826LA
A Los Angeles nonprofit that helps students develop creative and expository writing skills through tutoring, workshops, school partnerships, and publishing projects.
Last updated October 14, 2026
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Overview
826LA is a Los Angeles–based nonprofit educational organization focused on improving the writing abilities, confidence, and creative expression of students ages six to eighteen. Established in 2005, it is part of the 826 National network of locally operated writing and tutoring organizations. Its work combines free or low-cost academic support with imaginative, project-based learning intended to make writing feel purposeful, collaborative, and accessible. The organization’s central service is individualized tutoring. Students can receive help with homework, classroom assignments, college-application essays, research projects, poems, stories, comic books, and other forms of writing. The one-on-one model is designed to provide the kind of focused attention that teachers may not always be able to offer in a conventional classroom. Student work may be edited, designed, and published in small chapbooks or other literary formats, giving participants a tangible result and an audience beyond the classroom. 826LA also operates writing workshops led by working professionals. Topics have ranged from screenwriting, journalism, poetry, songwriting, college essays, and standardized-test preparation to highly imaginative exercises involving fictional countries, fashion criticism, and unusual narrative perspectives. The workshops generally use small-group formats to encourage participation and detailed feedback. The organization has also developed collaborative programs with cultural institutions, including activities connected with the Hammer Museum and the J. Paul Getty Museum. Its school-based work extends the organization’s reach beyond its writing centers. Volunteers work with teachers and students in Los Angeles schools, helping with assignments such as sonnets, biographies, narrative essays, artist statements, and University of California application essays. 826LA has also operated Writers’ Rooms at Manual Arts High School in South Los Angeles and Roosevelt High School in Boyle Heights. These spaces provide school communities with dedicated writing support and connect the nonprofit’s tutoring model to local educational settings. 826LA maintains two principal public-facing locations, in Mar Vista and Echo Park, and supplements in-person activities with virtual tutoring and writing programs. Field trips bring classes to the writing centers for curriculum-linked activities. One signature exercise, Storytelling & Bookmaking, has students collectively create a story and then produce individual endings, illustrations, and bound books. The deliberately theatrical format turns a writing assignment into a shared production. A distinctive part of the organization’s identity is the Time Travel Mart, a retail concept associated with both Los Angeles centers. Styled as a shop selling goods from the past and future, it offers books for children and adults, student anthologies, and whimsical products developed with local artists. The stores provide a playful public face for the nonprofit and help support its educational mission through retail activity and community engagement. 826LA has built a broad cultural program around its core tutoring work. Events have included Dead Author Readings, adult writing seminars, writer panels, literary conversations, performances, and imaginative fundraisers. Its songwriting activities have connected students with professional musicians, while public events have involved writers, comedians, actors, musicians, and filmmakers. These programs position writing as part of a wider creative ecosystem rather than only as a school subject. The organization’s work is locally rooted but connected to a broader national model. Other 826 National chapters operate in cities including San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti/Detroit, Boston, New Orleans, Minneapolis–Saint Paul, and Washington, D.C. 826LA remains an active Los Angeles nonprofit whose principal activities are youth writing instruction, tutoring, school partnerships, publishing, community programming, and fundraising.
