Roland Leguirdi-Laura's film "To Be Heard" is the story of a group of high school students from the South Bronx who use poetry to transform their lives and the world around them. The core assumption of the documentary is that mastery of language - reading, writing and public speaking - is essential to living an empowered and engaged life. "Power Poetry" is an interactive mobile application designed to empower young people to "own" their creative process. At the Institute, the team developed and built a mobile application for youth to create and distribute their own "Poemisodes," along with an interactive web tool that connects youth voices to urgent social movements. The Android interface will be seeded through an on-line project launch with distribution partners including The Roots, The Hip-Hop Association, The Nuyorican Poets' Café, Urban Word, and Youth Speaks. Also included in the project vision are interactive learning modules, a youth-run video channel, and collaborative editing tools.

Roland Leguirdi-Laura's film "To Be Heard" is the story of a group of high school students from the South Bronx who use poetry to transform their lives and the world around them. The core assumption of the documentary is that mastery of language - reading, writing and public speaking - is essential to living an empowered and engaged life. "Power Poetry" is an interactive mobile application designed to empower young people to "own" their creative process. At the Institute, the team developed and built a mobile application for youth to create and distribute their own "Poemisodes," along with an interactive web tool that connects youth voices to urgent social movements. The Android interface will be seeded through an on-line project launch with distribution partners including The Roots, The Hip-Hop Association, The Nuyorican Poets' Café, Urban Word, and Youth Speaks. Also included in the project vision are interactive learning modules, a youth-run video channel, and collaborative editing tools.