Written by Natalie Rentas
This February, Day One’s Youth Voices Network (YVN) hosted their annual spoken word event to raise awareness on dating violence among youth for Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month. In an effort to engage more youth around the city we added a competitive twist by adding a writing contest to our call for creative pieces.
The prompt for the contest asked young writers to submit pieces describing what love means to them. Outreach went out to all our RAPP schools, high schools and middle schools around the city, as well as youth serving partner organizations. YVN also engaged a small group of youth to help plan the event. We recruited three high school students to act as the planning committee, Angelina Frias, Angelique Larsen and Jaymarie Lopez.
Held at Bluestockings Bookstore , YVN’s TDVAM event ‘All of Love’s Vibes’, featured performances by the writing contest winners and segments for open mic performances, which called for some young talent from around the city as well. Amazing talents, including poets, singer & songwriters performed. The evening was truly a success!
In an effort to commemorate all of the entries we received for the writing contest, with the support of Day One’s Youth Educator Zo & Social Worker Jamie, we created a zine! Available for download by clicking the image or below.
Enjoy!