Alandra Chuney-Jackson

Alandra Chuney-Jackson is an InsideOut alumni, the Co-Executive Director of the Youth Development Resource Center (YDRC) in Detroit, and the founder of the Sisters’ Couch – an organization dedicated to de-stigmatizing mental health for Black women.

Cassidy Howard

As a high school student, Cassidy Howard experienced InsideOut front multiple angles. A member of the 2021 InsideOut Youth Performance Troupe, Cassidy also served two terms on InsideOut’s Youth Advisory Board and was a recipient of the 2022 Citywide Poets Scholarship.

Yareli and Poetry for the People Billboard Photo Sara Faraj

Yareli

“To feel that somebody enjoys reading and getting inspired by the things that I made is awesome. I feel like an author now.” 10-year-old Yareli, a student in our Writer-in-Residence program, recently saw her own writing on a billboard in Corktown as part of Poetry…
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Talitha Johnson

“InsideOut was a launching pad for a lot of my career.” Talitha Johnson was a student at Detroit’s Mackenzie High in 2000 when InsideOut’s Writer-in-Residence program came into her life. Today she is a Marketing Manager at the Detroit Regional Partnership, a regional economic development…
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5 Stories for 25 Years: Aja

2015-2020: Aja “Citywide Poets brought me to the realization that everybody is individual and important.” Before I started Citywide Poets, I wasn’t doing poetry in secret, but I did feel like an underground artist. It started off as a class assignment back in sixth grade and…
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5 Stories for 25 Years: Candance

2010-2015: Candance Candance performing her original work at InsideOut’s inaugural Share the Light benefit. (2017) Why I Write by Candance  I write when people say I taIk too much.  I write to set the world aflame. I write to speak for those who are afraid…
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5 Stories for 25 Years: Justin Rogers

2005-2010: Justin Rogers “Citywide Poets was pivotal in my social and professional life because it offered me a sense of direction and hope.” When Writer-in-Residence Nandi Comer found me in 12th grade of high school, I was a very shy student trying to navigate where…
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5 Stories for 25 Years: Jasmine Dorsey

2000-2005: Jasmine Dorsey “This program is the reason I graduated high school.” I didn’t belong to any crew or group in high school because I always felt so different. I always felt alone because I felt too mature to even have friends in high school….
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5 Stories for 25 Years: Michael R. Jackson

1995-2000: Michael R. Jackson Photo Credit:  Zack DeZon “Literally every aspect of my writing career came because a teacher encouraged me.” I’m Michael R. Jackson, and I’m from Detroit, Michigan. I grew up on the west side of Detroit, right off the Southfield Freeway. Growing…
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