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Community Corner

Spirit Awakening Foundation Announces its Seventh Annual Spoken Word Event Voices of the Unheard – Celebrating the Inspiring Works of The Young

The Spirit Awakening Foundation announced that it will be holding
its annual event VOICES OF THE UNHEARD/TRANSFORMATION, featuring the written and spoken work of children and
teens in the juvenile system. This event will take place on Saturday, December
7th 2013, at 2.30 P.M., at the Los Angeles Theater Center, located
on 514 South Spring Street. This year’s guest artists include Hill Harper, Marianne Williamson, producer
Scott Budnick, Debra Wilson, Esai Morales, Frances Fisher, Rev. Michael
Beckwith and many others.

VOICES OF THE UNHEARD is the only event to celebrate the written
works of the youths in the juvenile system. Teenagers and young adults are
given the opportunity to travel on a journey of self- discovery. Through
creativity, support, love and spirituality, these young adults are encouraged
to express themselves and let the world know that they have a chance at a
better life. The Spirit Awakening Foundation offers the environment and space for
the children in the juvenile system to articulate their emotions and highlight
their lived experiences.  With their
words they express their fears, their anger and they get to discover their own
identity and embrace their individuality.



“I always wanted to make a difference in children’s lives and I
wanted them to have the opportunity to hear their own voices, to discover who
they are rather than to go with the program” said Akuyoe Graham, founder of the
Spirit Awakening Foundation.  “There has
to be a way to engage youth in the conversation about spirituality, so I ask
them to take the journey of self-discovery and to contemplate the question Who
Am I? Inevitably, many of them come back with: I AM…”





Recent studies show that 41% of
American adolescents and young adults are arrested at least once for felony
crimes by the time they reach the age of 23. In 2012, more than 36,400
teenagers were arrested for a felony crime in California alone.  In July
2013, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a report,
assessing long-term trends among teenagers and young adults aged 10 to 24 Years.
The report states that children in that demographic are disproportionately
affected by crime and homicide, resulting in approximately 4,800 deaths yearly.

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VOICES OF
THE UNHEARD
is a testimony to how education, solidarity, spirituality and love
can be remedies to so many social injustices. The spoken words of these
adolescents will awake the sense of responsibility and solidarity in our
society to build up an environment where these juveniles are no longer seen as
statistics, but as brothers, sisters and wonderful human beings.





About Spirit
Awakening

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Established in 1995, Spirit Awakening Foundation is a non-profit
organization and charitable creative organization that implements creative
writing and life skills program to youths, designed to awaken the spirit of
young people in the juvenile camps.  The
foundation’s mission is to build character and raise self-esteem by teaching
the teenagers in the juvenile camps to get in touch with their spirituality and
to learn how to love the beauty of their being. Utilizing the tools of
meditation, creative writing and dramatic improvisation, the Spirit Awakening
Foundation offers these young adults the space to gain discipline and to
improve their communication skills. Spirit Awakening Foundation currently works
with three hundred incarcerated juveniles. 75% of the juveniles detained who
participate at the Spirit Awakening Foundation Program graduate from college or
get jobs in their desired fields of interests.



About Akuyoe
Graham



Akuyoe Graham is an accomplished actor, an award winning author, a
devoted educator and the founder of Spirit Awakening Foundation. She is the author of the critically acclaimed “The Little
Book of Transformation/7 days to a brand new you.” A recipient of many
Senatorial and Congressional citations for artistic excellence, Akuyoe Graham
has been named “Angel of the Year” by The Children’s Life Saving Foundation,
“Artist of the Year” by Artshare LA, and given a “Local Hero Award” by A Season
for Nonviolence, LA. Akuyoe Graham’s
pivotal moment was her critically acclaimed performance in her one-woman show
Spirit Awakening. The national success of the show inspired Graham to create the award winning writing program “Writes of
Passage—Unmasking Your Authentic Voice” and found the non-profit and charitable
organization Spirit Awakening Foundation. The Foundation oversees the
implementation of her writing program for teens and incarcerated youth. California’s
state Department of Justice has recognized “Writes of Passage” as “innovative
and effective” in the areas of youth gang violence prevention. Akuyoe Graham
recently received the prestigious “Four Dames Freedom Award” for her
achievements in advocating freedom of speech and freedom from fear. For
more information on Akuyoe Graham, please visit www.spiritawakening.org





TICKETS INFORMATION



$  25.00
- general seating incl. after party



$100.00 - VIP
seating; incl. pre-event reception with cast and after party



$  20.00
- Groups of 10 or more



You can buy you tickets online at https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/928828 or call 1.866.811.4111







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