"The Big Reveal" (Matthew "Cuban" Hernandez)

Matthew “Cuban” Hernandez is an international poet, teaching artist and Slam (poetry) coach from Jacksonville, Florida. Hernandez founded Shattered Thought, a youth poetry slam and mentoring organization that eventually contracted with the Duval County Juvenile Court Program to provide writing and performance workshops. He has since been invited to facilitate writing and performance workshops in schools and juvenile detention centers nationally and internationally. His craft training includes a residency with Leeds Young Authors (Leeds, West Yorkshire, England) and teacher training with Youth Speaks, a youth program that creates safe spaces that challenge young people to find, develop, publicly present, and use their voices as tools for social change. Hernandez received Jacksonville’s Youth Mentor of the Year award in 2005. Currently, he serves as a core FLOW instructor and Arts Program Educator at New Earth. He implements FLOW modules at five probation camps throughout Los Angeles County serving close to 500 boys and young men weekly. Additionally he works closely with the New Earth Founder/Lead Instructor to develop and refine curriculum and design and implement the instructor training program.