Reaching Intelligent Souls Everywhere (RISE)
Grantee
Youth Opportunities Fund
Award amount
$45,100
Award timeline
2016-2017 (12 months)
Opportunity
Youth are eager to do great work in and for their communities by volunteering. However, some need support to know where to start, who to talk to, and how to turn volunteering into something that can become a career.
Approach
Selected YOF Priority Outcome: Youth are engaged in their communities; youth form and maintain healthy, close relationships.
In order to learn more about how they can provide valuable, engaging, and useful opportunities to young people, RISE created and delivered a series of weekly Monday night gatherings for racialized youth in a positive and safe space.
Community impact
- RISE delivered 39 weekly gatherings—everything from a karaoke night to a 3-on-3 basketball tournament.
- They learned how important it was to provide opportunities for young people, and provided 55 volunteers with opportunities to contribute to their community through a total of 1,026 volunteer hours.
"Being engaged in their communities helps youth form and maintain healthy, close relationships."
Reaching Intelligent Souls Everywhere (RISE) is a flourishing community led by youth. Located in Scarborough, but reaching youth across the GTA and beyond, RISE aims to create safe and welcoming platforms for self-expression and healing through the performance arts.
RISE believes in the power of youth voice to advocate, express, and build community. They know that young people are eager to do great work in and for their communities, but often don't know where to start, who to talk to, or how to turn volunteering into a meaningful career.
RISE applied for a $45,100 Youth Innovations grant to help them learn more about how to they can provide valuable opportunities to young people.
Being engaged in their communities helps youth form and maintain healthy, close relationships. RISE's goal for this project was to create a positive and safe space for racialized youth to gather to express themselves.
The organization delivered 39 weekly Monday night gatherings, including artistic events such as a karaoke night, Halloween costume night, and a women’s night. Non-artistic events included a 3-on-3 basketball tournament, an autism fundraiser, and an event focused on discussing different forms of abuse.
RISE also recruited adult mentors to attend and speak at RISE workshops to give youth access to their knowledge, and delivered capacity-building and skills development training sessions. In addition, 55 volunteers got the opportunity to contribute to their community through a total of 1,026 volunteer hour.
Over the course of the project, the biggest lesson RISE learned was how important it is to provide opportunities for young people. It gave RISE the moral boost they need to continue their journey and work even harder to help youth in Ontario.
