Poetic License: youth groups

Youth Groups:

The Breathing Poetry Project (Burlington, VT)
www.vermontslams.com/wsnAAE0.html
A group of poets who lead performance poetry workshops in schools and youth centers in Vermont.

Say It Loud!
(501) 623-5053
A youth group based in Little Rock, Arkansas, it puts on a Readers and Writers series, as well as hosts literary enrichment programs.

Volume
www.nocommentweb.com
Volume is Ann Arbor MI's teen after-school creative writing program. It give kids a place to express themselves through writing and performing. Volume also publishes No Comment, a teen poetry magazine.

Yollocalli Youth Museum (Chicago, IL)
312-455-9652
An after-school arts education and career training initiative for youth ages 14-19, and for WRTE-Radio Arte, 90.5 FM, a completely youth-operated (ages 15-21), bilingual radio station. Both programs are youth initiatives of the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago.

Youth Speaks
www.youthspeaks.org
(415) 661-6927 (San Francisco)
(212) 691-6590 (New York)
A nonprofit literary arts, education, and cultural resource center for teenagers with bases in San Francisco and New York, Youth Speaks presents teen poetry slams and other noncompetitive events, conducts free after-school writing workshops, and puts on schoolwide assemblies.

Writers Corps
www.dcwriterscorps.org
(202) 332-5455
Writers Corps alliance is a group of independent organizations that use literary arts to help participants strengthen literary skills, discover alternate modes of expression, expand cultural boundaries and hone communication skills needed for future opportunities.

Writers in the Schools
www.neosoft.com/~wits/
(713) 523-3877
WITS promotes the love of the written word through classroom experiences with poets, fiction writers, and playwrights. WITS also mentors other writers-in-schools programs and designs writing curricula.

Other groups:

National Council of Teachers of English
www.ncte.org
(800) 369-6283
NCTE is a professional association dedicated to improving the quality of English language arts instruction at all levels.

Poetry Slam, Inc.
www.poetryslam.com
(810) 231-5435
Poetry Slam, Inc. seeks to advocate, promote, support, witness, and/or perpetuate the art of performance poetry, as well as to enhance the perception of literary merit and legitimacy of performance poetry as an art form.

Poetry Society of America
www.poetrysociety.org
(212) 254-9628
The PSA conducts a variety of interconnected programs that are designed to introduce culturally and aesthetically diverse poets to an expanding audience and that represent all levels of literary involvement.

Urban Libraries Council
www.urbanlibraries.org/youth.html
(847) 866-9999
Public Libraries as Partners in Youth Development Initiative challenges public libraries to work with youth to develop innovative, high-quality educational and cultural enrichment programs for low-income youth during non-school hours.