Spirit Awakening Foundation

Spirit Awakening Foundation (SAF) wears its heart on its sleeve…or at least at the top of its website. 

“We believe that art is powerful and can entertain, heal, transform and inspire,” the nonprofit says. “Artistic expression is a powerful entryway to uncover and heal from traumatic experiences. With the use of meditation/mindfulness practices, creative writing, visual arts, music, role-play, conflict resolution and dramatic improvisation, we support abused, neglected and underserved youth and young adults in realizing their value, self-worth, and dignity.” 

That’s not just some lofty aim. Los Angeles-based SAF has been around for 31 years, with its founder – Ghana native Akuyoe Graham – still serving as CEO and executive director. Since its inception in 1995, SAF has been a pioneer in developing and offering restorative, trauma-informed prevention and intervention programs to underserved, incarcerated, and systems-involved youth in Los Angeles County. The nonprofit offers young people techniques needed to live in society as it is, with an eye toward a more inclusive, just, and safe world. Using the tools as well as mentorship, service and leadership training, all of which have been guided by evidence-based research, SAF has continued to accomplish its mission to help underserved youth build character and raise self-esteem. 

The organization is a member of the Santa Monica Business Hall of Fame, a recipient of a number of prestigious recognitions, awards and accolades, including the 2023 Candid Platinum Seal of Transparency, the 2018-2022 Best of Santa Monica Nonprofits awards and the Southern California Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine Leadership Award. 

“We’re working with youth impacted in the system,” Graham said. “We’re in the juvenile halls and the probation camps. We’re in the high schools. And we’ve been expanding to working with adults as well as youth, including survivors of domestic violence. What we offer is valuable for everyone.” 

Now Spirit Awakening is looking to expand its footprint to Santa Barbara, aiming to offer similar services to local youth facing issues akin to those troubled kids, teenagers, and young adults who have legal, scholastic, or other challenges – even in our seemingly idyllic setting. There’s no reason, Graham said, that its programs – such as “Writes of Passage,” which teaches incarcerated and underserved youth how to express themselves through creative writing and visual arts, or “Voices of the Unheard,” an annual performance of the written and spoken word of child detainees and a published compilation of their essays, poems and metaphysical musings – shouldn’t be just as valuable in Santa Barbara. 

Why should people who live here trust an organization that doesn’t really know the territory, and has solely worked in the sprawling metropolis that is Los Angeles? 

“We’re not sustained 31 years later because it’s just a cute idea,” said Graham, who worked in leadership with youth organizations and wrote a well-received one-woman play about own experiences before starting SAF. “It’s because we’re good. Our programs have impacted this population of youth that are in trouble, who need safe spaces to go to discover their resilience, and rediscover and reconnect with their intelligence and the good things that they have within them. Back then, people didn’t understand how mindfulness, meditation, yoga, writing, and role play could be helpful. The only reason the work was allowed to continue is because school directors, physical teachers, probation officers, they saw the improvements with the students.” 

Graham realizes there are already a number of nonprofits and organizations working in this space, even if only dabbling in programs as part of their mission. She said Spirit Awakening could serve as at least a catalyst, if not a turnkey operation. 

“This is what we are known for, this is what we do, and we do it well. We are able to create safe spaces for program participants to be able to really align with their true natures, to align with their purpose, to align with their authentic voices and to be able to then go out into the world being the people that they came here to be.”

Meanwhile, the current issue of screen time polluting young people’s minds and exacerbating disconnection isn’t going away on its own, and knows no geographic or income-related bounds.

“It’s a really big problem,” Graham said. “These things that initially were designed to bring us closer and put the world at our feet are separating us even more. What they read and see, the political climate, is making people very scared. And they don’t even know how to communicate with people when they’re in proximity to someone in real time.”

Graham said SAF is helping its clients navigate how to write a cover letter for a résumé or job offer, which has always been a challenge, but faces even more problems in a world of social media. 

“You don’t send a cover letter to someone with OMG in it,” she said. “Who can understand that?”

Breaking into Santa Barbara isn’t easy either. Recognizing that it might be a challenge to receive a donation large enough to immediately launch a large-scale program in the area, the organization is happy to start small, just looking to connect with people who are interested in laying the groundwork or having an idea where the work might be valuable. 

“Best case scenario would be to come and train others in the Spirit Awakening way,” Graham said. “It would be great to hear from someone who wants to sponsor this program at a school, or a training for an organization that’s already here so they don’t have to reinvent the wheel and start from scratch. Or we can collaborate so they can see the effectiveness. Or even just come to see this year’s Voices of the Unheard show  at the Skirball Center in November, with this year’s theme of Reverence. Call us or email me and we’ll talk.”  

Visit www.spiritawakening.org