Rust Belt Midwest Regional Poetry Slam is a two day poetry and spoken word festival bringing a quality performance poetry tournament to a Midwest city to compete for the Rust Belt title, but more importantly, reunite with poetry family and spread the life and love of poetry and the literary arts. This festival brings in well known and up and coming poets into one city in a way that no other such festival does. We cultivate workshops, open mics, and family time events all in addition to the on going slam competition. In 2014, myself and fellow poet Deonte Osayande have the honor of bringing this festival to the city of Detroit, and we plan to take the festival up to a knew level by adding a youth slam, more workshop/artistic building opportunities, and giving local and national sponsors true opportunities to promote themselves with visuals like T-shirts and banners, as well as audios like Radio adds and consistent recognition throughout stage events. We look to turn 2014 Rust Belt into a building project that challenges our city and fellow poets to create an environment of growth and support.