Wrapping up our last Charity Spotlight for 2010, we want to focus on an awesome group giving young people across the world a voice, aptly named Youth Speaks. The organization aims to empower youth through arts education, youth development programs, and civic engagement. They bring together hundreds of thousands of young people across the world, and encompass a variety of literary arts performances, including spoken word, poetry slam sessions, and theatre. Founder and Executive Director James Kass was gracious enough to take time to give us some back ground on the organization and their initiatives.

Kass founded the organization in 1996, and started out in San Francisco. “[Youth Speaks] was created on the basis of diverse and opportunity, creating multiple opportunities for many young people,” said Kass. Quickly spreading across the Bay Area, the organization is now active in every major city in the US, and serves 200,000 youth per year. Their mission, as mentioned on their site, is to “create safe spaces that empower the generation of leaders, self-defined artists, and visionary activists through written and oral literacies… and to [combat] illiteracy, alienation, and silence…”

Among their various projects, they also hold an annual five day event called Brave New Voices that takes place in one major US city every year. The first Brave New Voices was held as a national poetry slam in 1998, and has grown to bring together participants from around the world. Today, it is the largest spoken word event in the world, and includes international communities such as the UK and Bosnia. Taking place during the summer, the five day event is made up of writing workshops, a leaders conference, an International Youth Poetry Slam, and more. This past year, they held the event in Los Angeles, and worked with producer Russell Simmons in airing Brave New Voices on HBO in November. Take a look to find out more.

2011 will mark a special year for Youth Speaks, as it will be their 15th anniversary. For the upcoming year, Kass hopes to build more awareness and visibility throughout the US and internationally, as well as spread the Youth Speaks message across digital platforms. To learn more about their projects and upcoming events, please visit their site.