Help Students Write Their Own Futures

Minds Matter’s Writing & Critical Thinking program teaches students to analyze complex texts, build persuasive arguments, and craft compelling essays. But more than just another out-of-school tutoring program, Writing & Critical Thinking equips students with the tools to ask meaningful questions, explore thoughtful answers, and make sense of their place in the world.

The Cleveland chapter of Minds Matter has rooted its Writing & Critical Thinking program in the rich history of their beloved city. Called Inquisitive Cleveland, this 10-week initiative is designed to help students explore Cleveland’s past, discover their place in the city’s present, and imagine its future. 

Through a combination of writing seminars, field trips, and real-world insights from special guests, the program fosters critical skills in writing, media literacy, and public presentation. Working with their mentors and instructors, students research, write, and present on personally meaningful moments in Cleveland’s history.

Last year, Minds Matter Cleveland student Naijal used the infamous 1970 bombing of Rodin’s The Thinker outside the Cleveland Museum of Art as a way to explore the event’s deeper implications for art, history, and community identity. Drawing on articles, museum visits, and conversations at his father’s tattoo shop—a vibrant community hub of artists and activists—Naijal created a rich, textured narrative that helped him grow as both a student and a storyteller.

“Researching this giant project,” Naijal told us, “was one of my best experiences at Minds Matter because I learned so much about writing, but also about my own city!”

Minds Matter’s Writing & Critical Thinking program serves over 1,000 students coast-to-coast. Please support these young people today with a gift of $100, $500, or $1,000 to help students just like Naijal! 

This giving season, invest in curiosity, invest in confidence, invest in Minds Matter.