Over the course of the 2011-2012 school year, 826DC hosted a series of workshops for the poetry clubs at Ballou Senior High School and Bell Multicultural High School. Dear Brain is the culmination of this project, and features work by Tiffany Adams, Jovan Almodovar, Johnathan Bethea, Kenya El-Massie, Sterling Harrison, Patricia Juarez, Shannon Marshall, Tiana Minter-El, Kenya Reese, Vanessa Robles, Kamaria Russell, Tessa Thomas, Tia Thomas, Rayshad Whitaker, and Kennedy Wynn.