What Humanities Amped does

Humanities Amped is a Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2014 and incorporated in 2018 that delivers a coordinated ecosystem of trauma-informed, culturally sustaining educational programs to youth, with an operational anchor at Tara High School within the East Baton Rouge Parish Public School System. Its program surface spans in-class civically-engaged project-based learning (Freshman Seminar, Writing and Performance Lab, Dual Enrollment Composition with Baton Rouge Community College, Senior Capstone), youth voice and leadership initiatives (Student Government Association, Fresh Heat open mic series running 20 years, Fresh Heat: Teen Zine), social-emotional and wellness programming (MTTRS of the MYND, Girls Empowerment Club, community care services led by an LCSW), and the Adelante Initiative that places trained multilingual volunteers from LSU Honors College into classrooms to support English Language Learners.

The organization is governed by a collaborative three co-director model — LaChanda Harris (Student Life & Wellness, LCSW), Anna West (Teaching & Learning, PhD), and Emma Gist (Development & Communications, PhD) — supported by a roughly seven-person staff and an advisory board spanning academic, legal, medical, and faith-based expertise. Programs are delivered free of charge to students and funded through individual donations and foundation grants (notably the Foundation for Louisiana and the Louisiana Justice Fund). There is no proprietary software; the technical core consists of pedagogy, facilitator training, and curated curriculum modules. Distribution is entirely in-person and concentrated in Baton Rouge, with a nascent cross-state collaboration with Andover Bread Loaf (Massachusetts) and a planned partnership with Youth City Lab signaling intent to broaden geographic reach.

Measured outcomes reported by the organization are significant: 320+ youth directly served across the ecosystem and 170 in the classroom pathway during 2024-25; English Learner graduation rate at Tara High School rising from 13% to 62% since the Adelante program began in 2022; 94% of students maintaining or improving social-emotional skills; 85% gaining confidence in soft skills; and nearly 1,000 volunteer hours provided to 90+ English Language Learners in 2024-25.

Name

Humanities Amped

Legal name

Humanities Amped

Website

https://humanitiesamped.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Baton Rouge-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit delivering trauma-informed, culturally sustaining educational programs for public high school students, anchored at Tara High School through in-class pathways, youth voice initiatives, English learner support, and community cultural events.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Youth Education and Literacy Services

NAICS

Educational Support Services (611710), Educational Services (611)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

K–12 Support & School Improvement Nonprofits (BPAGADAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

After-School, Tutoring & Academic Enrichment Nonprofits (BPAGADAC), Arts Education & Community Arts Programs (BPAGAHAC), Youth Mental Health, Counseling & Wellbeing (Education-Linked) Nonprofits (BPAGADAK), School Climate, Culture & Belonging Initiatives (DEI-Aligned) (EDAKAMAM)

Keywords

• Youth education programs
• Literacy programs
• Project-based learning
• Culturally sustaining pedagogy
• Nonprofit youth services

Headquarters

HQ city

Baton Rouge

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Individual Donations: The organization raises funds from individual donors via its website donation page (givebutter.com). Donors receive merchandise (Fresh Heat: Teen Zine) as thank-you gifts for contributions of $30 or more.
2. Foundation & Grant Funding: Humanities Amped receives funding from institutional funders and sponsors including the Foundation for Louisiana and the Louisiana Justice Fund, which invest in youth-led narrative change in the community.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Humanities Amped delivers a free ecosystem of in-school, after-school, and community-based educational programs for youth at Tara High School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Offerings include civically-engaged project-based learning classrooms, the Fresh Heat teen open mic and literary zine, the Adelante volunteer program supporting English Language Learners, and youth leadership/wellness groups. The organization operates as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit funded by donations and grants.

Product overview

Humanities Amped is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that models and shares transformative educational practices in Baton Rouge public schools and youth organizations. The organization operates as an ecosystem of interconnected programs centered on amplifying healing justice, radical imagination, and beloved community. Core offerings include the Amplified Classrooms Pathway (Freshman Seminar, Writing and Performance Lab, Dual Enrollment courses, Freshman Lit Lab, Senior Capstone), youth voice initiatives (Fresh Heat: Teen Open Mic, Fresh Heat: Teen Zine), leadership development (Student Government Association, MTTRS of the MYND, Girls Empowerment Club), English Language Learner support (Adelante Initiative), community events (Journeying to Justice Conference, Family Literacy Night, Parent Circles), and the Children's Book Project. These programs work together to provide comprehensive support for youth development, academic achievement, and civic engagement.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Fresh Heat: Youth open mic series providing creative space for young poets and writers to perform and share their work. Includes the Fresh Heat: Teen Zine publication.
• Adelante Initiative
• Amped SGA
• Freshman Seminar Children's Book Project

Products and services

• Amplified Classrooms Pathway
• Fresh Heat Teen Open Mic Series
• Fresh Heat Teen Zine
• Adelante Initiative
• Student Government Association (SGA)
• Freshman Seminar Children's Book Project
• Journeying to Justice Youth Action Research Conference
• MTTRS of the MYND
• Girls Empowerment Club
• Parent Circles
• Freshman Lit Lab
• Senior Capstone

Quantifiable outcome

• English Learner graduation rate increased from 13% to 62% at Tara High School since 2022
• +7 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core, emerging and minor.

