1.+(c)+Similar+sites

1. 826-CHI -- []

i) Similar Content and Purposes 826-CHI is a Chicago-based organization whose mission is to support students ages 6-18 with their writing skills. It is actulally a chapter in a national umbrella organization called "826 National," with 826 being a reference to its flagship branch 826Valencia. They're other locations are in LA, Boston, Seattle, Michigan, DC. They have a larger target than CEPP's high-school aged kids and more offerings, including field-trips and tutoring, but the core mission is the same.

ii) Trends and Precedents 826-CHI has a cool, highly interactive online store called, "The Boring Store," which sells a compendium of students' writings, t-shirts and spy-gear. Presumably, they don't get a lot of money from it, but it adds a fun, engaging element to the site.

iii) Pros & Cons 826-CHI has the best website of all the 826-affiliates because of it's beautiful design, ease of navigation and clarity. They have a "writing gallery," which is a great way to refer to the "archive." However, their gallery is not indexed or searchable.

Because each affiliate is independent and grass-roots driven, there is no unifying look or functionality between sites, which is a negative. For instance, the 826-Michigan website uses blogspot within its website to serve the writing gallery function.

2. D.C. Creative Writing Workshop -- []

i) Similar Content and Purposes

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 * The D.C. Creative Writing Workshop ** is an extra-curricular creative writing program with a mission statement similar to CEPP. Both programs aim to expose students to the benefits of self-expression through creative writing. The workshop is located in the Congress Heights section of Washington, D.C. It began in 1995 at Charles Hart Junior High School and has expanded to near by Ballou High School and Simon Elementary . Unlike CEPP, they work with grade-levels 4-12, offer in-class instruction and provide trips to plays and literary events. CEPP also encourages their student to take part in the arts like play writing and photography. =====

ii) Trends and Precedents // This site does not provide any links to popular social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. //However, they have a "Network for Good" widget on the right side of the web page, which directs potential donors to a website where they can easily donate to the writing program.

iii) Pros and Cons This site includes a page dedicated to the articles from local and national newspapers that mention the program. I think that this is a great feature to have because it allows potential donors to read about the success of the program before making a donation. Under the “Student Work” tab there are links to the workshops’ three literary journals //hArtworks, Simon Says and Voice of the Knight.// // Most of the editions can be found here, but not all of them are provided. //

3. Global Village English Centers -- []
i) Similar Content and Purposes Global Village English Centers in Australia offers High School English preparation classes to students ages 13-17 years of age.

ii) Trends and Precedents This site is using Web 2.0 technologies such as blogs, photo galleries and Facebook.

iii) Pros and Cons: Very well organized and the information is easily accessible. However, the footer is large and is permanently a part of the page. This allows for a smaller portion of the browser to be viewable and one must scroll more to view the contents on page. This is a bit cumbersome and distracting.