TALK Gets Nonprofit Status, Continues to Grow

After a year of wrangling for its not-for-profit letter, the Homewood based teen group TALK, Theater & Arts Leadership Kouncil, was finally awarded not-for-profit status by the U.S. Government. The letter will now allow the group to kick-start new efforts and programs for teens in the Southland area.

“We help or empower teens to become difference-makers through the arts,” said Steve Ploum, founder of TALK. “We know these kids have a desire and motivation to do their arts. … TALK kind of builds off the idea that they want to have these cool projects and experiences, but really they need to learn how to pick it up themselves.”

Although the group is lead by Ploum and other adult senior board members, he said that the real decision making is done by the teens in the group, called the YoLK, or Youth Leadership Kouncil.

“They use Robert's Rules and write policies and basically lead the organization itself,” Ploum said.

During its first year, TALK's theme was to 'create buzz,' Ploum said. This year, the theme is 'come talk with us,' Ploum said.

“The goal is to build on our number of contributors, in adult leadership roles, the YoLK and throughout TALK,” he said.

For more information on talk, visit the group's website, here.