About Us

Mission

Get Lit hss launched an initiative that focuses the power of poetic expression on helping to erase teen illiteracy in Los Angeles. Get Lit-Words Ignite educates, trains, and exposes teens to poetry through our in-school, after-school, Get Lit Player and Magic Poetry Bus Programs. Understanding that live recitation of classic poetry is a lost art, Get Lit aspires to ensure it a central place in contemporary society by systematizing its education and promoting its collective practice.

Get Lit-Words Ignite is ideally situated to host the Magic Poetry Bus - CA Poet Laureate, Carol Muske-Dukes’ on-line, interactive poetry program.

Vision

According to a 2006 Time Magazine report, “an increasing number of researchers are saying that nearly 1 out of 3 public high school students won't graduate. For Latinos and African Americans, the rate approaches an alarming 50%. Virtually no community, small or large, rural or urban, has escaped the problem.” In California The National Assessment of Adult Literacy reported that children in the state ranked next to last on federal literacy assessments and in Los Angeles they have ranked next to last of all 58 counties in the state in basic literary skills for the past six years.

This is more than an education problem; it affects the outcomes of young lives in terms of their, work, family, public health, and ability to participate as informed citizens. A 2009 Literacy Company report indicated that when the State of Arizona projects how many prison beds it will need, it factors in the number of kids who read well in fourth grade. Similarly CNN reported in 2008 that among black men who drop out, 60% will end up behind bars. It is not difficult to see the correlation.

Get Lit’s goal is to stop this trend, igniting a love of language in our youth, inspiring them to stay in school and thrive.

Values

Long-term success for Get Lit is creating a sustainable organization that serves Los Angeles by providing an educational model for poetry/literature that transforms underperforming LAUSD high schools. Rather than residing at the bottom of national literacy rankings, Los Angeles will be at the top, becoming a model for teen literacy throughout the nation.