On Wednesday I had the privilege of meeting with young men at the Youth Treatment and Education Center in Riverside as part of the Real Men Read program.

Not only was it fun to talk to them about the power of reading and writing, they also helped me with some plot points for a pitch I’m working on. I love combining my two favorite things: youth work and writing.

Real Men Read is a young men’s literacy and mentorship program operated in every Riverside County juvenile lockdown facility. Since its inception in 2013, incarcerated youth have read more than 1.1 million pages of literature.