Write Together, Bridge DividesIn Speak Up writing groups, people come together across so-called impassable chasms—homeless versus non-homeless, this race versus that race, left versus right, my way versus your way—and do the deeply human work of creating, writing, sharing together.
Outrage-amplifying algorithms, media siloes, and crumbling social institutions have created the sense careening away from one another and it will only get worse. It happens with strangers on the internet, in our work and communities, and even in our own families.
Speak Up writing groups prove a different outcome is possible.
More About Speak UpSpeak Up is a 501(c)(3) Public Charity that gives voice to the voiceless and brings people together across cultural and social divides.
Since launch in 2011, we’ve published ninety homeless-authored issues of a print magazine, launched an innovative approach to street outreach (Pursuit Packs), and found our core model of bridge-building writing groups.
About Speak Up
Weekly Writing PromptsWe write in response to these prompts in our local writing groups. Check out the latest prompts. New ones released weekly.
Writing Prompts
From the Writing GroupsWe write to shared prompts. Some people optionally read their work aloud. Everyone applauds. We write more. Read some of the work from those gatherings.
From the Writing Groups
Street Writers / Homeless Magazine ArchiveRead some of the hundreds of essays, stories, and experiences from many dozens of writers about the homeless experience.
Street Writers