Budget
$250,000.00
Description
SW places poet mentors in classrooms for 1 to 10 days to teach the writing and performance skills involved in spoken word poetry. In some partnerships, we extend engagement with weekly spoken word writing workshops targeting students from the residency with high interest in writing. Students participating in spoken word programs report improvement in their reading and writing skills, increased self-confidence, and a new sense of community among their peers and teachers. Educators report a clear rise in interest among students, a more youth-driven learning environment, and evidence of greater social and academic confidence among students. School partners include a combination of urban, suburban, rural, comprehensive, academic magnet, charter, middle, and elementary schools. Next year, we will serve 7,500 students across 8 Tennessee counties through residencies and workshops.
Beneficiaries
Economically disadvantaged people
K-12 (5-19 years)
Minorities
Long-term Success
1. Southern Word introduced spoken word youth development and education strategies to Middle Tennessee in 2008. While there was an adult poet community, awareness of spoken word as an educational tool was close to zero among teachers, students, and administrators.
2. Named the 2018 Skanska Educational Enhancement Award Winner at CNM's Salute to Excellence Awards.
3. Selected as one of sixteen organizations nationally to serve as part of the Brave New Voices Network Leadership Cohort. This meant 3 years of matching operating assistance, technical support, and staffing support to increase organizational capacity.
4. Received second grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to expand program to new parts of Middle and East Tennessee.
5. One of four cities nationally to host a spoken word youth development and education fellow for the second time. This is a two year, full-time position with benefits that has gone to youth emerging from Southern Word's programs
Short-term Success
Southern Word served 4,601 youth through 55 school residencies and in-school clubs in 8 Tennessee counties last school year from 3rd grade through High School. An additional 785 youth were served through community workshops.
Program Success Monitored By
As part of a grant in 2014 - 16, MNPS made the program available to every high school in the district. This included an independent assessment by Vanderbilt University. This assessment included classroom observations, teacher focus groups, student focus groups, and pre-/post- tests. The assessment found:
• Program provides greater student engagement, greater perceived emotional safety, strengthened writing and speaking skills, active social and emotional learning, and improved classroom climate as reported by teachers.
• Program provides increased engagement, greater confidence, a more proficient command of language, confidence in writing ability, improved classroom climate, greater connection to peers and teachers, and a better understanding of their classmates as reported by students. Impact was greatest among potentially more marginalized participants such as female, Hispanic, and biracial youth.

The PI from this assessment continues to assess the program through the Gear-Up grant
Program Areas Served
None

Budget
$75,000.00
Description
Southern Word expanded its mentoring services, especially in partnership with the Nashville Public Library and Pearl Cohn Entertainment Magnet, to include songwriting and music production. Since one strand of spoken word poetry emerges out of hip hop culture, many of our writer mentors are rappers, songwriters, and producers. In developing and projecting youth voice in the 21st century, our programming is becoming more interdisciplinary as we equip our participants with the tools necessary to engage in current modes of communication and to represent themselves in the face of a society and media which attempts to write their story on their behalf. Southern Word's offerings include placing mentors in classrooms, staffing the library's Studio NPL audio production suite, and teaching audio production with mobile studios in partnership with the Nashville Public Library. We will reach 500 youth through these programs this year.
Beneficiaries
Economically disadvantaged people
Children and Youth (0 - 19 years)
Minorities
Long-term Success
1. Awarded 2020 Alignment Nashville Experiential Learning Innovator of the Year for our partnership with the Country Music Hall of Fame and National Museum of African American Music with at Pearl-Cohn Entertainment Magnet.
2. Leading music production partner of the Nashville Public Library and Metro Schools' Pearl-Cohn Entertainment Magnet. In combination with the introduction of spoken word education and youth development, this speaks to Southern Word's success introducing key youth developmental strategies to Nashville in a central way.
3. Introduced mobile music studios in collaboration with the Nashville Public Library as way of delivering technology and music programs to branch library and community locations.
4. Developed paid opportunities for teen music producers in collaboration with Opportunity NOW, Nashville Public Library, and Pearl-Cohn Entertainment Magnet. This includes piloting the first year-round version of the city's teen employment program.

