#Net2Houston: MOVED to next week for THIS!

To better connect Houston's social service organizations with our tech community, we're rescheduling this session of #Net2Houston to be part of "THIS: The Houston Innovation Summit (http://thehoustoninnovationsummit.com)" next Tuesday, October 24, at 10am: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/creative-processing-how-wits-is-helping-children-heal-tickets-38900409171

After Harvey hit Houston, Writers in the Schools (WITS) (http://witshouston.org/) went to shelters to help children where they were. More than two dozen WITS writers signed up and showed up each day to read and write with children as they told their stories in whatever way they could, becoming a crucial part of the kids' healing process.

Robin Reagler, Executive Director of Writers In The Schools, will be our featured speaker, discussing "Creative Processing: How WITS is Helping Children Heal." You'll hear how WITS administrators met with pediatricians at the shelter to receive assessments of what was going on with the children, and help them through it.

"In a natural disaster setting like this, children are the last to be treated emotionally, because they are small," Reagler explains. "Adults are talking with others and with each other, but children don't often have a similar outlet to tell their story because they aren't asked. ... Nothing has brought our city together like this moment. It is truly inspiring. It makes me want to work harder than ever to bring the healing power of storytelling to every Houston child."

You'll walk away with a better understanding of how educators and Houston's creative community can come together to help children and their parents process and heal from the stressors of natural disasters and displacement.

FEATURED SPEAKER

Robin Reagler lives and breathes storytelling as the leader of Writers in the Schools (WITS) (http://witshouston.org/). WITS engages young people in the joy and power of reading and writing. Reaching 52,000 local students each year, WITS is revolutionizing the way writing is taught in Houston and the nation.

WITS is looking to the future and making plans for long-term recovery. With only a third of HISD schools ready to open and thousands of school children displaced, WITS is committed to going wherever the children need them to be.

ABOUT THIS: http://thehoustoninnovationsummit.com

October 23-27, Houston's tech community unites to bring you THIS: The Houston Innovation Summit. Launched as an annual event for Houston innovators to connect, ideate, create and celebrate together, #THIS17 takes a new spin...

Hurricane Harvey and its aftermath amplified many of Houston's most complex problems. To surface challenges and identify how we can turn them into opportunities for insight, innovation and impact, #THIS17 invites you to participate in discussions, design-thinking sessions, workshops and social events to ignite the problem-solving potential of Houston's innovation ecosystem for long-term recovery.

DIRECTIONS: 1301 Fannin (Netrality building), Downtown Houston

Enter Station Houston on Polk between San Jacinto and Fannin (across Polk from the GreenStreet complex). We are 6 blocks from Discovery Green, 3 blocks from Toyota Center and 2 blocks from the nearest Metro Rail Station at Bell.

GREENSTREET GARAGE PARKING: 1301 Main

The GreenStreet garage entrance is on Fannin, across from Station – Enter on Fannin between Polk and Clay. Station offers validation for you to get all-day parking there for $5/day. Please request a ticket from Station Reception.