(Delaware and Chester Counties, PA • August 10, 2020)—Delaware County Community College will host a virtual spoken word performance, followed by a question-and-answer session, by Joseph Green, an award-winning poet, motivational speaker, workshop facilitator, professional storyteller and person in long-term recovery.

“Beacon of Hope” is the title of Green’s spoken word virtual performance, which is open to the public and will be held at 4:30 p.m., Thursday, August 27 on Zoom. 

With a background in theatre, performance poetry and social justice education, Green seamlessly intertwines storytelling and spoken word poetry into his presentations and workshops. He inspires his audiences to join him on a journey, which uplifts the core principles of self-care, self-awareness, diversity and inclusion. He also urges audiences to pay their blessings forward to make the world a better place for everyone; and he believes in the innate ability of story to connect people to their higher purpose and to one another.

Over the past 15 years, Green has created and facilitated thousands of workshops with youth, educators, health care professionals, realtors and nonprofit organizations. His workshops focus on implementing effective youth development strategies, diversity and inclusion, creative mindfulness, and personal and professional burnout prevention.

Green’s life story and work have been featured in Youth Today, an internationally distributed digital media publication read by professionals in the youth services field; UpWorthy, a website devoted to positive storytelling; and PBS NewsHour. He has been keynote speaker and/or presenter at: the University of Baltimore; the 2017 American Society of Addiction Medicine; Talks at Google, an internal talks series, hosted by Google in which authors, scientists, actors and notable others discuss their work; the 2016 and 2018 California Statewide Conference on Substance Use Disorder; the 2017 Utah Fall Substance Abuse Conference; and the Wisconsin Voices for Recovery Rally for Recovery.

After co-founding the nonprofit, Poetry NOW, an after-school poetry program in Virginia, Green merged his organization with Split This Rock, a Washington, D.C.-based poetry and social justice organization, where, for three years, Green served as director of youth programs. In 2017, he started LMSvoice, an organization dedicated to helping people and socially conscious organizations discover and share the transformative power of story (See www.LMSvoice.com).

Green’s spoken word performance at Delaware County Community College is made possible by a grant from the PA Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs, which helps the College create a variety of initiatives to educate, inform and support students, faculty, staff and the community about how to address the U.S. opioid epidemic.