Project Uncaged™ is a trauma-informed, arts-based program designed for girls in U.S. juvenile detention and rehab facilities — a population often underserved and under-heard by a system designed for males.
“What do we NOT KNOW about young people, because we’ve failed to listen to their art?”
- Dr. Tasha Golden
Girls are the fastest growing segment of the U.S. juvenile justice population, and they are primarily arrested for running away, truancy, and substance use: three of the most common symptoms of abuse. Girls are more likely than boys to have been victims of sexual assault and to suffer from complex trauma. Despite these facts, the juvenile justice system struggles to meet girls’ needs.
In response, Dr. Tasha Golden developed a research-based intervention: Project Uncaged™. Its creative, adaptable programming emphasizes participants’ intersectional experiences, supports their well-being, and forges opportunities for them to inform local decisions.
The arts-based approach uniquely amplifies girls’ stories, voices, and needs, with an eye toward improving gender equity and youth resources.
Project Uncaged has been committed to advancing youths' leadership and meaningful inclusion in research, decision-making, and public discourse. Grounded in extensive research and years of praxis, the program addresses girls’ wellbeing at individual, community, policy, and cultural levels.
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If you’re interested in developing similar programming in your community, or in learning how to apply the arts to health equity goals:
FEATUREd STORY
Read about Project Uncaged in this feature story in Louisville’s Courier Journal:
Also appearing in US News and World Report, the Houston Chronicle, the Miami Herald, and many great U.S. papers
“'guidance was a lack / hurt was a fact / My mother was a loss / and my family turned they back.' – Stone Cold, R.T.
“[…] Twice a week Tasha Golden walks through six secure doors to the classroom where she teaches poetry to the young women as part of their school day at Louisville Metro Youth Detention Services downtown.
They're a group that often goes unseen and unheard in society, but Golden spends enough time behind the detention center's doors to know these young women have plenty to say.
It's her mission to help others hear them.
”The books [of poetry] are useful tools, because people often glaze over when she starts talking incarceration statistics for young women.
Yes, she can tell them that young girls are the fastest growing segment of the juvenile justice system.
Yes, she can recite those numbers about sexual abuse and adverse childhood experiences.
But rather than rattle off numbers, she’s learned to hand a book to leaders and policymakers — and just stop talking.
Often they've stopped listening anyway.
The poems are short, so it’s difficult not to read the whole thing once one catches you, even if you're just flipping through the pages.
There's a rawness and a beauty to their writing because the girls aren't trying to be amazing poets. They’re just trying to tell their truths…” [Continue Reading]
“POETRY BEHIND CINDERBLOCK WALLS”
Project Uncaged helps
amplify youth voices
Clip of Dr. Golden’s interview with
The Courier Journal