 The National Youth Poet Laureate program was founded in 2016 by the Urban Word NYC organization, a youth program that provides opportunities for learning creative writing, poetry, spoken word, college prep, literature, and hip-hop to support development and engagement among young adults.The national program is co-sponsored by other local and national organizations that support youth literacy, including Youth Speaks, The President's Committee on the Arts & Humanities, The Academy of American Poets, Poetry Society of America, Cave Canem, and the Library of Congress.Urban Word NYC has been appointing youth poets laureate of New York City since 2009 after seeing young people get more involved and inspired in civic activity after the election of Barack Obama.