Learn About Us

Poetry Pals was started in Chicago by a group of dedicated volunteers who wanted to create opportunities for children of diverse backgrounds to meet and learn from each other. Founder Donna Yates was formerly a board member for We the Poets, a Philadelphia-based outreach poetry program, and used her experiences there to create a similar program in the Chicagoland area.

The underlying principle of Poetry Pals is that the mosaic of cultures in our modern world can be a source of inspiration rather than conflict. We are dedicated to bringing together young people to share their faiths, learn about each other's culture and have fun together by expressing themselves through words, art, music and performance. Poetry Pals operates under the umbrella of AI Partnership for the Arts, organization under section 501 c-3 of the Internal Revenue Code.

Current Staff

Adam Shames: Program and Creative Director

adam@poetrypals.org, 773-388-2880

Donna Yates: Founder and Poet-Educator

donna@poetrypals.org, 215-317-0027

This year Poetry Pals is funded in part by a grant from One Nation Chicago Fund at the Chicago Community Trust. To learn more about the One Nation One Chicago grant click here.

Thanks to a grant from Search Institute and the Interfaith Youth Core, supported by Learn and Serve America, we launched Poetry Pals in 2008 with 90 students from the Muslim Community Center Fulltime School in Morton Grove and the Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School in Lakeview, Chicago. A very special thank you to Naomi Greenspan, Hind Makki and Jenan Mohajir at the Interfaith Youth Core for helping to launch Poetry Pals. The Interfaith Youth Core, created and founded by Eboo Patel, does amazing work. Please support their efforts.

We extend our thanks to St. Paul's United Church of Christ, Outreach and Benevolence Committee, for past support and guidance, and to other donors including Teaching Tolerance, the Reva and David Logan Foundation, the Foundation for Global Community, and the Crotty Family. Your support enables us to bring Poetry Pals to youngsters in our area.We are indebted to the Arts and Spirituality Center in Philadelphia and to Rev. Susan Teegan-Case and her staff. A special thank you to Dr. Cathleen Cohen, creator of We the Poets. Please check out their work and support them.