Welcome to Youth Speaks online, the website of the nation's leading nonprofit presenter of Spoken Word performance, education, and youth development programs. Founded in 1996 in San Francisco, Youth Speaks has helped grow a movement of young people picking up the pen and taking hold of the microphone in the Bay Area and beyond as creators of social, artistic, educational and political change. We are absolutely committed to providing youth with as many opportunities as possible to develop and publicly present their voices in a variety of media - from live performances and theater, to videos, books, cd's, and right here online. At Youth Speaks, the voices of youth matter.
Politically aware, critically engaged, and unafraid to speak, youth are moving themselves into positions of power – claiming voice when they’ve been voiceless, and access where they’ve been sidelined.