• Andover Bread LoafcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2026Andover Bread Loaf is a Massachusetts-based sister program that collaborated with Humanities Amped in 2025-26, with three youth poets from each program working together on art-activism initiatives through the Fresh Heat Network.
• Youth City LabemergingStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2026Humanities Amped plans to expand the Fresh Heat Network in partnership with Youth City Lab, providing a pathway for greater youth leadership and broader geographic reach.
• Baton Rouge Community CollegecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Humanities Amped partners with Baton Rouge Community College to offer dual enrollment courses (Composition I and II) at Tara High School, allowing students to earn both high school and college credit. Faculty include Professor Rhonda Levy and Dean of Liberal Arts Rhett Poché.
• Mid City BallroomminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2024Mid City Ballroom provides the venue for the Fresh Heat Teen Open Mics, community-wide youth poetry and performance events. This is an in-kind venue partnership supporting Humanities Amped's community programming.
• LSU Honors College / Project 225coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022Humanities Amped partners with LSU's Project 225 and the LSU Honors College to recruit multilingual volunteers (almost all LSU Honors College students) for the Adelante program, which places trained volunteers in Tara High School classrooms to support English Language Learners. This partnership is the primary pipeline for volunteer recruitment.
• East Baton Rouge Parish Public School System (EBRPSS)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHumanities Amped operates in partnership with EBRPSS to deliver programming at Tara High School. The school district provides the institutional setting, and Humanities Amped provides curriculum, educators, and youth development programming.
• Tara High SchoolcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerTara High School is the primary site for Humanities Amped's programs. The school has 1,020 enrolled students (96% minority, 100% Title I, 22% English Language Learners). Humanities Amped has been in residence at Tara High since 2022.
• Unitarian Church of Baton RougeminorGTM or Marketing PartnerThe Unitarian Church of Baton Rouge graciously hosts the Journeying to Justice Youth Action Research Conference, providing the venue for the annual event.
• Fat Boy's PizzaminorGTM or Marketing PartnerFat Boy's Pizza provided lunch for students at the Journeying to Justice Conference, supporting the event as a funder and sponsor.

Scale indicators12 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Turnaround for Children: Embeds teams in schools to build educator capacity around SEL, trauma-informed practice, and school climate. Comparable to Humanities Amped's trauma-informed, culturally sustaining pedagogy and the school-culture work led by Co-Director LaChanda Harris (LCSW).
• Communities In Schools: National nonprofit that places coordinators inside public schools to deliver integrated student-support services (academic, SEL, basic-needs). Highly comparable to Humanities Amped's embedded-in-school, wraparound delivery model at Tara High School.
• City Year: Sends near-peer AmeriCorps volunteers into high-need public schools to support attendance, behavior, and coursework — directly analogous to Humanities Amped's Adelante volunteer model that places LSU Honors College students in Tara High classrooms.
• Public Achievement: Youth civic-engagement and action-research program that works through schools and community organizations. Mirrors Humanities Amped's Journeying to Justice Youth Action Research Conference and civically engaged PBL model.
• Big Picture Learning: National school network built around project-based learning, advisory relationships, and real-world experiences — closely matches Humanities Amped's 'Amplified Classrooms Pathway' of project-based, cohorted humanities courses.
• 826 National: Network of youth writing and tutoring centers offering creative-writing publishing, tutoring, and after-school programs. Directly comparable to Humanities Amped's Fresh Heat zine, open-mic, and literacy development work.

Broad incumbents

• Boys & Girls Clubs of America: National youth-development nonprofit providing after-school programming, arts, and SEL supports — adjacent to Humanities Amped's out-of-school offerings (Girls Empowerment, MTTRS of the MYND, Poetry Team) but at much larger scale and scope.
• YouthBuild USA: Large national nonprofit serving opportunity youth with education, leadership, and career pathways. Comparable in target population and youth-development ethos, but operates at much larger scale across multiple states.
• Southern Poverty Law Center (Education Programs): National civil-rights organization with significant K-12 education and youth-justice programming in the Deep South. Shares Humanities Amped's narrative-change and justice-oriented framing for youth in Louisiana/Mississippi.

Regional players

• National Equity Project: National nonprofit supporting equity-focused school transformation, leadership coaching, and educator development. Comparable to Humanities Amped's professional development and 'Reading the Word and the World' pedagogical practice, though operating nationally rather than in one city.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/humanities-amped

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Humanities Amped