A program of The Elevated Youth Experience
SpeakLife
Identity, confidence, and accountability for Black American, Black Caribbean, and Black African teens in Central Brooklyn. Nine weeks in Identity Teams, learning to stand up for themselves, for each other, and against hate.
No culture in this program is a guest.
A Nigerian girl is mocked for her name. A Haitian boy hears a joke about his country that started on the news. An American-born teenager is told he is not really African. Some of that is racism from the wider world. A lot of it comes from other Black kids who were handed the same script.
Speak Life brings young people who share the same blocks, schools, and hallways into one room, so they can stop repeating what they were taught about each other and actually get to know each other.
Built by doing things together
Identity Teams
Teams of six, mixed across heritage and schools. Each team names itself, owns real projects, and rotates the captain role so everyone practices leading.
Something for every kid
Every session pairs a workshop with a hands-on activity: a cook-off, identity boards, sports day, a design challenge, a service project, and advocacy drafting.
Elders in the room
Sessions are held inside a senior residence in Bed-Stuy. Elders sit in, share their stories, and are honored at the close, in their own building.
Real resources
A Resource Table at every session: mental health referrals, youth jobs and SYEP applications, legal contacts, food pantry access, and school pathways.
Safe and supported
Two facilitators and a licensed clinician in every session. Every adult is background-checked, and joining any circle is invited, never required.
Stipend, fare, and food
A $300 completion stipend, OMNY fare for every session, and a shared meal every week, so no young person has to choose between this and a shift.
Nine weeks, one showcase
- The Table
We eat first. Teams form, name themselves, and hold a cook-off with a dish from home.
- Who Am I
Where self-image comes from. Elders share where they come from, and every heritage is named out loud.
- The Mirror
A confidential, clinician-supported session where nobody is left holding it alone.
- Reform
What we say about skin, hair, accents, and countries, and what we replace it with.
- What It's Called
What a hate crime and a bias incident are, and every route to report one.
- What Would You Do
Teams work real situations, present solutions, and get challenged on them.
- Showing Up
Accountability, plus a team service project at the senior residence and the food pantry.
- Speak Up
Advocacy training. Teams draft and deliver a real statement on behalf of their peers.
- Say It to My Face
Each young person speaks life over their teammates, by name. Then showcase rehearsal.
Week 10 is a youth showcase that belongs entirely to the participants. Every young person presents something of their own: a song, a poem, a dish, a business idea, a step routine. Families, elders, and neighbors come to see them.
Thirty seats. Something worth getting into.
Speak Life is selective, with an application and a published cohort announcement. Families meet the staff at an orientation before Week 1, offered in English, Haitian Creole, French, and Spanish.
Join the interest list and we'll reach out when applications open. Open to young people 13 to 18 from Bedford-Stuyvesant, Crown Heights, East Flatbush, and East New York.