Short-term Success
Southern Word reached 552 youth through music production programs last year.
Program Success Monitored By
Southern Word uses a program survey which allows participants to give a qualitative assessment of the program. The survey also evaluates participants' previous interest in writing and music and their propensity for developing this interest further. It is key to one of our primary goals of "flipping the switch" in participants, moving them towards self-directed engagement in writing and music. This allows us to understand the extent to which we are inspiring and transforming youth. 25% or more of surveyed students will indicate that they will write more frequently as a result of the program and 75% or more of the surveyed students will indicate that they would like the program to return to their school. For students who are diving deeper with us, Southern Word also rates students using a rubric and has a certification program in partnership with the Nashville Public Library.
Program Areas Served
None

Budget
$20,000.00
Description
Our reach is greatest when youth poets are featured acts at other events and conferences. We also feature youth performances online. This is a critical component of our mission as we market positive, literate identities for Tennessee youth that counter more detrimental commercial depictions of success. These performances and videos shift the way Tennessee is perceived and provides the drive for youth to develop powerful and persuasive writing and speaking. We also present our own events. State of the Word at Vanderbilt, Black History House at the Nashville Public Library, Southern Word Grand Slam Series, and the Middle School Showcase and Slam are all activities which Southern Word takes the lead on executing. The performers and audiences for these events are an extension of our programs. These shows are the artistic crucibles within which youth writers find their community and grow rapidly. This year more than 9,000 community members will see youth perform.

Beneficiaries
Adults
Children and Youth (0 - 19 years)
Long-term Success
Since the early days of the organization, Southern Word has been a consistent resource for civic events wishing to showcase youth voice. Leadership Nashville, TEDxNashville, MLK Day at TSU, Child Advocacy Day, Metro Nashville Schools all principal meeting, Alignment Nashville's SEL Conference, and State of Metro are examples of major partners that feature Southern Word perennially in front of city leaders and sizable, high stakes audiences. As another example of SW being ahead of the curve, SW was part of the first planning meeting and first performance of TEDxNashville in 2009, which now fills TPAC annually. At the recommendation of the Nashville Public Library, the Public Library Association featured SW poets at the opening session of its national conference in front of 5,500 people. For over 10 years, SW has consistently developed youth performers and pieces which speak to the crucial hopes and challenges of Tennesseans.
Short-term Success
Last year, Southern Word reached 9,980 community members this year as part of 58 community live or virtual performances.
Program Success Monitored By
Southern Word consistently brings people to their feet in response to their performances. The standing ovation is the best indicator of our success and the benchmark that has been set by Southern Word youth performers to date. The reason SW is invited back repeatedly to the aforementioned performances is because SW poets bring audiences to their feet year after year. We also develop artistic content that might not be celebrated or received in this way and understand that our purpose is not to solely deliver crowd pleasers. When we travel to the national teen slam festival, we are competitive and periodically make it to the semifinals. We do not view winning youth slams as the main measure of our success, and we are often curating content with wider audiences in mind even when we are preparing to compete.
Program Areas Served
None

Budget
$2,500.00
Description
Due to our work with young writers, we were able to successfully import the Youth Poet Laureate program from our New York affiliate in collaboration with the Nashville Mayor's Office, Metro Arts, Nashville Public Library, and Nashville Public Library Foundation. SW facilitates the selection of a poet each year to represent youth voice, inclusion, and civic engagement. The Nashville Youth Poet Laureate has been named Poet Ambassador for the Southeast and one of five finalists for National Youth Poet Laureate three times. The Nashville Youth Poet Laureate has become a staple at major civic events such as TSU MLK Day Convocation and State of Metro. This led to the selection of SW as the facilitator for the upcoming Tennessee Youth Poet Laureate program which launched in 2023.


Beneficiaries
Adolescents
Long-term Success
Beginning with Mayor Karl Dean, the Youth Poet Laureate program has persisted into its fourth mayoral administration and its sixth Youth Poet Laureate despite unprecedented transition in the office. The Youth Poet Laureate has performed at Karl Dean, Megan Barry, and David Briley's State of Metro and is slated to perform at Mayor Cooper's first State of Metro as well. The Interdenominational Ministers Fellowship and TSU have also welcomed the Youth Poet Laureate at MLK Day Convocation in front of 800 people for three years in a row. As mentioned above, the Nashville Youth Poet Laureate has been named Poet Ambassador for the Southeast and one of five finalists for national Youth Poet Laureate three years in a row. The 2017 Youth Poet Laureate had her book published by Third Man Press, one of Nashville's premiere book publishers.
Program Success Monitored By
Our program success is measured by all the top leaders in the city. Five hundred of Nashville's public, non-profit, and business sectors leaders attend State of Metro and have given the Youth Poet Laureate a standing ovation on almost every occasion. At MLK Day Convocation at TSU, a public HBCU, 800 people attend to hear incisive and inspirational commentary on the state of race in our country and our city. At this event, we again consistently deliver standing ovations. While the Youth Poet Laureate performs around town at a range of events, these events capture the pressure to deliver top quality presentations and indicate the success of the program.
Program Areas Served
Nashville

