Project VOYCE

Imagine if adults trusted youth as the experts of their own experiences and sought to partner with them to develop innovative solutions to social issues. Project VOYCE (Voices of Youth Creating Equity) is a grassroots, youth advocacy organization located in Denver, Colorado that trains, employs, and organizes underrepresented youth to address root causes of inequity. Project VOYCE (PV) envisions a world with representative leadership for a more just and equitable society and serves youth of color and youth living in poverty through afterschool and summer programming. In 2006, the temporary closure of Manual High School - an underserved inner-city public school in Denver - served as a catalyst for our founding. While the closure and school redesign efforts had good intentions of involving community input, the youth recommendations were left out of the final report. Determined to ensure that students were included in conversations and decisions that affect their lives, students led t...