Since its inception in 2003, Art from Ashes (AfA) has provided creative empowerment workshops to high-risk youth, facilitating expression, connection and transformation among the most neglected and vulnerable segments of our community. AfA’s creative programs use the combination of creativity and neurology to provide workshops that not only offer young people access to the arts and to their creative power, but in doing so also address risk factors among struggling young people. Our foundational program, Phoenix Rising, uses poetry and spoken word to empower young people through the language of metaphor. Other programs include Drawing on Air, Casting Shadows and Wingspan. To date, AfA has provided creative workshops with more than 200 partnering organizations for more than 18,000 young people who have survived traumatic events, are victims of abuse, neglect and/or poverty, and are at risk for or engaged in destructive behaviors.
