Meet Our Grantee-Partner: Young Chicago Authors

Mission: Cultivating artistic development, social and emotional learning, and academic success in Chicago’s youth.

Chicago Public Schools teacher Bob Boone noticed that public schools lacked the resources to provide creative writing instruction. In 1997, Boone started a weekly writing workshop called Young Chicago Authors (YCA) at an office space in Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood. After nearly three decades, YCA has given more than 100,000 teens and young adults across Chicago outlets for expression within a supportive, diverse, and inspirational community. 

YCA helps young people discover the power of their voices through writing, performance, and publication. It centers storytelling and artistic expression to unlock creativity and confidence while building community. YCA’s programs focus on poetry and creative expression because they have been identified as proven tools for helping young people process what they’re going through, speak their truth, and imagine beyond their circumstances. Creative expression is prioritized as a means of survival, healing, and hope. 

YCA partners with 25 Chicago Public Schools, eight community organizations, and several public libraries to ensure that creative writing and performance opportunities are accessible to youth throughout Chicago. Thanks to these strategic partnerships, YCA programs are available in every ZIP code across the city, reaching roughly 2,500 young people annually.

Participants represent a range of racial, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds, reflecting the diversity of Chicago. Many young people in Chicago are impacted by violence and segregation, and YCA connects them with mentors who guide their writing while supporting growth and healing. YCA currently is led by director of programs, Elly Leman; and executive director, Demetrius Amparan. Both are YCA alumni and accomplished artists whose spark was lit in YCA workshops led by authors who shaped Chicago’s poetic legacy. 

YCA offers the following core programs: 

• Check The Method is a weekly workshop tailored to aspiring poets and writers looking to strengthen their skills. The workshop explores poetic expression through lyric essays, memoirs, collage building, scrapbooking, journaling, free write prompts, and more.
• Every Word Counts (EWC), hosted by YCA alumnus and recording artist Rich Robbins, is a weekly songwriting workshop series serving emerging Chicago-based lyricists, vocalists, producers, engineers, and performers.
• The Roots Crew is a five-week paid summer apprenticeship. Students participate in master poetry workshops in conjunction with artistic pods exploring portfolio building, ekphrastic art, journalism/community stories, and music/songwriting.
• Chicago students share their stories on stage and build community through art at the annual Rooted and Radical Youth Poetry Festival, the largest youth poetry festival in the world.
• WordPlay is the longest-running youth open mic in the United States, with cohort-based offshoots like Roots Crew, Every Word Counts, and Check the Method. 

Receiving an Equity in Verse grant from the Poetry Foundation has helped YCA sustain its core programs while imagining new possibilities for the future at a time when funding for the arts is being scaled back. The grant allowed YCA to reflect on its decades of service and look ahead toward building a lasting legacy of poetry and spoken word for the next generation of young artists. YCA leaders credit the grant with helping the organization deepen its impact, expand its reach, and ensure that creative spaces for youth and artists continue to thrive in Chicago. YCA is also part of the Poetry Foundation’s inaugural Sustainable Futures Grant cohort, launched in 2025, and will receive multi-year general operating funding. 

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