Speak It Forward, Inc.

Your story matters. And how you tell it can change everything.

At Speak It Forward, we've spent 16 years working with youth and adults across Michigan. Here's what we know works:

🖋️Writing heals. Even 10 to 15 minutes of journaling can help you process emotions and gain clarity. Don't worry about grammar or perfection, just let it flow. Write what you're feeling, what you're facing, what you need to say.

🗣️Your voice has power. Practice articulating your experience. Write it down first, then share it with someone you trust. The simple act of speaking your truth builds confidence and strengthens how you communicate with the world.

📖Stories connect us. Encourage the young people in your life to express themselves through poetry, rap, storytelling, or whatever creative outlet speaks to them. When they learn to reshape their narrative, they discover who they really are.

As educator John Dewey said: "It is not the experiences people have that make them who they are, rather the way in which people choose to reflect on those experiences that defines them."

People can learn to reframe their narratives and discover the power of their own voices. Interested in bringing trauma informed arts programming to your school or organization? DM us or reach out at [email protected]

We watch these young folks and we see the weight they carry before they even get a chance to grow into themselves. Too many of them are learning how to survive before they ever learn how to dream.

But every single one of them has a light. Sometimes it’s buried under anger, sometimes under silence, sometimes under labels that adults throw on them too quick. The quiet ones? They’ve got whole galaxies waiting to be spoken. The loud ones? They’re protecting something tender they don’t want the world to touch.

It's amazing what happens when you give them a little space, stop talking and listen. These young people aren’t broken. They just need more spaces where their truth ain’t judged.

We’re not here to cultivate more performers. We’re here to cultivate more leaders who know how to speak up.

Every day, teachers shape how students see themselves, often more than any lesson plan or test. Research from Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck shows that students who treat learning like building a muscle do better than those who think intelligence is set in stone. But shifting student mindset doesn’t happen by accident. It’s shaped by the messages students hear and the environments they step into.

Speak It Forward workshops create moments of connection that spark the belief: “You are not stuck. You are not broken. You can grow.” That belief doesn’t come just from a lesson plan, it comes from real conversations and experiences that help students see new possibilities for themselves.

When students hear this message from us, from their teachers and from their school community, it reframes how they show up, not just in class, but in life. Our role is to support teachers in this vital work, helping students build the confidence that fuels effort, learning, and lasting success.

Did you know that how we talk to students can be just as important as what we teach them? Research shows that when feedback focuses on "growth and effort," students are more likely to take risks, keep going when things get tough and discover strengths they didn’t know they had. But when feedback points to "outcomes," kids can actually lose confidence when they hit challenges.

This simple technique is called a growth mindset. We see it come alive in our workshops every day. Students open up, take creative chances and find new confidence in their voice when we "see" them and not when we quantify them.

What’s one piece of encouragement you received as a kid that made a lasting impact?

Did you know that creativity isn’t something we lose as we get older, it’s something that often gets trained out of us? Read below to learn how to get it back:

A landmark study led by Dr. George Land and Beth Jarman, commissioned by NASA in the late 1960 tested children’s ability to think divergently, creatively. The kind of thinking that sparks innovation, problem-solving, and imagination.

At age 5, 98% of children tested at “genius” levels of creativity. By age 10, that number dropped to 30%. By age 15? Just 12%. And when the same test was given to adults, only 2% scored at that level.

It’s not that we stop being creative. It’s not that we lose our ability to think differently as we get older. It's that the systems around us have been designed to reward “right answers” over bold ideas. Memorization over critical thinking. It's an unintentional side effect of forgetting that innovation comes from risk, not repetition.

But the good news is that research also shows that the creativity is not gone forever, it's still buried under all the conformity. It just needs to be uncovered, nurtured, and celebrated again.

That’s why spaces for expression, storytelling, and art matter. And THAT is why we do what we do at Speak It Forward. Through the Trojan Horse of performance, interpersonal communication and writing - our workshops help students and educators remember what they’re capable of and reclaim the creativity we were all born with.

If your school, classroom, or organization could use a spark of creativity and connection, reach out. We’d love to bring this work to you.

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The work always starts with creating the conditions where expression becomes possible. If you’d like us to bring these tools into your school, organization, or community, let’s connect.
email us at [email protected]

We’re honored to be featured in the Nonprofit Spotlight by NowKalamazoo!
This piece beautifully captures what Speak It Forward is all about and how our programs help youth turn pain into power. This is why we show up.

Come out May 7th to Celebrate their stories and their art 🔥

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/kirk-latimer-celebration-of-success-tickets-1274457860769?

Huge thanks to NowKalamazoo for shining a light on our work—and to every student who’s ever stepped up to the mic.


https://nowkalamazoo.org/2025/05/nonprofit-spotlight-speak-it-forward/

Nonprofit Spotlight: Speak It Forward – NowKalamazoo Speak It Forward transforms, uplifts, and empowers youth and adults through the arts in order to oppose systemic injustice.