History
826LA was founded in 2005 as Los Angeles’s local chapter of the 826 network, a group of nonprofit writing and tutoring centers built around the idea that young people benefit from sustained, individualized attention to their writing. The organization serves students from elementary through high-school age and works both directly with students and alongside teachers. Its approach combines practical academic assistance with imaginative assignments, allowing students to move between homework support, formal school writing, creative composition, and self-directed projects. The organization developed two principal Los Angeles locations, in Mar Vista and Echo Park. These centers function as writing laboratories, tutoring sites, workshop venues, publishing spaces, and community gathering places. 826LA’s tutoring program gives students regular access to volunteers who help them complete assignments and pursue longer projects. Rather than limiting the service to correction or remediation, tutors may assist with poems, short stories, comics, research, essays, and other forms of student-authored work. Selected projects can be compiled into chapbooks, turning the educational process into a form of publication. From its early years, 826LA expanded beyond after-school tutoring. Its workshop program brought professional writers and other practitioners into small classes covering subjects such as journalism, screenwriting, poetry, songwriting, college applications, and test preparation. Some workshops were deliberately unconventional, using fictional settings or unusual prompts to encourage students to experiment with voice, structure, and point of view. The organization also created partnerships with museums and other cultural institutions. Community Photoworks, begun in 2006 with the J. Paul Getty Museum, combined photography, exploration of Los Angeles, and the writing of artist statements before presenting the students’ work publicly. School partnerships became another important part of the model. 826LA volunteers entered classrooms to offer individual feedback and writing support while teachers maintained responsibility for the broader curriculum. Assignments supported through this work included sonnets, biographies, narrative essays, artist statements, and university-application writing. The organization later operated Writers’ Rooms at Manual Arts High School and Roosevelt High School, extending its services into school campuses in South Los Angeles and Boyle Heights. It has also offered virtual tutoring and writing activities, allowing the program to reach students outside its physical centers. Field trips provided a structured way for entire classes to use the organization’s facilities. Programs could be tailored to teachers’ curricula, with options including screenwriting, journalism, and custom-designed writing sessions. Storytelling & Bookmaking became a signature activity: students collaboratively developed a story, worked with facilitators on characters and plot, and then created individual endings and illustrations for a finished book. The playful premises used in these sessions were intended to make writing collaborative and memorable while still requiring students to make concrete decisions about narrative and language. 826LA’s public identity is closely associated with the Time Travel Mart, a retail space located at its Mar Vista and Echo Park centers. Conceived as a shop serving travelers from different eras, it sells books, student anthologies, and humorous fictional products made with local artists. The concept provides an imaginative entry point for visitors who may not otherwise encounter the nonprofit and contributes to the organization’s fundraising and community profile. Cultural events and fundraising have been central to 826LA’s development. Beginning in 2008, Dead Author Readings used comedy and performance to bring classic literature to public audiences. In 2009, the organization introduced adult writing seminars, which later developed into a collaboration with Nerdist known as the Nerdist Writer’s Panel. Other programs included conversations with authors, museum activities, music workshops, and performances. The 2010 Chickens in Love project demonstrated how student writing could be connected with professional recording and public release. Fundraisers such as the Echo Park Lake Paddle Boat Regatta, Craft Beer Fest, celebrity spelling events, ping-pong competitions, and music-and-comedy programs helped support the organization while reinforcing its informal, arts-oriented brand. 826LA is one chapter within 826 National, alongside organizations serving communities in San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Michigan, Boston, New Orleans, Minneapolis–Saint Paul, and Washington, D.C. Although connected by a common educational philosophy, the chapters operate with local programming and partnerships. 826LA’s continuing role is to provide Los Angeles students with free or accessible writing assistance, help teachers support writing instruction, publish student work, and create public programs that make literacy and creative expression part of city life.
- 2012
Judd and Jon Music and Comedy Hour(s) fundraiser
[1]A large music-and-comedy benefit is held for 826LA and raises more than $250,000 according to the referenced source.
- 2010
Chickens in Love is produced
[1]Students participating in a songwriting workshop collaborate with professional musicians on an album project.
- 2009
Adult Writing Seminar Series starts
[1]The organization begins public seminars for adult writers, later leading to the Nerdist Writer’s Panel collaboration.
- 2008
Dead Author Readings launch
[1]826LA introduces a performance series in which actors and comedians portray deceased authors and engage audiences with their writing.
- 2006
Community Photoworks begins
[1]826LA and the J. Paul Getty Museum begin an annual project combining photography, writing, and public exhibition for seventh-grade students.
- 2005
826LA is founded
[1]A Los Angeles chapter of the 826 nonprofit writing and tutoring network is established to support students and teachers.
