Young people are whole already. Let’s start there.
RYSE is guided by our Theory of Liberation to ask how are schools and education systems responsive to young people's needs and priorities. Our Education & Economic Justice (EEJ) department’s holistic approach to this question has only deepened over time. We do not speak for youth, we instead figure out what tools they need in order to speak for and advocate for themselves. Because young people know what they need. They are already whole.
Some of EEJ’s programming this Fall include “Envisioning My Dream Life,” a pop-up dedicated to realizing every aspect of a young person's life from healing, liberation, mental wellness, professionalism, imagining their future selves, rage letters to help process intense emotions judgment-free, and vision boards showing how one area of your life connects to the whole. Or “Richmond RYSE Up,” a program made to acknowledge the duality of Richmond: speaking on the ills we don’t feel empowered to speak on as well as championing all of the beauty that goes unrecognized, challenging such notions as “you need to leave your hometown to be successful” and the idea of success in general.
Young people are whole already.
EEJ demands and obtains equity within our education systems with student advocacy, tutoring, college access, case management and other resources for RYSE members transitioning into adulthood. Reimagining the framing young adults are otherwise given, we support young people applying for and navigating 4-year colleges, but to also challenge that expectation with resources for independent study, trade, entrepreneurship, 2-year certification and any resource that supports young people in achieving goals they set for themselves.
RYSE will also continue to be a part of redesigning spaces, such as the Community Design Advisory Partnership with Richmond High School: where RYSE youth are providing notes for physical design of the school detailing not only what they want in the future, but also what they don’t want to continue from the past.
This Fall, we invite our community to recommit to listening to and honoring young people: following their lead in challenging systems that don't recognize them as equal and worthy so schools are spaces where they feel power, curiosity, growth, self-actualization and wholeness.
We’re sending love to the RYSE members starting the Fall semester and a BIG congrats to the RYSE members that recently graduated and just entered their freshman year such colleges as UC Berkeley, SJSU, UCLA, CCC, Sac State, & DVC!
Night Out for Safety and Liberation (NOSL)
#SafetyIs a world in which Queer, Trans, Black, Indigenous, Youth of Color are empowered and cared for, where our communities grow freely with abundance, and we connect through love and trust. Night Out for Safety and Liberation began in 2013 by the Ella Baker Center, as an alternative to the more police-centric National Night Out, which highlights police-community partnerships as the pathway to community safety. Too often, conversations about public safety revolve around policing and punishment. But safety is about more than that—it’s about having a living wage job, healthy food, healthcare, housing, education, and more.
RYSE held our latest NOSL celebration to further reimagine safety through art activities, performances, a resource fair, Curveball food truck, & community building. We were overjoyed to share this with a new generation of RYSErs!
Fresh Approach
In collaboration with local org Fresh Approach, RYSE members visited a community garden to learn about gardening, growing their own food, and sustainability! During the visit, members and staff helped construct a new compost bin for the garden.
Updates & Developments
The RYSE Campus continues to be designed and informed by RYSE youth members: The completed Community Portrait Project went up: honoring the humans that make RYSE, the RYSE community was invited to paint self-portraits in the style of artist Mickalene Thomas. Portraiture can foster critical dialogue, reconnect relationships to place, reduce stigma, encourage empathy, and make visible the strength and power of a community. Construction of the RYSE Village began, including the installation of the Village’s waterfall, and members joined a workshop asking them to imagine what they want and need in the upcoming RYSE garden.
Global Warriors Summer Institute
Members of the Global Warriors Summer Institute presented their Action Plan projects and had an award ceremony!
The Global Warriors Summer Institute was 3-weeks of activities designed for youth to learn more about themselves, their communities, and their relationship to global issues through field trips, guest speakers, role-plays, and reflections.
We are super appreciative of your support and proud of the YOUTH! They had some amazing presentations, spanning such topics as Creating an Alliance For Displaced Youth, Mitigating Food Waste & Providing Food For The Less Fortunate, Standing up to Gentrification in Richmond, and Reducing Air Pollution In Richmond!
Rysing Arts Festival
This year’s Rysing Arts Festival was an inspiring celebration of our young artists and local arts community (and talented RYSE staff!). So many generations of RYSErs showed up in beloved community, expressing and enjoying music, dance, poetry, games, crafts, and more. Many, many thanks to everyone who made this event possible: an evening filled with light and soul magic! Stay tuned for more events by RYSE’s Media, Arts, & Culture team, who continue to tend to, train, teach, and uplift the creativity of young artists in our community.
Sending MANY appreciations to our partners in this event: NIAD Art Center, East Bay Center for the Performing Arts, Stu 212 Music Therapy Coping & Creativity, The Quinan Street Project, Richmond Art Center, Berkeley Rep, & Bay Area Creative!
Healing Justice Lineages
“Trauma is structural, historical, political, institutional, intergenerational, interpersonal, and embodied. So then must be our healing, our care, and our solidarity.”
-Kanwarpal Dhaliwal, Co-Founder & Associate Director, RYSE
Last month, RYSE joined editors Cara Page and Erica Woodland of the Healing Justice Lineages Anthology, in conversation with local community leaders in the lineage of healing justice, collective care and safety. This event was followed by a strategy session. RYSE exists in the lineage of intersecting movements for liberation and freedom. We are grateful to have hosted and shared these spaces, and to be archived along our most radical ancestors and living kin in this most necessary and most loving chronicle of what is possible when we take care of each other.
Upcoming Events & Programs
We are excited to present our fall programming for young people 13-21 years old! This Fall, we are offering a variety of workshops, paid internships, events, and lots of fun activities! We have everything from cooking classes, to dance classes, music and art activities, organizing, leadership opportunities and job and resume support. We also have some amazing member and community events scheduled this season … follow us on Instagram (@RYSEYouthCenter) to stay up to date!
Everything is completely free for members and becoming a member is as easy as attending a tour and orientation! Click the button below to start the process.
Applications are open for our Culture builder internship! The first 9 months youth will learn about RYSE culture and key skill sets they can practice to then transition into an official part time role.
SAVE THE DATE: La Feria de Septiembre (The Fair of September) engages, inspires, and highlights contributions made by the Latinx and Afro-Latinx community, while bridging cultural gaps, and connecting the diverse, multiracial and multicultural mosaic of our past, present, and future. Xicanx/Afro-Latinx heritage does not solely live in the past; it influences how we experience the present, and how we will go on to shape our shared future. Now more than ever it is important for community members to come together and celebrate collective stories, struggles, resistance and joy.