Sixth grade can be a tough time for pretty much anybody. It doesn’t help when your parents divorce right before the beginning...
I came to the United States two years ago, absolutely terrified of speaking in English. I was depressed because I had left...
My life seemed like something right out of a horror flick — and my mother — well, she could have won an...
“The pediatrician said you need to come to the office immediately,” my mom quivered over the phone. Hearing “immediately” commanded my heart...
I remember the paralyzing fear I felt when I realized I was never going home to my father again. I would never...
I worked at earning credits while I was inside juvenile hall, and in 2016 when I was released into placement in, I...
I wake up in the morning. It's too quiet for my taste. As I walk through the house I start getting flashbacks.
As a queer Jewish teenager, I have the uncommon privilege of having relationships with people between 20 and 50 years older than...
I spent my 18th birthday incarcerated, and saw many of my peers do the same. Our formative years formed within the confines...
It wasn’t until I had gotten locked up at the age of 18 that I began to willingly learn and deeply care...
That is why dismantling young people’s oppression in the era of Trump is one of our fundamental objectives.
Derek Moore and Nicole Smith completed their AmeriCorps VISTA service this week. During their year of service, they supported the launch of...
Watching my brother go to jail opened my eyes to the fact that I want to help and work with youth who...
It’s the end of an era, and the start of a new one. On Friday, Barack Obama, my first president, is now...
It’s late spring, 2012, and 15 teenagers sit around a rectangular table on the second floor of the Neutral Zone, Ann Arbor’s...
Young people’s lived experience speak to viable solutions that policymakers might otherwise never come upon. The best first step for anyone looking...
I had been accused of a serious crime at the age of 17, and because the courts wanted to charge me as...
My mind is somewhat of a junkyard, full of twisted metal and lost souls, and I sweat as I run from demons...
After having phone-banked and canvassed numerous times without being able to cast a ballot, it felt wonderful to walk into the building...
With the InsideOUT Writers program, I devote myself to using my voice to help others, but it wasn’t always this way. I...