The voices of young people matter
Mission
Through the intersection of arts education and youth development practices, civic engagement strategies, and high quality artistic presentation, Youth Speaks creates safe spaces that challenge young people to find, develop, publicly present, and apply their voices as creators of societal change.
Vision
Youth Speaks exists to shift the perceptions of youth by combating illiteracy, isolation, alienation, and silence, creating a global movement of brave new voices bringing the noise from the margins to the core.
Youth Speaks: Bay Area
Committed to critical, youth-centered pedagogy, Youth Speaks places students in control over their intellectual and artistic development in schools, community-based settings, and performance venues across the San Francisco Bay Area.
Get to know more about the Youth Speaks pedagogy and methodologies through varying levels of professional development programs designed specifically for teachers.
Join us for local Bay Area public events and become an active member of the Youth Speaks family! The best way to learn about what we do is to experience it for yourself.
Youth Speaks: National
Brave New Voices is a network of arts organizations and an international poetry festival for young writers and poets.
Our Emerging Arts Programs is a two-year Youth Speaks professional development program in the SF Bay Area.
The Bigger Picture (a partnership with UCSF’s Center for Vulnerable Populations) inspires young people to change the conversation about Type 2 diabetes.