RYSE recently welcomed anchor partner The Hidden Genius Project onto our new campus. Holding programming in RYSE’s renovated Legacy Building as well as the recently opened RYSE Commons building, The Hidden Genius Project exemplifies many of our values, with one in particular that feels especially pertinent: Youth Power. RYSE cultivates community where young people guide each other on a path of self-love, self expression, belief-in-self, and resistance. This is actualized through programs that span art, organizing, wellness, and community: the latter of which The Hidden Genius Project shares, holding programs centered around tech, leadership, and entrepreneurship.
The Hidden Genius Project trains and mentors Black male youth in technology creation, entrepreneurship, and leadership skills to transform their lives and communities. Through their student-centered, project-based approach, they invest in young Black men, give them access to technology training, and plug them into an ecosystem of innovation and empowerment. As they continue to celebrate their 10 year anniversary, The Hidden Genius Project seeks to strengthen the field of technology education for young people across communities.
RICH4 Hidden Genius Alum Noah Abiy spoke on coding his first project, saying “the thing about coding is you can come across a lot of errors … that can be very discouraging but I really sat with it … it taught me to be resilient and actually follow through and finish something so you can see your end product, see what you created.” He spoke on this while in RYSE’s Legacy building, which was recently renovated from what used to be the sole RYSE building and now has a brand new, state of the art, two-story counterpart. Both the campus and the soul of RYSE aren’t fixed, both are in constant movement. RYSE Commons started 5 years ago as a plot of dirt and the minds of youth, only to slowly take shape and come alive in the years since, even through obstacles brought on through the pandemic. Now those youth can see what they created.
Now other youth can create whatever comes next.