Help Youth Poets Rise from the Ashes
Give 50+ low-income youth meaning and hope through Art from Ashes creative workshops
The Challenge:
Catherine O’Neill Thorn and Art from Ashes are asking you to help fund this year’s Phoenix Rising workshops. With your help AfA will be able to reach a group of marginalized youth in College View, one of Denver's most impoverished neighborhoods, at a summer day camp run by Denver Inner City Parish. If Art from Ashes reaches their goal, 50 to 60 youth will be empowered through AfA’s renowned creative programs that facilitate health and hope through expression, connection and transformation.
The youth AfA serves are at or below poverty level and typically victims of abuse. One hundred percent of the Afterschool Program, Summer Day Camp and Summer Breakfast and Lunch Program participants qualify for free or reduced lunch. There will be 20 workshops over the course of the summer designed to bring in older youth from the community, and to provide supervised programs of artistic expression to an underserved population. The workshops provide a positive alternative to gang activity, including graffiti and tagging.
How Much?
$2,500
Deadline
June 17, 2013
Impact
50 - 60 youth in the College View neighborhood of Denver will have life changing experiences that have potential to resonate throughout their community
Extra Funds Use:
- First $500 of extra funds will seed a future AfA Challenge
- Additional funds will be invested in a compilation of youth poems and artwork generated at the workshops and to support a community performance featuring the youth
Budget
Item | Amount |
Lead Facilitators Fee | $1,000 |
Guest Artists Fee | $700 |
Writing Materials/Art Supplies | $400 |
Equipment (replace/fix microphones, amps mic stands) | $300 |
Youth Stipend | $100 |
TOTAL | $2500 |
Challenge Leader

Catherine O’Neill Thorn
In Maya Angelou’s 1969 autobiography, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, the Pulitzer Prize nominated poet elegantly addresses issues of identity, race, oppression and inequality using the titular metaphor of a bird attempting to escape its cage.
Project Info

Art from Ashes
Art from Ashes and Catherine O’Neill Thorn help young people and adults discover their voices through poetry and writing workshops.