Budget
$10,000.00
Description
Write with Pride cultivates brave and barrier-breaking spaces for LGBT+ youth in order to build community and provide resources that foster well-being. The program includes conducting school workshops in collaboration with LGBT+ and GSA clubs, hosting out-of-school writing sessions and open mics, and executing a youth conference. Write with Pride develops writing and sharing spaces where Tennessee LGBT+ youth can write and share to process experiences, shape identity, and build community as they come of age.
Beneficiaries
Adolescents
LGBTQI+ people
Long-term Success


Short-term Success
1. Visits by an LGBT+ writer mentor to school GSA's to facilitate workshops that allow youth to explore, shape, and vocalize thoughts on identity in a supportive environment with their peers. We will partner with 10 schools reaching 200 youth over the course of the year.
2. Provide 6 monthly workshops where LGBTQ+ youth can convene and continue to develop their thoughts and voice in an out-of-school setting. This series will culminate in a conference style extended workshop with a high profile workshop leader. We will reach 40 youth through these sessions.
3. Create an anthology of works by participating writers that captures perspectives of LGBTQ+ youth as they come of age.
Program Areas Served
Tennessee

Budget
$130,000.00
Description
In addition to placing spoken word poets in schools and community organizations, Southern Word has been placing writers of all genres into schools since 2015. Launched in partnership with the Nashville School of the Arts Writing Conservatory, Southern Word coordinates writer visits that align with a teacher's curricular goals. This can include a reading, workshop, conversation, or writer conferences with individual or small groups of students. This program is an excellent complement to the spoken word residency, and a few schools are adding the program as a grade-level unit builds upon the spoken word residency.

The Stratford Writers' Room is a robust extension of this initiative where we provide full time staffing to coordinate classroom project support, creative literacy engagements, traditional writing support, assistance for English Language Learners, and guest mentors in a range of genres.

We will serve 500 youth.
Long-term Success
As with all Southern Word initiatives, we begin with a flagship partner that allows us to collaborate with an institution leading the way in the area. In this case, Nashville School of the Arts started a literary arts conservatory which made them a perfect partner for the launch. In addition to bringing top writers to the classroom, we co-present writers nights at Nashville School of the Arts four times during the year.

The fact that we are rolling out an engagement as extensive as the Stratford Writers' Room is in itself an indication of long-term success as it is a culmination of all of our education writing activity over the past 15 years. Our next challenge will be to sustain this effort beyond the ESSER funds which allowed for its creation. This will be made possible with demonstrated impact for both student academic and social emotional indicators.
Program Success Monitored By
We presently monitor success through teacher and student surveys developed by Evaluation Design and long-time assessor Dr. Carol Nixon. In the years ahead, we will also be focusing on growth in the expressive writing of students as captured by school benchmark testing.
Program Areas Served
None

Budget
$26,500.00
Description
Using engagement in writing and music as a thread that helps youth enter and stay in college is an important part of our holistic vision for this effort. Our college programs were funded by a Tennessee Board of Regents grant for many years. Nashville State has chosen to use discretionary funding to continue the programs. This includes providing writing mentors in classrooms to help students successfully complete essays for their English 1010 classes. Many of the writing strategies for poetry as they relate to purpose, process, and voice relate to expository writing also. Southern Word also continues to fund a poet mentor for TSU's campus spoken word poetry group. There is demand from the TSU English Department, but not funding, to have Southern Word mentors as a resource for TSU English professors. We plan to reach 300 students on college campuses.
Long-term Success
At Nashville State Community College, SW mentors support traditional English classes and English support classes for students who need additional help developing and completing their writing projects. SW uses what we have learned about the writing process and purpose from teaching poetry and applies it to traditional composition. We then extend from this engagement with co-curricular workshops and events in the fall and spring. SW has been visiting Nashville State classes since 2014 -15, and this deep and powerful engagement evolved over time. A co-written article between English Department Chair and a SW mentor will be featured in a peer reviewed journal later this year. At Tennessee State University, SW supports the Soul Fire Poetry group by providing a weekly writing mentor. The poetry group creates a space for students to connect with each other, build writing and presentation skills, and create a supportive community where they can share and process their challenges.
Program Success Monitored By
Dr. Carol Nixon who executed our Metro Nashville Public Schools assessment also served as an independent evaluator on our college level programs during the 2018-19 grant cycle. She conducted student focus groups and teacher interviews. Here is feedback from one student that captures the program success: "From the beginning I started college, with English, I was like, 'Damn, I don't even know how I'm gonna write in college.' But with Shawn, he taught me skills, strategies, and sources, what to do and hat to use, so now every time I have a paper it's gonna be easy for me. So, I improved in my writing, in my paper, I never imagined." In addition to the qualitative feedback from students and professors, we are monitoring completion rates to understand overall impact of the program. We have seen an over +8% improved success rate for students in English 1010 on the Nashville campus for the past two fall semesters.
Program Areas Served
None