Young Storytellers Launches Fund in Tribute to Jamie Tarses

Young Storytellers, the nonprofit that supports writing development programs in Los Angeles public schools, has established the Jamie Tarses Fund to pay tribute to the late ABC and NBC executive and help support the organization’s work.

Young Storytellers recruits volunteers from the entertainment industry and others with writing experience to work with students in elementary, middle school and high school. The program pairs mentors and students to develop short stories that will be performed on stage by actors at the culmination of each school’s program. In 2025, Young Storytellers facilitated the work of 786 volunteers who mentored more than 440 students weekly at 39 public schools and after-school sites across Los Angeles.

Tarses, who died in 2021 at the age of 56, was an influential creative executive who rose through the ranks at NBC and was recruited to ABC as the first woman to head entertainment at a Big Three network. Tarses was involved with Young Storytellers early on and joined its board in 2003. Matt Tarses, Jamie’s brother who is a prominent writer-producer, said the establishment of the fund was a fitting tribute to his sister.

“Jamie was never happier than when she was helping writers tell their stories,” said Tarses. “She had a gift for it and everyone who worked with her benefited tremendously from her guidance. In return, she bullied us into doing the same thing for the kids at Young Storytellers. Of course, it became one of the most joyful and rewarding things I’ve done, as she surely knew it would be. When we were trying to come up with ways to honor her memory, Young Storytellers was the obvious choice.”

Young Storytellers hosts an annual fundraiser dubbed “The Biggest Show” that features performances of selected stories generated through its various school programs. The Jamie Tarses Fund will be formally unveiled tonight as part of this year’s Biggest Show program held at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre.

“Jamie understood that the most powerful thing you can tell a young person is that their ideas deserve to be taken seriously,” said Jaylene Benggon Chung, managing director of Young Storytellers. “She built that belief into this organization, and it is still at the center of everything we do. Because of this fund, the kids who come through our doors will keep feeling her generosity, whether or not they ever learn her name.”

Young Storytellers launched in 1997 with a single program at Playa del Rey Elementary School. Contributions to the Jamie Tarses Fund, which will fund Young Storytellers’ activities, can be made via the Young Storytellers website.

Earlier this week, Young Storytellers tapped Kevin Bolling to serve as its new executive director. Bolling previously worked for the nonprofit Secular Student Alliance. Before that, he headed fundraising for the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles.