When we’re not visiting summer camps for kids with life-altering illness or disabilities across the state of Washington, we’re doing our best to support some great programs a little closer to home. Read on to learn more about our ongoing partnership with youth outreach organizations in the city of Seattle.

KING COUNTY JUVENILE DETENTION

Every week, a Jet City Improv teaching artist visits one hall at the King County Juvenile Detention Facility to teach and play  with the incarcerated youth there. It’s a chance for these kids to participate in improv; one of the most accessible and engaging art forms around, while laughing and connecting with their peers. Beyond the facility, we ensure that every kid that we meet at the facility has two tickets waiting in their discharge file and knows how to apply to volunteer or work at the Jet City Improv Theater.

Sanctuary Arts Center Visual Storytelling Program

Youth experiencing homelessness, and youth in transistion

Sea Mar CHCs Renacer Youth Treatment Center

We send an instructor (Shawn Franklin) into Renacer every other week. Our work at Renacer goes beyond just improv skills. Shawn works with those boys on empathy, confidence, and communication. They practice how to use their body language to communicate with each other and with adults, and they discuss how to use empathy not only to connect with others, but also to help support a friend on the edge. The consistency of Shawn's presence is an important factor.

Jefferson Community Center High School Mock Trial presentation training

Our work at Mock Trial is one of the hallmarks of our education outreach program. We send an instructor (Shawn Franklin) to help coach the Jefferson Community Center Mock Trial team, sometimes as often as twice a week during active practice season. Shawn helps support not only the "character work" of the witness side, but also the confidence building and public speaking aspect of the lawyer side. He talks about watching students transform over their years in the program – many of these students don't speak English as their first language, and their confidence in performing and speaking in front of a room full of adults who are (literally) there to judge them is a major way to track the success of this program.