Youth Speaks Seattle (YSS) is a youth-serving poetry collective with a focus on making programs accessible to Queer / BIPOC youth, or anyone who finds their story pushed into the margins. We use creative writing and performance arts to develop identity, build community, and celebrate each others stories out loud.

Youth Speaks produces Writing Circles, Open Mics, Classroom Residencies, and Poetry Slams. We hold an annual youth internship [SPOKES] to give emerging artists necessary organizing skills. And we connect writers to national opportunities like Brave New Voices and the First Wave Scholarship Program. 

Since 2003 we have been bringing poems to parks, coffee shops, and directly to your heart. In 2021 we joined Rooted in Vibrant Communities (RVC Seattle) as an operations partner and have

Our Mission: Youth Speaks changes Seattle through the power of words. We build community through poetic cultural exchanges that transcend boundaries of age, race, class, and culture. We aid transformation and nurture self-expression by facilitating workshops, mentoring young poets, and creating supportive public performance opportunities with the goal of amplifying the often-silenced youth voice.

Our Vision: We build towards a culture of literacy, in which youth recognize themselves as an essential part of the literary continuum. We create opportunities for teens to become leaders, help youth discover themselves in their own vernacular, and use language creatively as a tool for cultural critique.