Products and positioning
Nonprofit, creativity-led writing education and youth tutoring
Youth education service
After-school tutoring
Free tutoring offered during the week gives local students individualized help with homework and writing. Students may also use the writing labs to develop poems, stories, comics, research projects, and other self-directed work. Completed projects can be edited and published in chapbook form.
Creative writing education
Writing workshops
Small-group workshops led by working professionals cover creative and academic topics including poetry, journalism, screenwriting, songwriting, college essays, and test preparation. Sessions are designed to strengthen writing technique while giving students a defined project and an opportunity to share their work.
School partnership
In-school programs and Writers’ Rooms
826LA volunteers work with teachers and students in Los Angeles schools, providing feedback and individualized support on classroom assignments. Writers’ Rooms at Manual Arts High School and Roosevelt High School extend this model through dedicated writing spaces on school campuses.
Educational field trip
Storytelling & Bookmaking
In this field-trip program, a class collaboratively develops a story with the help of facilitators, then students create their own endings, illustrations, and bound books. The activity combines group storytelling with individual authorship and gives each participant a physical record of the work.
Bookstore and fundraising retail
The Time Travel Mart
Located at the Mar Vista and Echo Park centers, the Time Travel Mart is a fictional retail environment selling books, student anthologies, and humorous objects supposedly imported from other eras. Its playful merchandise and artist collaborations support 826LA’s public identity and fundraising activities.
Student music publication · 2010
Chickens in Love
This album emerged from a 2010 songwriting workshop in which students worked with professional musicians. The project connected youth writing and composition with studio recording and contributions from recognized performers.
Marketing campaigns
- 2020Live Field Trip for Adults
Los Angeles
826LA presented an adult-oriented live field-trip event at Santa Monica Airport, adapting the organization’s field-trip concept for a broader audience.
- 2012Judd and Jon Music and Comedy Hour(s)
Los Angeles
A benefit combining live music and comedy was organized with prominent performers and hosted by Judd Apatow and Dave Eggers.
Outcome. The event raised more than $250,000 for 826LA according to the referenced source.
- 2010Songwriting With The Submarines
Los Angeles
A songwriting workshop connected students with the band The Submarines and other professional musicians.
Outcome. The student songs were recorded and released as Chickens in Love.
- 2008Dead Author Readings
Los Angeles
A theatrical literary series presented performers impersonating deceased authors and reading from their works.
Outcome. The series became a recurring public program involving comedians, writers, and performance collaborators.
- 2006Community Photoworks
Los Angeles
An annual collaboration with the J. Paul Getty Museum taught seventh-grade students photography, visual composition, exploration, and artist-statement writing.
Outcome. Student photographs and written statements were presented in a gallery exhibition.
Recent events
- 2012
Judd and Jon Music and Comedy Hour(s) raises funds for 826LA[1]
Campaign
The fundraising event combined music and comedy performances with a high-profile guest lineup and generated more than $250,000 for 826LA, according to the referenced account.
- 2010
826LA releases student songwriting project Chickens in Love[1]
Product launch
A songwriting workshop involving students and professional musicians produced an album featuring songs developed through the program and recorded with contributions from established performers.
- 2009
826LA expands public programming with adult writing seminars[1]
Campaign
The Adult Writing Seminar Series offered aspiring adult writers discussions with professionals across genres including music, food, comedy, and memoir writing.
- 2008
826LA develops Dead Author Readings[1]
Campaign
The organization began presenting theatrical literary events in which performers portrayed deceased authors, read from their work, and answered audience questions.
- 2006
826LA begins Community Photoworks collaboration with the J. Paul Getty Museum[1]
Other
The annual school collaboration introduced seventh-grade students to photographic composition, Los Angeles-based exploration, and the writing of artist statements, culminating in a gallery presentation.
- 2005
826LA launches as a Los Angeles chapter of the 826 writing-center network[1]
Other
826LA was established in Los Angeles to provide writing tutoring, creative workshops, school support, and publishing opportunities for local students.
Sources2 sources
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