This past weekend, The Children’s Aid Society’s African American Male Initiative (AAMI) hosted its 5th annual Lift Every Voice competition. The public speaking series, part of the program’s Black History Month tradition, challenges its young participants to strengthen their writing and verbal skills beyond the classroom by critically engaging in social issues through persuasive speeches and debate.

Approximately 75 participants, from grades 4-12, took part in this year’s competition. They assessed the validity of the statement, “If you work hard, you can achieve anything in America.” The students also presented expository speeches that answered the question, “What would you do to address police brutality?” New York Assembly members Michael Blake and Marcos Crespo attended the event to support the young participants. Blake spoke about how public speaking was critical to developing his career in politics, and Crespo served as a judge during the expository speech round.

Clifton Watson, director of AAMI, said, “We recognize that the competition’s continued success speaks to just how much young people welcome being challenged and the opportunity to speak about—and offer solutions to—some of the most pressing issues facing their communities.”

Each year, Lift Every Voice reinforces our goal at Children’s Aid to bridge the gap between the classroom and the community by providing enriching opportunities for our young people to put the skills they develop in our schools and programming to use.