our mission:
The Elm City Echo aims to promote awareness of homelessness and displacement by giving contributors a community-oriented platform to amplify their voices and experiences.
The Echo empowers individuals through the process of sharing while centralizing creators’ voices. Since 2011, student volunteers have worked with individuals experiencing extreme poverty and homelessness to record and publish the prose, poetry, and artwork. Each collaboration begins with volunteers visiting one of our community partners (Columbus House or Fellowship Place) to facilitate the storytelling process. Once a semester, we publish the pieces in a literary magazine that is freely distributed around New Haven.
Read past issues:
How to get involved:
Write, edit, listen, and give.
Elm City Echo volunteers are crucial to the project's success. Each of our volunteers commits one hour every week to visiting either Columbus House or Fellowship Place, where they will support and build relationships with individuals who are interested in contributing writing or artwork to the Echo. Each creative partnership is different, so student volunteers fulfill various roles. Sometimes, they serve as editors or transcribers, while at other times they may be needed as a sounding board for ideas or simply as a friend and listener. Between visits to shelters, student volunteers are also expected to spend some time preparing for their meetings with the Echo's writers and artists. If you're interested in volunteering with the Echo, just contact the Project Heads!
Contact the Echo Project Heads to get involved!
Current Project Heads: Lauren Chong (lauren.chong@yale.edu) and Sabine Rosaya (sabine.rosaya@yale.edu)
Their words:
“Every time I write something, it’s usually about the bad times. This time, I’m finally going to write about the good.”
