Brink Literacy Project looks to expand its programming in Colorado Springs
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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Jaron “Jay” Cook walked to the podium in the Black Box Theater at Pikes Peak College. Projected on the wall is a comic-ified image of Cook, 28, holding out a gold coin. His 7-year-old daughter, Lily, sat in the crowd, wide-eyed and dressed in a bright yellow dress, her curly hair slicked back into a ponytail held together by a white bow.
Cook took the stage to tell the crowd the story of how he was in and out of jail throughout his early life.
“Something impactful needed to happen in order for that to shift. And that something was me having my daughter Lily,” said Cook.
Cook’s storytelling performance was the culmination of his time in the Brink Literacy Project’s writing program; he first performed last December at Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs to celebrate his story being published in Brink’s literary journal, “F(r)iction”.
But this performance, held August 6, was an effort by Brink to increase their engagement in the Colorado Springs community.
The Brink Literacy Project is a nonprofit that offers literacy programs to people impacted by the justice system. Currently, most of Brink Literacy’s work is conducted in the Denver metro area.
The Brink Literacy Project is a nonprofit that offers literacy programs to people impacted by the justice system. Currently, most of Brink Literacy’s work is conducted in the Denver metro area.
Cook, now a partnership coordinator and writing instructor for the Brink Literacy Project, and based in Colorado Springs, currently works with two cohorts in the city.
Brink’s work in Colorado Springs consists of partnerships with New Visions, a nonprofit that works with at-risk youth and youth alcohol and drug abuse recovery, and Community Anchor, a nonprofit that helps formerly incarcerated people with mental health support and job searching. But Cook hopes to expand these partnerships, particularly in the school districts.
After Cook finished telling his story, he opened up the conversation to folks in the crowd.
“How do I get this program in my school?” asked Mary-Catherine Ruben-Clapper, the principal at The Bijou School in Colorado Springs.
A majority of youth and young adults who go through Brink Literacy Projects writing program have never written a story before, let alone one about their own life choice. Patricia McCrystal, a lead writing instructor with Brink, teaches participants about character development, story arc, and how to bring their vision to the pages.
“And that's why the classes are 8 to 10 weeks, because everyone has different levels of trust and sort of requirements when it comes to emotional safety,” McCrystal said.
Dani Hedlund, founder and CEO of Brink Literacy Project, said that Cook’s performance last December at Garden of the Gods was a showcase of their community storytelling, but it was not presented to people who actually work with the communities that Brink hopes to serve.
“What we would love is to have a little bit tighter, curated event for the people that would kind of get their hands dirty to get the work done,” Hedlund said.
In 2023, El Paso County recorded 2,417 juvenile crimes, according to the conservative policy nonprofit Common Sense Institute Colorado, making it the second highest county in Colorado for juvenile crimes, after Adams County. The Colorado Springs Police Department reported in November 2024 that there was a 59% increase in juvenile crime since 2021.
Hedlund said she hoped to speak to and eventually partner with leaders of school districts, violence prevention nonprofits and people who work with youth in prison systems.
“A big thing that we want to do and why we partner with kind of those larger bodies is to say, all right, how do we kind of humanize this population, change hearts and minds, and show that there's actually a pretty radically different starting point for a lot of kids that end up in the system,” Hedlund said.
At the close of the event, people in the crowd approached Hedlund and Cook.
“Moving forward, past this event, the hopes are to take it into the alternative schools, the schools,” Cook said. “Really just any community here in Colorado Springs that needs the power of storytelling.”
Type of story: News
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
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