Youth Speaks Seattle (YSS) is a youth-centered spoken word organization that lifts voices pushed to the margins: Queer and BIPOC youth, and anyone whose story deserves to be heard. Through creative writing and performance, we help young people shape identity, build community, and celebrate one another aloud.

Our programs include Writing Circles, Open Mics, Classroom Residencies, and Poetry Slams. Each year we run an intensive youth internship, SPOKES, where emerging artists learn organizing, production, and leadership skills. We also connect writers to national stages and opportunities, including Brave New Voices and the First Wave Scholarship Program.

Since 2003, YSS has taken poems into parks, coffee shops, classrooms, and the wider city, creating moments that linger. In 2021 we joined Rooted in Vibrant Communities (RVC Seattle) as an operations partner to strengthen our capacity and reach.

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.