On April 11th, Malika Whitley, founder and CEO of ChopArt and Washington High School alum, celebrated a remarkable milestone as she hosted a private screening of her recent TED Talk to an intimate audience of approximately 75 of Atlanta’s civic and cultural leaders.

ChopArt, an organization that helps homeless youth find dignity, mentorship and personal expression through art, was started from Whitley’s own experience with homelessness and has grown to include programming in Atlanta and New Orleans, as well as Hyderabad, India and Accra, Ghana.

City of Refuge on the Westside was one of ChopArt’s initial partners as Whitley laid the foundation for the organization. Whitley was a 2017 TED Resident, and her speech was one of the culminating activities of her experience. In addition to the screening of Whitley’s TED Talk, audience members were treated to a spoken word and dance performance by some of the ChopArt teens from the Atlanta area.

To view Malika Whitley’s TED Talk, click here.