Dear Friends,

2023 marked a true turning point in our growth. We kicked off the year with the release of our book, Amplify Student Voices, which introduces our method of Expression-Driven Teaching to guide K-12 teachers to advance equity and engagement. Our book represents our realization that our mission isn’t only relevant to people in the SF Bay Area, but nationwide. This became evident as we traveled to conferences across the country and Canada, where I gave my first TEDx talk. One teen said, “I really liked your story and the way you talked about breaking templates. I feel like an imposter and listening to you made me see I am not alone and I have confidence to be myself.” We heard the same sentiments from teachers, who appreciated our work to create equitable environments for students to be themselves.

We see our success reflected in what our students do once they have the encouragement, guidance, and community to practice their voice. In 2023, we secured our largest district contracts, which allowed us to reach students and teachers in 20 schools. Our students performed to hundreds of people, sharing their cultural heritage, speaking their native languages, and winning speech and debate awards. Our longest-running high school program in West Contra Costa qualified for the Tournament of Champions. Our youngest students shared speeches on bullying, climate change, and mental health in our end-of-year event.

We talk a lot about our youth and education work, but half of our work was with adult professionals. We helped nonprofit staff in multiple organizations learn to pitch their work to funders and tell stories and give presentations. We expanded our work with Kaiser Permanente, serving 100 staff in their leadership and equity program. We worked with individuals to pitch new businesses, deliver keynotes and strategic plans, deal with public speaking anxiety, and speak confidently on camera. In total, we served more than double the number of students in one year.

As I write this, we are looking ahead to how we will grow to serve people nationwide. We are building this work on solid ground, rather than chasing growth for growth’s sake. I am proud that while we are expanding quickly, we have never sacrificed the quality of what we offer our students. When I think back over 2023, I feel immense gratitude for our hard-working team of staff, Junior Board, and Board. We learned together as we built internal systems and worked with experts to help us with our data collection, Salesforce, marketing, and bookkeeping. It takes a lot to grow a nonprofit, but it has been beautiful to gain outside recognition to build credibility around our work. Standing on the stage of the National Speech & Debate Championships to accept our Activating Equity Award with my mom and husband in the audience was a moment that made both my high school and present self proud.

Thank you for caring for us and our work – I can’t wait to do more alongside all of you.