RYSE LOVE & RAGE MURAL
““We love deeply and demand healthy, thriving lives for ourselves and our communities. Our Rage is rooted in Love.””
Love & Rage was inspired and envisioned by RYSE members, honoring queer Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) young people in Richmond, CA.
The initial idea for the mural within RYSE Commons was born through RYSE’s Designing Belonging program, in partnership with California College of the Arts (CCA), CCA professor and architect Shalini Agrawal, and artist and activist Jason Wyman in 2020. RYSE members Emani Mason, Nyree McDaniels, Daylen Foster, Darius McCain, and Marlen Gonzalez partnered with CCA students to envision a mural that embodied the RYSE value of Love & Rage.
Young people articulated a portal that connected their love and rage; they envisioned scenes that demonstrated the injustices that exist in Richmond and are mirrored throughout the world. They also hoped to highlight the intersectionality, power, struggle, and joy of the Richmond community. They defined scenes of celebration and peace, as well as protest, and wanted the mural to create a sense of belonging for each viewer to see themselves represented in the art.
Ideation sessions continued into 2021 in partnership with East Bay Getting to Zero, Nahid Ebrahimi, RYSE’s Alphabet group members, Lulu Fierro and Jason Madison, and local muralist and former RYSE staff, Agana Espinoza (DJ Agana). Over Zoom meetings and jamboards, RYSE members reflected on the original mural ideas and the need to highlight the LGBTQ+ youth culture of Richmond & Contra Costa County, as well as the style, power, and creativity of Black, Indigenous, Youth of Color.
Agana presented mural drafts to the team, who offered feedback and selected the final design. The mural was completed in January 2022 by Agana, with support from artists Vogue, Keena, Kufue, and Shishi, as well as RYSE members and staff. The mural reflects RYSE members’ cultures, communities, and power: honoring those who came before us as well as those who work to create more safe and welcoming spaces for LGBTQ+ and BIPOC youth. The mural includes a dedication to those that passed away - founding RYSE member Kenji Jones and Clinical Director Marissa Snoddy. Love & Rage’ was gifted to RYSE by East Bay Getting to Zero.
Rayana: “Love & Rage” represents having such a passion or love for something or someone to the point where sometimes the results that you’re looking for can make you enraged. But even through all of that, you still have a loving and respectable kind of attitude to get you to the point where you want to go.
Nyree: “Love & Rage” makes me think of solidarity with people that you love and the stress of family members that you used to love. It just reminds me of present love and past love, basically.
Jason: Some people, when they come here, some of them could come here angry. We could just give them a lot of love and then they come out and they feel love.
Mural Figure’s Face
The facial features of our main figure are the creation of a series of youth ideation sessions that took place in 2020 and 2021. Youth voiced that they wanted the figure to have features that represented the whole of their community – from the afro puffs, to the shape of their nose and lips, to the edges, to the brows and eyelashes. This figure is a culmination of youth vision, dreaming, and identity here in Richmond/West Contra Costa.
I am genuinely drawn to the lady’s face as well as her hair. I think that it’s very gorgeous and I love Agana’s work.
I’m more drawn to faces ‘cause I’m more of a facial artist, and I feel like a face is the window into anyone’s soul. And the souls on that canvas really speak to me in a very spiritual way.
— Nyree McDaniels, RYSE Visual Arts AMP Intern
Huipil
A huipil is the most common traditional garment worn by indigenous women from central Mexico to Central America. This garment has come to represent indigenous solidarity and defiance amid oppression.
Dashiki
The dashiki is a colorful garment that covers the top half of the body, worn mostly in West Africa. Following a surge of cultural pride in 1964 with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the dashiki found its place celebrating Afrocentric clothing. Worn as a sign of black pride, the dashiki showed unity among the black community.
I think one, or really two of the main pieces that I was drawn to was the dashiki because I have that exact same one. And just the representation of minorities which really connected with me, especially since having a Black young female front and center. It screams volumes.
— Rayana Butler, Member Engagement Assistant + Former RYSE Member
Pride Heart
The pride heart represents RYSE’s liberation and creation work with LGBTQ+ people of color in Richmond, as well as our partnership with East Bay Getting to Zero, a local organization committed to health equity and healing for all people impacted by HIV.
