Writing & Performance Workshops are the heart of Youth Speaks. We come together weekly with an amazing poet mentor to imagine, write, share, and rehearse. Sign up today!
February-June 2026
Wednesdays 5pm-7pm
Youth Speaks is shaking things up this year with our traditional Writing Workshops. Young folks across the bay pull up at Chapter 510 on 3rd Wednesdays for After School Writing Workshops.
*$200 Stipends are available for participants who attend all 3rd Wednesday Workshops. Stipends are limited.
1st Wednesdays @ Chapter 510: “The Disruptor”
- Monthly youth zine creation workshop where young artists, journalists, and activists put their own spin on reporting the times by comparing headlines from the last 30 years to what we see and don’t see in the news today.
2nd Wednesdays @ Youth Speaks Office: “Chat, I Went Viral”
- A poetry workshop series that examines how digital culture including TikTok, Instagram, Youtube, etc. have transformed youth expression over the last 30 years! Participants will explore digital storytelling and create their own social media poems to join the movement of digital youth voices.
3rd Wednesdays @ Chapter 510: “Statement Fit”
- A poetry workshop series studying & celebrating the intersection of fashion, style, and culture through the last 30 years. Participants will experiment with merging poetry and apparel as a medium for making a statement.
4th Wednesdays @ Youth Speaks Office: “Youth Speaks Wrapped: 30 Years & 30 Tracks”
- This series goes on a journey of the music that has defined youth culture over the last 30 years from Hip-Hop, R&B, Soul, Contemporary Pop to underground. We will breakdown lyrics and the cultural context in preparation to write our own timeless poems and maybe even raps. And of course, we will create the most epic playlist of the time!
Chapter 510 | 546 9th St., Oakland
Youth Speaks Office | 265 Shotwell St., San Francisco
