Unlocked Voices: A Fall Creative Arts Campaign for Youth Inside the JTDC

Stomping Grounds Literary Arts Initiative is launching Unlocked Voices: A Fall Creative Arts Campaign for Youth Inside the JTDC, our newest push to expand access to arts education, mentorship, and healing for incarcerated youth.

Unlocked Voices was born from my decade-long commitment to working inside the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center. Since 2010, I’ve been a teaching artist, program director, and now executive director of my own organization. Even as my role has grown, I’ve stayed in the classroom because I know how much consistency matters to young people who often experience instability in every other part of their lives. Unlocked Voices is one of the only organizations with its own classroom inside JTDC. Over the years, we’ve built trust with both staff and youth—something that doesn’t happen overnight. I’ve seen how long it can take for new teaching artists to adapt to the environment, which is why I’ve carried the responsibility myself for so long. But now, we’re ready to expand.

Recently, we brought in teaching artist Nate Olison for a comics program. For the first time, youth asked for him to return—a powerful reminder of how deeply they connect with mentors who reflect their identities and passions. We want to create more of these moments by bringing in new instructors. This fall, our goal is to raise $6,000 to hire a music production instructor who can help young people unlock their voices through sound. With your support, we can continue showing up consistently, expand our team of mentors, and remind these young people that their voices matter.

Our workshops focus on three core areas: comics and visual storytelling, creative writing and poetry, and digital audio production. Unlocked Voices culminates in tangible outcomes: youth-written poems submitted to the Gwendolyn Brooks Youth Poetry Awards, comics that reflect their personal narratives, and audio recordings shared at our community Open Stage events.  This campaign focuses on securing funding to bring in one more artist educator—particularly a music production instructor to help bring this to life. The music production instructor will be focused on teaching the fundamentals of music production but also the abstract concepts. They will ultimately produce clean and professionally edited music pieces that can be shared in a variety of mediums. 

These funds will ensure consistent, high-quality programming and support the mentorship model that our students have come to depend on. With your help, we can deepen our impact at JTDC and continue to provide meaningful creative outlets during one of the most vulnerable periods in these young people’s lives.

We believe that creativity is a form of resistance and healing. By supporting Unlocked Voices, you’re helping us continue to unlock potential, shift narratives, and remind these young people that they are not forgotten.