I think that the sage is really dope. I actually brought up the sage and copal, which are just ancestral practices of cleansing and purifying. And I also told them to add the pride heart, you know, and the shining rays on the [figure], all that. It’s really cool.
— Lulu Fierro, Member Engagement Assistant + Former RYSE Member
Sage
This represents one of RYSE’s seven values: Healing Centered, which is respecting and honoring the wisdom of our lived experiences on journeys toward well-being.
Sage, commonly named “Sacred Sage,” was first burned as a healing practice by the First Peoples of the Western United States. It was used to remove unwanted energy, to ask the spirits for blessings, prosperity, protection, and more.
Burning sage was a way of communing with the spiritual realm and connecting to the spirit of the plant and the earth. It is important to honor native cultures and their practice as we continue to use sacred sage for our own healing.
Audre Lorde (1934-1992)
Audre Lorde was an American writer, feminist, womanist, librarian, and civil rights activist. She was a self-described "black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet," who "dedicated both her life and her creative talent to confronting and addressing injustices of racism, sexism, classism, and homophobia." Throughout her career, Lorde published poetry that explored identity and sexuality, while demanding social and racial justice. In addition to writing about and uplifting the lives, power, and struggles of Black queer women, Lorde also wrote about the experiences and struggles of BIPOC youth.
“Without community, there is no liberation.”
“There is no thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives.”
James Baldwin (1924-1987)
James Baldwin was a Black American writer, activist, and preacher. With a career spanning over 30 years, Baldwin wrote several essays, novels, plays, and poems about homosexuality, interracial relationships, and experience of being Black in America. By describing life as he knew it, Baldwin created socially relevant, psychologically penetrating literature that became known across the world.
He was also a leading voice in the Civil Rights Movement, known for his insightful work that gave voice to the African American experience and sought to educate white Americans on what it meant to be Black.
“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”
Marissa Snoddy (1985-2021)
Our former Clinical Director and beloved member of the RYSE family, Marissa always reminded us that healing is our birthright and we commit to staying grounded in the love, rage, and joy she called us into.
It is vital to mark and acknowledge the tremendous impact Marissa’s leadership and service to the work funded by and in partnership with John Muir Health. Her deep and intentional partnership with young people in crisis; her dedication to believing young people and believing in their power and ability to heal; and her commitment to creativity, culture and collective care at the root ending violence in all its forms. As a practitioner and supervisor, Marissa’s powerful life and beautiful spirit have profoundly influenced the wellbeing of program participants and RYSE’s approach to Beyond Violence in over the past 3 years as well as into the future.
For people who don’t know Marissa, she was a really bubbly, really cool, quiet person. When you get to know her, she’s not as quiet. But she was real cool and really fun to hang out with. And her presence – you could tell when her presence was in the room.
— Jason Madison, RYSE Performing Arts AMP Intern
Kenji Jones (1992-2015)
Kenji joined RYSE during our inaugural year (2008). Kenji held and embodied great courage, love, and audacity. Kenji was who he was, never afraid to live in all his possibilities, and by extension, enabling others to be who they were in all their possibilities. He was the visionary behind RYSE’s first (and Richmond’s first) Pride month in 2009. He helped to activate RYSE’s Alphabet Group and held us lovingly accountable to the priorities and needs of BIPOC queer and trans youth in our community. Kenji’s life was cut short in 2015. His loss and remembrance remain palpable. We stay committed to keeping his tenderness and tenacity alive. With love and rage for all our liberation.
Marsha P Johnson (1945-1992)
Marsha P. Johnson was a Black trans activist, drag performer, and survivor. She was a prominent demonstrator in the 1969 Stonewall Uprising and the subsequent Gay Liberation Movement of the 1970s. She was also a known advocate for sex worker rights, the rights of unhoused trans youth, and the fight to end the AIDS epidemic.
Although Marsha initially went by “Black Marsha,” she eventually settled on Marsha P. Johnson. The “P” stood for “Pay It No Mind,” which is what Marsha would say in response to questions about her gender.
