Matthew Bartel

FOUNDER, OUR WORLD OF HOPE

Matthew Bartel is still in high school, but he speaks with the kind of steadiness that suggests he has already thought seriously about what he wants his life to stand for. Born and raised in Coral Gables, the Gulliver Prep student is a writer, the founder of the youth-led nonprofit Our World of Hope, and the current Florida Youth Poet Laureate. Bartel founded Our World of Hope when he was 14, after watching wars unfold in Ukraine, Israel and Palestine, and parts of Africa. He described the project as his response to the feeling that he should do something. The idea was to send messages of encouragement to children living in conflict zones and create ways for young people to support one another across borders. So far, the organization has reached over 27,000 children across six war-torn countries through partnerships with UNICEF, Save the Children, and SaveUkraine. Writing, for Bartel, seems to come from a similar place. He said his interest in poetry grew out of music, especially lyrics that lingered in his mind because they carried multiple meanings. That love of language led to his selection as Florida Youth Poet Laureate as well as a National Youth Poet Laureate Ambassador and finalist for the national laureate.

LATEST ACCOMPLISHMENT

Bartel is serving as Florida Youth Poet Laureate for 2025–2026, selected from over 2,000 applicants statewide. He continues to lead Our World of Hope, earning the Congressional Award Gold Medal, the U.S. Congress’s highest honor for youth, along with the President’s Volunteer Service Award. He is also a national finalist for the Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes.

WHAT HE SAYS

Bartel frames himself as a product of Coral Gables, which he describes as a loving place with a positivity that he tries to pass on. “I encourage people to try to embody the positivity of their community and to help spread it through their actions, to pay it forward,” says Bartel. “Not only what the world needs, but what you yourself are interested in.” Bartel says that while a letter cannot stop a war or undo loss, it can remind someone that they’re not entirely abandoned or forgotten. Bartel writes to children living through hardship that “your life has meaning, your voice matters, and your light continues to inspire the world.”