September 18, 2017

SVSU Writing Center to open Bay Community Writing Center with open house Tuesday

Saginaw Valley State University's Writing Center will expand its community reach when it partners with the Alice and Jack Wirt Public Library in Bay City to open the Bay Community Writing Center on Tuesday, Sept. 19.

The Bay Community Writing Center will provide free individual writing tutoring sessions and writing-based workshops for members of the community on the first and third Tuesday of every month, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., on the second floor of the library, 500 Center Ave.

"We're incredibly excited," said Helen Raica-Klotz, director of the SVSU Writing Center. "The Bay community has been very responsive already to this initiative."

Tuesday's grand opening will include an open house and drawings for door prizes, with a NOOK mobile tablet reader as the grand prize. Along with writing and résumé tutorials from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., the Bay Community Writing Center will offer a workshop on completing college application forms from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Staffed by SVSU Writing Center tutors, the community center was funded by a $16,500 grant from the Community Initiative Fund and the Youth Advisory Endowment Fund at the Bay Area Community Foundation.

The funds cover two years of support for this community writing center.

The Bay Community Writing Center will mirror the SVSU Writing Center's Saginaw Community Writing Center, which opened in September 2015 at the Butman-Fish Library, 1716 Hancock in Saginaw.

"We are the only university in the state of Michigan to sponsor two on-site community writing centers, and we are very grateful to the Bay Area Community Foundation and the Wirt Library for their support," Raica-Klotz said.

For more information about the Bay Community Writing Center - including a list of the upcoming workshops and dates - contact the SVSU Writing Center at (989) 964-2829 or visit svsu.edu/communitywriting.