“History isn't something you look back at and say it was inevitable. It happens because people make decisions that are sometimes very impulsive and of the moment, but those moments are cumulative realities.”
Grace Lee Boggs (1915-2015)
Grace Lee Boggs was a Chinese American civil rights and labor activist. Her support for causes such as the Black Power movement, feminism, and the environment spanned over 70 years. Most of her activism was concentrated in Detroit, where she met her husband, fellow Detroit activist James Boggs. Throughout her life, Grace Lee Boggs maintained the core belief that if people worked together, they could accomplish positive social change.
“Building community is to the collective as spiritual practice is to the individual.”
Doing the Work: Recent Youth Projects
"Love and Rage"
RYSE Youth & East Bay Getting to Zero
Click below to learn more about young people’s design process, our collaborators, and all of the important pieces of the RYSE Commons mural.
Garden Recipe
Sheila McKinney
-
Step 1: Make Good use of your location
They told me to make good use of my location
As if my location wasn’t good enough
We breed the finest, everyday people
That can relate to people from all backgrounds
Different personalities and styles but connecting on deep levels
That is success
Histories paved in the richest gold
Burn rubber marks act as storytellers of
laughter and excitement
recipes cooked alongside ancestors
I’m getting a little carried away
So Breathe and let the fresh air caress your lungs
Because once you enter this garden
Talent and love meet you at the gate
Step 2: The layout
The layout of nature itself is art
The rage of growing trees
The fierce smell of lavender
The green grass
that the sun favors
The bushes that hide in plain sight
Our garden is rooted in the creativity that nature brings
Along with the layout that was created so our garden
can be unique and comforting
Step 3: What we grow
In this garden, we grow
Powerful citrus that lets the world know they demand to be seen
Yea lemons are bigger than limes
but working together towards an end goal is not a crime
It sets examples of how two different things
from the same place can come together and aspire change
We grow a rainbow of roses and lilies
that fill the garden
with aromas that please your nose like perfume
Safe spaces for the seeds to birth colorful fruits & veggies
A heart full of the nutritious lettuce
That feeds our body the protection we need
So when virus attacks we will do everything but concede
In this garden, there is nothing we don't have
From hibiscus to beets from zucchini to ghost orchid (or-ked)
God created each fruit, each flower, each vegetable,
each insect in that garden to be themselves
because that is what the garden is
Step 4: Take care of your soil
This soil breathes life into lost souls
this soil welcomes ancestors to parties
and so we rejoice like there’s no tomorrow
This soil fills brains with memories that stick
like gum on the bottom of my shoe
This soil in the garden is centered in healing
A foundation that has saved many lives
Step 5: Keep out weeds
Weeds suck out nutrients in plants
like the education system does with youth
The legal system/health system and really
almost every system is against BIPOC folks
Against the lgbtq+ community
This disgusting patriarchal society is against women
The fat-shaming and bullying and catcalling with plus size/ curvy women
The highly intense, very unfair standards the world holds with Black and Latina women
These weeds aren’t welcomed in this garden
Here we
Make good use of our location
Admire the layout
Grow freely
Tend to the soil
Here, we plant home
Rooted and Rysing
Adriana Avalos, Jordan Daniel, Sheila McKinney, and Kylaa Prejean
-
Started off as dirt as a first layer
thrown in some bricks and wood to hold it all up
put in some windows and fresh paint to
make it open and lively
It was something I’d never seen
something so vibrant,
colors dance on walls
Something so joyful
Clouds of laughter hover over rooms
Something so free
No more being another person
i got finally got people that match my energy
16 years breathing is when I laid eyes on RYSE
A space so true to keeping our talent safe
And now I’m rooted in expressing myself
expressing who I was
who I am (Sheila + Jordan)
and who i aim to be
Healing from trauma
The desire to learn new things
The desperate need of young
people to express themselves
Is what made me.
What made us.
