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Student voice: support IndyPulse, grow our city

Indy Pulse is a different method and message of education. Through spoken word our youth voice hope.

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Student voice: support IndyPulse, grow our city

Student voice: support IndyPulse, grow our city

Student voice: support IndyPulse, grow our city

Student voice: support IndyPulse, grow our city

Student voice: support IndyPulse, grow our city

Indy Pulse is a different method and message of education. Through spoken word our youth voice hope.

Indy Pulse is a different method and message of education. Through spoken word our youth voice hope.

Indy Pulse is a different method and message of education. Through spoken word our youth voice hope.

Indy Pulse is a different method and message of education. Through spoken word our youth voice hope.

Indy Pulse
Indy Pulse
Indy Pulse
Indy Pulse
1 Campaign |
Indianapolis, United States
$635 USD 12 backers
6% of $10,000 Flexible Goal Flexible Goal

Why support us?

Our city is changing; our society is changing. How can we ensure that Indianapolis will become inclusive and equitable? One thing we know: our youth are our future leaders and citizens. 

The zeitgeist of education in our city wagers numbers over names, and test scores over community, talent, passion. Indy Pulse uses spoken word poetry to activate that element of humanity essential to creating the society, and the people, we all hope for.

Parents: Are you concerned about your kid “making it”: making it through school, tests, and overcoming whatever temptations stand in their way to living a productive, happy life?

Teachers: When is the last time you were able to converse with your students about race and class? When was the last time you were able to authentically listen to—and validate—your students’ voices?

Students: When is the last time you were able to really say what you wanted to say? When was the last time you got to tell your story? When was the last time you felt included in a community who you could share your story with?

Through our events, culturally responsive practices, and Common Core-aligned curriculum we cultivate youth who articulate their vision for meaningful life paths. Their academic and interpersonal skills improve. The result: a Reflective youth who can Advocate for equity and actualize it through our Inclusive community. Our schools partners, families, and youth are from different “sides” of Indianapolis, and from different socio-economic and racial experiences.

How can you help build a better Indianapolis? Support our future leaders and citizens. Support Indy Pulse.

Impact to date

We partner with seven Indianapolis schools and six community partners to serve over 170 students. We provide students with mentorship from nationally ranked spoken word artists and empower our teacher leaders to increase their Pulse team’s capacity by providing support as they earn stipends, fellowships, and awards for their Indy Pulse work.

We sent Indianapolis’ inaugural spoken word team to the world’s largest youth poetry slam—Brave New Voices.  KJ, a Pulse leader, earned honorable mention at BNV; she is 13, the youngest allowable age to compete.  Our national and local media coverage increased three-fold.

Our curriculum’s cultural responsiveness activates student voice, which improves their academic success and behavior. NWEA scores and report cards show our students’ academic gains.

Indy Pulse is at an essential growth point. We're expanding to more schools next year. Ultimately—and with your support—we will create a city-wide league that promotes student voice, inclusion, and community. 

How your support helps

Where is the primary place our youth must go? Schools. We meet youth where they are; and we reformulate relationships amongst students, parents, educators, and community members.

Your support will go directly towards our facilitator-educators, materials, events, and College and Career Readiness. Our phenomenal Teacher Leaders lead biweekly programming, and our Professional Poet Mentors lead regular workshops with youth, families, and community Partners. Our Pule Pipeline Scholarship program supports youth as they complete high school and their college and technical education beyond.  

Our Team

Camea Davis is currently a Gates Millennium Scholar, was awarded the Teacher Creative Renewal Grant by Eli Lilly in 2014 to travel the European (Rome, Venice, Tuscany, Paris, Florence); she archived these sites and carry them to inner city communities and classrooms and engage students in reflective writing about their own environments—which exemplifies our approach: leveraging spoken word to bridge the Western canonical and the urban cultural experiences. She is in her second year as a doctoral student at Ball State’s Educational Policy and Cultural studies program, focused on educating African American children equitably.

Tony DelaRosa leads our branding and public relations, he speaks Spanish, which helps our Latino youth dive deeper into their identity and re-create their narrative. He is an Asian American teacher, currently working with TFA’s Culturally Responsive Teaching Pilot Cohort to create programming for corps members to help bring awareness and strengthen culturally responsive teaching best practices in the classroom. He is helping to design a city-wide youth summit aimed to help students find and leverage their leadership and voice.

Lauren Hall, as Executive Director, relentlessly increases her competency for this work; she increased her skills by completing the first semester at Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs—ranked number one in the nation for my studies in Non-Profit Management. More fundamental to our functioning, she leads our community, city, and school partnerships; she crafts our strategic-planning, budgeting, calendar, and initiatives to establish long-term sustainability. She drafts our grant narratives and coalesced our curriculum's framework.


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Choose your Perk

Indy Pulse Chatbook

$20 USD
Share in Pulse poets' heavy truths and laughter, their stories and selves. We're inspired by your support, so let us prove how catalytic your contribution can be. Donate $20 and get a collection of spoken word poems and pictures of our amazing youth.
Estimated Shipping
July 2015
1 claimed

Large Indy Pulse Sticker

$50 USD
Indy Pulse swag. Promote student voice wherever you go--tag your laptop, journal, backpack, or purse.
Estimated Shipping
August 2015
1 claimed

Indy Pulse T-shirt

$100 USD
Your support has proven how critical of an advocate you are for our youth, and for the future of our city. Rep Indy Pulse wherever, whenever, we're proud to have you in the family.
Estimated Shipping
August 2015
2 claimed

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