Thank you Michael and everyone here at Microsoft for welcoming the Bureau of Fearless Ideas to your event!

When I was 9 years old, my English teacher made us all write in a journal every day. That act of writing changed my life, I learned to express myself and my ideas, and I learned I had a voice.

Finding your voice is what the Bureau of Fearless Ideas is all about.

At BFI, humans ages 6-18 experience the power of writing and storytelling to unlock self confidence that enables them to invent a better future.

We offer 4 types of free programs at BFI:
- After School Tutoring
- Workshops
- Field trips
- In-School Projects

This is a recent Sensory Walk during After School Tutoring. Kids write down things they see, hear, smell, touch, and taste. One of the kids wrote, “the grey gravel looking sad!”

These are BFI kid yogis engaged in cobra pose during Day 1 of our Storytelling through Yoga workshop series.

This is a field trip from a local elementary school where kids collaborate on a story, illustrate it and finish writing the story, and leave as published authors with a bound copy of their own book!

Last year, BFI had an in school project where Native American students at Chief Sealth high school and Denny middle school wrote personal stories collected in a published Seqacib Book

BFI is a local Seattle nonprofit, with 2 locations, 10 staff, serving over 1800 students, 120 schools, with over 200 volunteers. Our goal is to measure our impact of social emotional learning and truly help kids be creative. be kind, and be fearless!

We expanded our programs to Yesler Terrace last year, and it was a great success. We served over 100 students in after school tutoring for middle school and elementary students and weekend workshops. This shows the "When Fabric Speaks" workshop at Yesler, where kids created their own quilt square and wrote a story about it.

This year, We want to expand our after school tutoring program to high school students in the nearby areas - including Franklin and Garfield High School.

Today is a wonderful opportunity to invest in our high school tutoring program targeted at 40 new students. Our goal today is to raise $10,000. A minimum of $5,000 donations together from all of you, that would be doubled by the Microsoft match. Please donate at our table nearby!

More ways to get engaged! - We are looking for volunteers - after school tutors, workshop leaders, back office helpers, Greenwood Space Travel Supply Store helpers and new board members. Stop by our table and learn more about us and how to become our next BFI field agent!