We saw a woman
smile bigger than the sun
& voice of a lion
must not forget she is a leo
she is my mother
poetic & proud
The words “what you think” flowed out of mama cici’s mouth
confusion spread across my face like
yo momma tryna figure out who you talking to
And in the sweetest tone
she asked us again
What do YOU think
That’s when I realized I got used to adult supremacy
And always substituted the words I really had to say with “ok”(Roll off)
Almost never asked
instead demanded
She was showing me how the world supposed to be
It’s supposed to uplift youth voices
Supposed to be centered in love
Supposed to be grounded in freedom
And here is where it exists
The cry’s of laughter when you walk into the building
The purest form of love
and joy that you see on people’s faces
This is what made us.
i blew my candle out
and in March my dreams came true
I became apart of a community that taught
us to stand up for ourselves
Instead of speaking for us
to guide us to choices
instead of control us
My names been pronounced wrong my whole life &
I’ve just been going along with it
Until I walked into a building full of laughter
& eyes of YOU ARE SEEN
My first thought was how come they spelled it wrong?
there’s an I in rise but here it’s us
this place showed me more home than i’ve ever known
compliments left & right
when i first set foot in here
they said my name
but this time it was different
they pronounced it like i never heard before correct
along came other nicknames
adri , giggles, & now i go by youth poet laureate of richmond california
PERIODT
& when I hear, “IT’S JUST JORDAN!!” I know I’m home
I know I’m crowned in safety
So I blossom even more into the dancer,
singer, artist, and POET that I am.
& When I hear, Sha sha sha SHEILA,
it’s time for a celebration of my people
To honor that I became the FIRST EVER Youth Poet Laureate (SAY THAT)
Performed on the news & co-led a series of workshops on a national level
We dream here
We make them real here
& we honor our journey here
Im rooted in the plan God had for me
To become part of this beautiful family
RYSE is the foundation that made us blossom
That made us expand
That made us stay
That could never be broken.
The building is a base but love is the foundation.
We’re rooted with love
We’re rooted with compassion
We’re rooted from the soles of our feet to the tips
of our tongues that so graciously speaks
about the injustices and poverty
that our people face in this society
We’re rooted with resilience we make
the changes that those who came before us couldn’t
Our name is a recipe for greatness:
R- for resilience
Y- for youth power
S for solidarity and
E for empowered.
We are RYSE
and we will keep RYSING
UNTIL THE END
OF TIME
For Richmond, For RYSE
Adriana Avalos
-
This space is filled
with land & labor acknowledgments
no room for colonizers & their children
i painted a mural with my tongue
land of Ohlone and chevron skies
maybe this place isn’t the problem
it’s the people taking it away
gentrification is the reason
i’m spitting rhymes at the bart station
livin n leavin
breathin n bein
community invalidated and thoughts forgotten
painted blacklivesmatter on the street
only for a white woman to cover it up
This is my ode to my rebellion
Against amerikkka with k’s
because that's what they’re rooted in
To protests & radical healing
people in presence of
ancestral remedies
breaking generational curses
& creating a heaven for youth
not one mind alike
Richmond
poets, rappers, artist spit
painting causes us to heal
thin lines on cracked sidewalks
opportunities come with community
& I met some of the best people in my life here
loud youth & uplifting humanization
RYSE is more than a home
RYSE is my prayer
& lemme tell you I be getting paid
cuz my art is worth it
my life is on the way
To abundance & opportunities to follow my dreams
I once wrote that feminism was the way to go
but who knew
it turned into a prayer for the white woman
listen
i'm right woman
since I am a woman
everything I know is more than valid
because being a chicana in Richmond
means i’m never alone
baby my tongue is painted on murals
my back is shown in the sun
scars are so deep
But we are the future
not meant to be caged
freedom is near
when my words flow
my ancestors scream
mi abuelita
querida y fuerte
ella no tiene miedo
mi mariposa con cara de sol
ella me crio
soy una nina de mi familia
tenemos cholos y chulas
no hay naide mejor que nosotros
soy una bebida mixlcada
cuando me ves
no soy conocida por algo
Soy reconocida como alguien.
I speak for my people
I speak for myself
because when I said justicia I meant that shit
we are more than statistics
called minorities but we are more than majority
we are Richmond & RYSing
rooted in memories & moonlight
I write to RYSE
I write to Richmond
& I spell ryse with a y
because I can’t stop asking
why didn’t I come sooner?
E&J PhotoVoice Exhibition
RYSE Visual Arts AMP Dance Animation Video
From vision to reality.
2017 – 2018: Youth and staff dream and envision what RYSE Commons could be in a series of ideation sessions, workshops, and focus groups.
2018 – 2019: Early architect concepts and designs based on youth and staff input.
2022: RYSE Commons becomes a reality.
Here are a few highlights of RYSE youth and staff dreaming up and creating what RYSE Commons is today – all the way from our first ideation session.
Tour the Space
Vegetable Garden + Healing Garden
TOUR STOP #7: HEALING CENTERED
We respect and honor the wisdom of our lived experiences on journeys toward well-being.
This outdoor space holds both a healing / meditation garden and a vegetable garden.
The healing / meditation garden is a quiet, plant-filled space where folks can meditate, enjoy the sun, or just take a moment of peace to themselves. In the space, there is also a beautiful water feature to help folks feel a sense of connection to water throughout the day.
In the adjacent vegetable garden, youth can learn how to grow their own fruits and vegetables, learn how to cook what they grow, and learn how fruits and vegetables can be used for wellness.
Art Studio
TOUR STOP #3: LOVE AND RAGE
We love deeply and demand healthy, thriving lives for ourselves and our communities. Our Rage is rooted in Love.
This space was designed in a way that youth could create art in an open space. With double garage doors out to the courtyard, youth are able to feel like they are outside while still being able to create art in a protected space.
In the studio, young people can:
- Create art freely
- Try out different equipment
- Find opportunities to teach their peers and community about art
- Find opportunities to sell art
- Work on long-term artistic projects
Multi Purpose Room / Theater / Green Room
TOUR STOP #2: SHARED POWER AND RELATIONSHIP BUILDING
We celebrate and unite different knowledge, experiences, and strengths among young people and adults.
This dynamic space holds different performances (plays, singing/rapping, dancing), community meetings, trainings, and forums.
The stage in this room is portable, and is able to adapt to the different types of performances that we have at RYSE.
The Green Room is a space where performers can prepare for shows, change costumes, and hangout when they are not on stage. When not in use for performances, the Green Room is a break room for Culture Builders / youth leaders.
Solar Hub
RYSE and APEN have a long history of organizing and deep roots in communities across Richmond, ranging from youth of color, born in Richmond, to elderly refugees who had fled Laos and made Richmond their home.
In Richmond, disasters like refinery fires, oil spills, and power shut offs are a constant threat. Our communities face decades of disinvestment from schools and public services, live in close proximity to big polluters, navigate criminalization and over-policing, and are increasingly being pushed out of their homes. As converging economic, political, and climate disasters become more frequent and intense, it’s even more critical that we are ready, resourced, and organized.
Now, APEN and RYSE are coming together to build the Climate Resilience and Liberation Hub at RYSE. The hub will be a place where youth can find resources, organize, and lead our communities before, during, and after disasters. The Climate Resilience and Liberation Hub at RYSE will have solar, backup battery storage, and ventilation systems so that youth and communities can:
- Refrigerate food and medicine
- Charge devices to stay in communication with loved ones
- Stay cool and breathe clean air
We are organizing so that our communities not only cope and survive climate disasters, but find opportunities to grow and thrive.
Recording Booth + Jam Room
This space doubles as a control room for performance lights / audio and as a recording space for youth.
Youth are able to work on their artistic development – learning how to perform in a studio, mix, master, and play instruments.
The jam room, which is attached to the control room, is an open space where youth can try playing instruments they’re not familiar with, practice, or jam with other musicians in the space. If folks are enjoying an informal jam session, all instruments can be recorded into the control room on the spot!
Patio/Balcony
TOUR STOP #5: YOUTH POWER
We cultivate a community where young people guide each other on a path of self-love, self-expression, belief-in-self, and resistance.
This is an external space for folks to hang out, eat, or hold workshops. Because there are not many structures in Richmond that allow people to see from elevation, this space allows us to view The Bay Area from a different perspective.
