The Shabazz Center
3940 Broadway 10032
Founded by the late poet and activist June Jordan in 1991, P4P explores how reading, writing, and teaching poetry can help people grow both individually and together in community. Jordan’s guidance for crafting poetry emphasizes maximum impact with minimum words. Professor Samiya Bashir, a poet and direct student of Jordan, centers her P4P curriculum on the poetry of African American and American Poets of Color, as well as contemporary African poets. As part of extending P4P’s legacy of bridging the gap between universities and the larger communities they serve, Professor Bashir equips her students with the tools to use poetry workshops as a vehicle of social justice in schools, community organizations, and activist projects, such as the Justice-in-Education Initiative, which organizes educational programming for formerly incarcerated scholars.
