In episode one my associate producer Nick (MaClindon) spoke with Rebekah Fenton about Michael Tubb’s love of the power of the Spoken Word and the metaphor of Stockton’s rise from the ashes of Bankruptcy through Tupac Shakur's monumental poem The Rose That Grew From Concrete.

Tama with her husband Aaron founded With Our Words a nonprofit, slam poetry collective that has created safe spaces for young people to express themselves through written and spoken word and provided opportunities for at-risk youth to connect the dots between literacy, critical thinking, social action, and community results. With Our Words trains young writers and creates performance opportunities for youth poets in Stockton, and the Central Valley such as their All-City Poetry Slam, Poetry Book Camp and Dream Out Loud.

Brandon is a spoken word poet who grew up in what Brandon calls the ghettos of South Stockton in a single parent household with his mother Carla Leake-Gibson. Brandon shares his passion for helping youth to find their voice and tell their story through the expression of poetry and spoken word. Brandon has created Called To Move which works with school-age students between the grades of 7th-12th through spoken word poetry workshops, and spoken word poetry performances

Delve deeper into Voices of the Community Series on Arts & Culture, Making the Invisible-Visible, Covid-19's impact on nonprofits, small businesses and local government, City of Stockton's rise from the ashes of bankruptcy and our archives: You can explore episodes, speakers, organizations, and resources through each series web page. Watch and learn from all five series now!