Media Lab (Computer Lab and Media Suite)
TOUR STOP #4: SAFETY
We create spaces where one feels connected, protected, safe, and loved.
In this space, youth can:
- Surf the web
- Do their homework
- Work on beat of video projects
- Learn / practice new photo, video, music, and graphic design software
- Rent video / recording equipment for personal projects
- Design posters for RYSE youth-led events
Innovation Center / Legacy Building
TOUR STOP #6: RACIAL EQUITY & SOCIAL JUSTICE
We commit to multiracial, multigender, multiabled solidarity that names and centers the resilience, resistance, and leadership of people of color across all movements for justice.
RYSE’s hub for Education & Justice and Youth Organizing. This space centers school / career support, entrepreneurship, small business, and services for youth.
Values-aligned partners such as Hidden Genius Project and Young Women’s Freedom Center will be housed here.
Rooted + Rysing: Our History & Where We're Going
Beloved Community, welcome to The RYSE!
RYSE exists because Black, Brown, Indigenous and Young People of Color called on adults to listen, invest, and rethink young people’s place in the city. These young leaders, most of whom would not directly benefit from their organizing, envisioned dynamic and cultural spaces in the community for healing, learning, connecting and power-building. Since 2002, this campus has always been the goal. Over a decade later, we are rooted in a space and place that already holds a powerful legacy of creativity, poetry, laughter, justice, organizing, grief, and gatherings. With RYSE Commons, young people in Richmond are rysing.
Rysing with love, rysing with rage, rysing toward liberation.
THEORY OF LIBERATION
OUR VISION
We envision strong, healthy, united communities where equity is the norm and violence is neither desired nor required, creating a strong foundation for future generations to thrive. A time and place where youth have opportunities to lead, to dream, and to love.
OUR VALUES
Safety: We create spaces where one feels connected, protected, safe, and loved.
Youth Power: We cultivate a community where young people guide each other on a path of self-love, self expression, belief-in-self, and resistance.
Love & Rage: We love deeply and demand healthy, thriving lives for ourselves and our communities. Our Rage is rooted in Love.
Shared Power & Relationships: We celebrate and unite different knowledge, experiences, and strengths among young people and adults.
Healing Centered: We respect and donor the wisdom of our lived experiences on journeys toward well-being.
Racial Equity & Justice: We commit to multiracial, multigender, multilabeled solidarity that names and centers the resilience, resistance, and leadership of people of color across all movements for justice.
Creativity & Play: We create brave spaces where joy is celebrated, confidence is nurtured, and imagination is liberated.
OUR BELIEFS
None of us are free until Queer, Trans, Black, Indigenous, Youth of Color are free.
Risk taking is essential to liberation.
Healing is our birthright.
Youth have the right to the freedom to have fun while growing emotionally, socially, artistically, and intellectually.
Power is built when everyone is seen, heard, valued, and has collective responsibility to our community.
Love & Rage are sacred and integral to our liberation.
Centering the lived experience of Queer, Trans, Black, Indigenous, Youth of Color is central to our collective liberation.
OUR IMPACT
Young people feel loved, listened to, and powerful.
Built environments center the dreams, needs, power, and healing of our young people, our communities, and the land.
Systems are loving and just.
