On Saturday December 7th 2013, Spirit Awakening Foundation will hold its seventh annual event showcasing the written work of formerly imprisoned youth called Voices of the Unheard at the Los Angeles Theater Center in downtown LA.

Akuyoe Graham is founder of Spirit Awakening Foundation, author of “The Little Book of Transformation/7 Days to a Brand New You,” and creator of a writing program “Writes of Passage” which was heralded by California’s State Department of Justice as “innovative and effective” in preventing youth gang violence.

Quiyona Bridges is a “graduate”- of the Spirit Awakening creative writing and life skills program, who was in juvenile detention in Santa Clarita as a teenager some years ago, currently a Sociology major in college, and mentors other students in the program.

Uprising host Sonali Kolhatkar interviewed Akuyoe and Quiyona about the program and the upcoming event. Watch a video of the interview here: