Allison Deegan

Helping girls write their way to more positive futures
Nearly 50% of the high school students in Los Angeles drop out of high school.
Though her work at the LA County Office of Education, no one saw that more clearly than Allison Deegan.
Determined to make a difference in the lives of young women, Allison has spent the last 10 years volunteering full-time at WriteGirl, a community of women writers that promotes self-expression to empower girls through creative writing.
Allison volunteers as the Associate Director of WriteGirl, focusing largely on resource development, program leadership and strategy. As an active member of WriteGirl, Allison addresses the need of risk aversion – she helps keep girls safe, off the streets, and not at risk from other youth or adults. The young women in WriteGirl develop confidence in their writing and in themselves, resulting in better grades in school. It also helps broaden their sense of opportunity, engaging young women to form educational goals, such as graduating and attending college, while producing creative work that serves as a valuable record of their achievements.
Allison also works hand-in-hand with the program’s high school seniors to help them prepare for and apply to college. In part due to her dedication, in the fall of 2010, 28 WriteGirl teens went off to college, many as the first in their family to do so and on full or partial scholarships. It was the ninth year in a row that WriteGirl had a success rate of sending 100% of their seniors to college.
To learn more about WriteGirl visit their website at http://www.writegirl.org/