A Brief History of RYSE: 2002 - 2022
“- Youth Organizers engage 1500 youth residents in a community-wide needs assessment that lifts up the need for youth spaces in the community for healing, learning, connecting and power-building
”
“RYSE Opens
RYSE Election Night Party and celebrating the first Black President”
“1st Annual Pryde Month Celebration & Richmond’s Drag Battle
1st RYSE Leadership Institute for young organizers and leaders”
“1st Annual Be A Kid Fundraiser
1st Youth-led Mayoral Candidates Forum held at RYSE”
“RYSE wins SAMHSA’s National PSA contest with “We are the Ones” music video
Back to School Summer Jam”
“RYSE releases first mixtape
RYSE introduces Youth Justice department and programs
1st Annual Winter Wonderland
RYSE Outsyde officially opens”
“RYSE mobilizes to City Council in support for first resolution and proclamation of LGBTQQ Pride Month
RYSE conducts Listening Campaign with 500 young people to share experiences of violence, trauma, and healing
Release of music video for “Street Literature”
1st Annual Trauma and Healing Learning Series ”
“RYSE successfully advocates to end juvenile record sealing fees in Contra Costa County
RYSE merges with RAW Talent to form Performing Arts programming
Black Lives Matters Solidarity Action with Ferguson and release of music video for “Change Gon’ Come””
“RYSE multimedia youth-led production Bag Ladies’ Butterfly Blues
1st Annual “Truth Be Told” Youth Film Festival
RYSE wins East Bay Express Best of the Bay for Creative Youth Organizing
US Attorney General Loretta Lynch visits RYSE”
“RYSE Youth Justice and Education & Career departments merge to become Education and Justice department
1st Annual La Feria de Septiembre
RYSE multimedia youth-led production Fairytale
RYSE supports student-led walkouts after presidential election and inauguration
RYSE and allies successfully advocate for a County Racial Justice Task Force”
“RYSE announces and shares Theory of Liberation (ToL)
RYSE youth-led production Richmond Renaissance
RYSE coordinates Northern California Wildfire Relief donations and drop-offs
RYSE and allies successfully advocate for WCCUSD positive school climate resolution
West Contra Costa Public Education Fund names RYSE Collaborative Partner of the Year”
“Launch of RYSE Commons Capital Campaign and youth-led design
RYSE supports Day of Action at West County Detention Facility
RYSE buys and becomes owner of building and adjacent property
Richmond Kids First Coalition, led by RYSE wins Measures E and K
RYSE multimedia and immersive storytelling showcase Lead with Love
City of Richmond establishes October 18th as RYSE-ing Leaders Day in honor of 10th anniversary. ”
“RYSE multimedia showcase Youthtopia: In the Face of Gentrification
RYSE breaks ground on construction of RYSE Commons
RYSE collaborates with Impact Justice and Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office to pilot a county-wide restorative justice diversion program for youth - the 4th ever in the state of California.
RYSE awarded as one of Obama Foundation’s My Brother’s Keeper inaugural seed communities
RYSE youth organizers host ““This is How We RYSE: Remember, Reclaim, Resist, Reimagine,” a 7-week program of trainings, organizing workshops, and field trips
WCCUSD board passes the The Declaration of the Rights of All Students to Equity in Arts Learning Resolution with feedback from RYSE members
Contra Costa County Chair of the Board Award for exemplary public service ”
“RYSE joins Black Census and Redistricting Hub
RYSE hosts When Culture Speaks, a fashion and art show for Black Cultures Month
COVID-19 pandemic pivots RYSE to virtual workshops, cohorts and individualized supports; RYSE Youth COVID-19 Care Fund launched
1st convening of West Contra Costa County COVID-19 Collective Care Coalition
The Richmond Rapid Response Fund (R3F) created
1st Racial Reckoning Series held in solidarity with youth-led uprisings for racial justice
RYSE and allies support the formation of the CCC Office of Racial Equity and Social Justice. ”
“Sudden passing of beloved RYSE Clinical Director, Marissa Snoddy
RYSE host tours of RYSE Commons construction for youth members and community partners
1st Inaugural Richmond Youth Poet Laureate
As lead for WCCUSD Arts Now Communities, RYSE and partners co-designed a virtual professional development series in arts integration for WCCUSD teachers, co-facilitated by RYSE members
East Bay Innovation Awards Finalist
Contra Costa County Office of Education names RYSE as an Education Champion ”
“RYSE Commons construction complete.
RYSE members and staff form reopen work groups to continue to envision the space, including protocols and visuals.
Completion of the Love & Rage mural project.
RYSE awarded The Lewis Prize for Music Accelerator Award
RYSE announces and shares updated Theory of Liberation (TOL)
RYSE resumes in-person programs in September 2022, following 2 years of virtual programming.
Hidden Genius Project and Young Women’s Freedom Center move into RYSE Commons as first anchor partners. ”
