Dear Get Lit Family,

As we gather the impact data from the 2022-2023 fiscal year, I want to take some time to reflect on the incredible work that was made possible by supporters like you. 

From the start of our fiscal year in July 2022, Get Lit has taken on huge initiatives to build engaging curriculum and classroom materials that offer support to teachers across the globe. Over the summer, our team of young creators worked tirelessly to create over 100 custom-made videos to supplement the Get Lit curriculum.  These videos, funded in part by a generous grant from the State of California Library Foundation, launched alongside our online platform Uni(verse) in classrooms throughout California.

For the first time, Get Lit’s courses were taught internationally at CTL Academy in Nigeria, bringing the healing work of the Get Lit Model to a global stage. With the addition of CTL Academy, Get Lit has now been taught in over 140 schools across 10 different counties in California and more nationwide. All in all, teachers facilitated over 7,500 hours of Get Lit instruction over the course of the year.

Most importantly, Get Lit gave over 13,000 students a new way to connect to themselves, their communities, and their own creative spirit.

This year, we provided over 300 hours of youth programming, from weekly drop-in instruction to our music and film classes. Youth artists in these after-school programs are provided with training and job experience that takes them from classroom to career, with special emphasis on the valuable 21st Century skills of critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity, which often lead to paid opportunities before students graduate, so youth can “earn while they learn.”

100% of our graduating Get Lit Players will be attending college in the fall (compared to 70% of Los Angeles County graduating seniors) and attending CSUN Northridge, Los Angeles College of Music, Yale, Columbia, UC Berkeley, Pierce College, and Harvard.  Two Get Lit Players were even awarded the prestigious titles of Youth Poet Laureate: Sierra Leone Anderson, Youth Poet Laureate of Los Angeles; and Salome Agbaroji, Youth Poet Laureate of the United States.  

In the words of Jasmine Minchez, one of our Get Lit Players: “Accessibility is a big barrier between who gets to have arts education and who doesn’t. Get Lit has opened an avenue for me. [Working as an artist] can seem distant when you don’t know how to get there. Get Lit has allowed me to get my foot in the water.”

None of this would be possible without the unwavering support of our community. With your help, we plan to push forward with the vital work we do in the 2023-2024 fiscal year, boosting self-confidence and mental health, opening avenues for literacy education, and championing the voices of educators and students.  Thanks to your support, Get Lit will be able to continue to scale our vibrant community, providing valuable work experience and real world training to young people to help them build and thrive in a more equitable future.

From the bottom of my heart: thank you.

Diane Luby Lane

Founder and CEO of Get Lit