Imagine an initiative that could:

• Strengthen social cohesion by fostering shared narratives and connections

• Deepen local knowledge through authentic, community-driven storytelling

• Champion human-crafted writing as a vital, humanizing force

• Inspire Americans to rediscover their country’s wonders and explore the curiosities

• Create meaningful opportunities for writers in every region

• Preserve disappearing stories before they are lost to time

• Revitalize “news deserts” with trusted, locally rooted reporting

• Ensure every voice is heard and valued across communities

• Reintroduce a divided nation to itself through shared understanding

Why on earth should anybody believe that one program could ever accomplish all this? The answer’s easy:

It worked the first time.

The 21st-Century Writers’ Project will create books and digital media for all 50 states, territories and the District of Columbia, as well as great rivers and national parks. This series will bequeath a family portrait of where America has been, a distillation of where we are now, and a love letter to what we might yet become.