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A published author and retired teacher/staffer of the Richmond and Norfolk public school systems is looking to base a nonprofit organization in Franklin that would help pre-K-through-sixth-grade children with reading, writing, listening and creative/critical thinking and then reward their efforts by publishing their work, seeking to create an entrepreneurial spirit.

The nonprofit is called Kidz Write for Kidz Inc., and its founder is Dr. Elizabeth Stanfield Green, who is actively seeking to generate interest with parents and financial partners to make the project a reality, including a site in Franklin that would serve as the first Kidz Write Center in Hampton Roads.

As noted on the organization’s website, KidzWriteforKidz.com, Green earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and a master’s in communication from Norfolk State University. She taught pre-K through third-grade students in the classroom and also served in key staff positions, including reading specialist, instructional specialist and gifted resource teacher.

Green is also the founder of Green Pastures Publishing LLC, through which she has been able to take the work of young students she has mentored and turn it into polished, professionally published books, booklets and even bookmarks, all of which often feature the students’ original supporting artwork. A goal of Kidz Write for Kidz is to allow students to walk away with a published piece of their work.

Green summarizes the mission of Kidz Write for Kidz on the website.

“Our mission is to expose children to the power of literacy as well as the joy they exude through creating and sharing their own creative work,” she stated. “We will coach children to write stories, poetry and other authentic genres of communication. After their work is published, it will be distributed to households in the community, foreign mission fields, orphanages, children’s hospitals, early learning centers and other sites with identified literacy needs. At times, youth will go into hospice homes and senior residential homes to read. Special events will be planned and hosted at the Kidz Write Center for audiences to enjoy.”

Green, who currently lives in Suffolk and has lived in Franklin in the past, said, “I have my eyes set on a site in Franklin to be the first Kidz Write for Kidz Writing, Publishing and Entrepreneurship Center within the seven cities.”

She said the site on Stewart Drive features a small building that she could get started in, and there is space on the piece of land for growth and expansion.

“I can go back to Norfolk, I could go back right away, I could go back to Virginia Beach right now and get space and work, but my heart isn’t drawn there first,” she said. “It’s drawn to the more rural area, and that’s an excellent space that I saw too. That property is excellent.”

Elaborating on how Kidz Write for Kidz would operate, Green said it will be a supplemental program. She will aim to come into S.P. Morton Elementary School during the school year as an author in residence.

“I come in during the year as an author to read to the kids, whatever grades I can do, and then I would run the program on weekends, summer camps, and I’m looking at doing something for 4-year-olds during the week,” she said.

She noted that the mid-week option could involve one or two two-hour sessions, and it could also involve home-school students. She said she would speak with parents to gauge what the educational needs were for their children and then tailor lessons accordingly.

“Parents would have to bring the kids, but they wouldn’t have to pay anything for my services,” Green said.

She indicated that the work involved for participating children would not amount to homework.

“It’s going to draw interest and put a lot of joy in the kids, and we have fun, but we’re going to be learning at the same time,” she said.

Among the testimonials on the Kidz Write for Kidz website is a quote from Ahmadou Diawara, who said, “Dr. Green was my first-grade teacher at Larchmont Elementary School in Norfolk, Virginia. She is, without a doubt, my favorite teacher. Dr. Green loves getting involved in expertise relating to writing. As a teacher, she would constantly put forth her grandest effort to educate the students, while adding enjoyment as well. To this day, she endeavors in expanding my writing ability to reach its maximum potential. Had Dr. Green not come into my life, my penmanship would not have been as advanced and prodigious as it is now.”

In the course of the teaching process, Green delights in using the work of past students she has published to help illustrate educational, character-building and entrepreneurial concepts to current students. 

She recalled how her niece once made the striking declaration when she was a little girl that she wanted to be a “candy girl” when she grew up. Green worked with her young niece in developing that idea into a story, and it became a published book called “Candy Girl.”

While the book’s story includes a focus on candy, Green plans to use it as a teaching tool due to the other concepts it illustrates. 

“I’m going to do book studies with (it), like get a group of five girls together, and we study this book and we talk about our dreams, our vision, and we talk about the character part of ‘Candy Girl,’ not candy,” she said.

In addition to literacy mentorship and training, Green aims for Kidz Write for Kidz to provide listening and speaking skills, word study and vocabulary development and community involvement, some of which was alluded to in the organization’s mission statement.

To help make the Kidz Write Center and accompanying program a reality, Green is seeking financial partners in the area, including city funding, churches, fraternities and sororities, community groups and private donors.

It is possible to donate on the website, KidzWriteforKidz.com. Checks and money orders can also be mailed to Kidz Write for Kidz Inc., P.O. Box 3431, Suffolk, VA 23439-3431.

The website states, “Financial donations will be used for the printing of books, educational scholarships, technological equipment, materials, supplies, other resources and expanding the vision with buildings and land.”

For more information, contact Green at 757-202-8864 or greenpastures1954@gmail.com.