school budgets, and in the daily decisions educators are forced to make with fewer and fewer resources.

We see it. We acknowledge it.

But it is not our center.

Our center is the child in Hartford — or Jackson, or Baltimore, or any city where talent is abundant and opportunity is not — who has a story to tell and no journal to write it in. The ten-year-old who has never read a book with a protagonist who looks like him. The teenager who could be a brilliant author, poet, or journalist if someone would just give him the space to try.

That is why we built Fourth POV, Inc.

We are not waiting on federal policy to shift in our favor. We are not chasing the next administration's priorities. We are planting seeds in soil we already know is rich — rich with talent, imagination, and the kind of untapped brilliance that no budget cut can touch.

The work is straightforward at its core:

We give young people access to words. We help them find their voice. We create spaces where they are not just welcome — they are centered.

Because literacy is not a luxury. It is a right. Because writing is not just an academic exercise — it is survival, it is healing, it is power. And because the children who have been waiting the longest for someone to show up for them deserve more than thoughts and prayers and policy debates.

They deserve programs. Journals. Workshops. Publishers. Mentors. Opportunities.

They deserve Fourth POV.

This administration may shape certain headlines. It will not shape our mission.

We are here. We are building. We are writing. And we are doing it for every child who has waited long enough for someone to decide they matter.

We already know they do.

The work of Fourth POV — literacy, healing, and publishing entrepreneurship — exists precisely because we cannot afford to wait for the right political moment. There is no right moment. There is only now.

It started in a meeting.

At a charter school board meeting, I was listening to the usual updates on student performance. Numbers on a PowerPoint. Percentages, benchmarks, comparisons. The kind of data you read but don't always feel — because the presenter moves through it quickly and you move with them.

But this time something stopped me.

The presenter advanced to the next slide and I asked them to go back.

There was something behind those numbers I couldn't move past. Something I couldn't explain in the moment but couldn't ignore either.

Our kids are struggling to read. And the gap isn't small — it's growing.

The pandemic didn't create this problem. It revealed it. And then it made everything worse.

Students who were already behind fell further. Those who might have caught up lost time they couldn't afford to lose. In many cases, the systems around them weren't designed to help them recover — and weren't asking hard enough questions about why.

The meeting ended. The realization didn't.

I kept thinking about what those numbers actually represented. Not data points — children. Real kids in Hartford classrooms who deserved better than a slide that gets glossed over and moved past.

Literacy isn't just about reading levels or test scores. It's about access. It's about confidence. It's about whether a young person can understand the world around them — and feel like they belong in it.

And beyond reading, there's a layer we don't talk about enough: voice.

Who gets to tell stories? Who gets to see themselves as a writer, a creator, a thinker? Who gets to own what they create?

For too many young people — and for too many communities that have been historically underserved — the honest answer is still: not enough.

That's where Fourth POV begins. Not as a reaction. As a response.

A response to what happens when literacy is treated as a basic requirement instead of a pathway to opportunity.

A response to what happens when creativity is considered optional instead of essential.

A response to what happens when people have stories worth telling but no clear way to share them, publish them, or claim them as their own.

Fourth POV was built on a belief that is simple but urgent: Literacy should lead to expression. Expression should lead to confidence. Confidence should lead to ownership.

That belief shapes everything we build.

It means creating spaces where young people aren't just reading — they're writing. Not just learning — they're sharing. Not just participating — they're building something that belongs to them.

It means recognizing that storytelling isn't separate from education. It is at the heart of it.

It also means being honest about the fact that literacy work must be culturally responsive. It must reflect the real experiences of the people it serves. It must make room for voices that have been overlooked, underestimated, and unheard for far too long.

This is not about fixing students. It never was.

It's about building systems and creating opportunities that meet people where they are — and walk with them toward where they're going.

The work ahead is not small. The need is real. The timeline is urgent.

But so is the opportunity.

When a young person learns to read with confidence, write with clarity, and tell their story with ownership — that impact doesn't stay in the classroom. It reaches families. It reaches communities. It reaches the future.

That's the work of Fourth POV.

And it started with a moment that refused to be ignored.

Fourth POV exists to make sure that literacy is not just taught — but lived, expressed, and owned. When young people find their voice, they don't just change their own path. They reshape what's possible for everyone around them.

Join us in building pathways from literacy to opportunity. Whether as a partner, supporter, or community advocate — there is a place for you in this work