IN THE COMMUNITY

 

Dead center. Surrounded by young people. Simply listening. This is where Najee thrives. Najee has extensive experience working with youth in classrooms and non-traditional settings instructing poetry and performance workshops in New York City jails, juvenile justice facilities, and community based organizations. Primarily working with adolescents (ages 14-21), Najee uses the workshop space to nurture youth voices, reimagining poems as problem-solvers, a source of activism, and a space for freedom.

Najee has facilitated workshops, developed curriculum, and conducted professional development for the following sites/organizations: Rikers Island, Horizon & Crossroads Juvenile Centers, Good Shepherd Services, Center for Alternative Sentences and Employment Services, Center for Court Alternatives, and more.

“I firmly believe, with full permission to explore imagination and creativity, poetry can bridge the gap between young people and the change-agents they’re destined to be.”

SPARK HOUSE

 

In 2016, Najee took his passion for arts and activism into his own hands and founded Spark House: an arts education organization dedicated to developing youth voice and promoting social/emotional well-being using poetry as the point-of-access. Impacting over 200 youth annually, Spark House provides high-quality arts education programs for youth in schools and community organizations to encourage community, leadership, rigorous literacy, and activism.

Spark House offers highly interactive, multi-disciplinary workshops where students acquire the tools and techniques of written/performance poetry; critically examine social justice issues to consider the roles poets and poetry play in transforming community; edit, revise, and publish original writing and art; and share their poems before an audience of their peers and invited guests.

Learn More