RYSE was born from Black, Indigenous and Young People of Color creating new ways to make meaning of loss, grief, and injustice. This meaning-making over two decades has cultivated youth space, place, and power. Over the past few years, young people have experienced life-altering events that no other generation has, such as enduring a global pandemic, with few opportunities to reflect on how this has influenced what they want and need.
Since January 2024, a team of youth interns have led the launch of RYSE’s current Listening Campaign, along with partner Ceres Policy Researchers. The Listening Campaign will inform RYSE and the greater community of what pivots we must make in order to address the changing needs of young people.
The Listening Campaign 2.0 is a youth participatory action research (YPAR) project that attempts to understand the current conditions and challenges that youth in Richmond face today. Unlike typical research projects in which adults are the ones to ask questions and extract information from young people, this YPAR project flips the script and young people will also have the chance to question adults about why they have not been listened to.
Interns started out learning about Richmond’s historical and health landscape, as well as past Listening Campaigns. The team then drafted questions and conducted focus groups that aim to understand what resources young people need more of or better access to, in connection with health, education and other adult roles and responsibilities in systems. The team has conducted seven focus groups at RYSE, virtually and at local schools in order to pull as much diverse information as possible.
In July 2024, interns hosted a presentation to check in with their peers about the direction of the research to date. Interns highlighted the structural violence in their community, referring to the lack of resources and historical underinvestment that has constrained youth from meeting their basic needs and achieving the quality of life that would otherwise be possible. Throughout the focus groups, young people continuously reported issues such as negligent schools- referring to teacher shortages, dilapidated buildings, and lack of resources within the schools- lack of adult guidance, rising costs of housing paired with a housing shortage, high cost and inaccessibility of quality healthcare, and transportation costs.
RYSE members present the Listening Campaign 2.0 at Wellness Day presentations and peer focus groups.
The Listening Campaign will run through the rest of 2024. The current findings will inform the next leg of the campaign as interns continue to learn from their peers. Interns plan to share their findings with adult stakeholders at the end of 2024 through a community convening that will be led by young people. Interns will also create a pressure campaign and go to local government meetings to advocate on the behalf of their community.
Radical Inquiry at RYSE
The current Listening Campaign marks RYSE’s 6th cycle of community-wide radical inquiry.
Previous cycles informed RYSE's initial design and launch of our integrative program model and design and opening of our original building in the early 2000’s - as well as more recent vision and design of the extended RYSE campus, and our COVID and 2020 racial reckoning adaptations.
RYSE’s 2013 Listening Campaign was an inquiry on young people's experiences and articulations of trauma, violence, coping, and healing. Over 500 young people were engaged through listening sessions, surveys, focus groups, interviews, and meaning-making/analysis of responses. This Listening Campaign informed much of RYSE's programs, policies, investments and advocacy work.
Read more about RYSE’s Listening Campaigns and radical inquiry approach!