From Concept to Creation: the birth of our Mission Statement

Last Sunday, Rise Up's Board of Directors (along with a few invited guests) met for a time of vision, mission and strategic planning. It was a great afternoon filled with lots of energy and excitement. During the meeting, we constructed a mission statement that expresses why we exist. We are all very excited about it...and hope you are too!

Below are three photos that show our process of crafting the mission statement.



From Concept...



to Creation...



"We exist to empower and connect local and global communities to RISE UP against apathy, poverty and social injustice through education, engaging the arts and grassroots organizing"

To find out more about how you can be a part of our mission contact our National Coordinator Ron Werner Jr: Ron@riseupinternational.com

Over the course of the next month, we will be announcing goals for 2009- please continue to check back here for the latest updates & information!

Nicaragua Intern Journal: Entry #3

This third entry is part of an ongoing series by Rise Up Intern and UCSC student Ashlee Skiver-Rosichan. Ashlee just returned from five weeks of working with Rise Up in Nicaragua.



Never Too Young

While in Nicaragua I met the Director of the school Rise Up supports in La Chureca, Melissa Buzbee. She was not at all what I was expecting with such an established title and mission. I assumed that she would be much older, the woman is twenty-three! She is twenty-three years old and has been the Director of the school and a girl’s rescue home, Casa Havilah, for almost three years. She is a person who refuses to let her young age stop her from making a difference. She, along with Shayla the principal of the school, keep it running. They make sure the kids go to class, do their homework, and get fed. Melissa makes sure that there is enough food at the school for the kids, enough school supplies, enough help, etc. She oversees all the school programs and Casa Havilah. She is very determined and committed to making a difference for the youth of Nicaragua. Melissa is a citizen of the United States who has lived in Central America most of her life and is very aware of the social issues of Nicaragua and very upset about the cyclical state of poverty for the majority of people in the country. She has made it her duty to do something to change the outcome of the lives of the children who are caught in this. Many young people think that they will not be listened to or taken seriously if they dedicate time and energy to a cause and so they subconsciously choose instead apathy. However, Melissa is a living breathing example of the fallacy of that belief. Her efforts go to show that you are never too young to make a difference.

Cool AIDE: Part Deux

It is amazing what 5 days of facebooking & myspacing can do! Part Two of our high school concert series at our Tin Pan Ally Offices in Bend, Oregon was last night. Part of Rise Up's mission is to empower and connect youth to RISE UP against apathy, poverty and social injustice...and this creative evening fueled many to sign up to get involved with our cause!



Thursdays are high school volunteer days! Come to our office at 869 Tin Pan Alley from 3:30-5pm to help RISE UP !



You can view photos & video clips from the event on our flickr page here.

Many thanks to our high school senior interns for putting this event together! Also, thanks to Mirf the Bing, Muffin Squad Engage, the Autonomics, Streetlight Society, and We are Brontosaurus....we look forward to many more events in the future!

Rising Up: Tom C. Monson

Rise Up is privileged to partner with some of the most talented young artists. These artists are committed to using their natural gifts & passions to meet the needs of the world.



One of these artists is Tom C. Monson. Tom has contributed designs & artwork for Rise Up Clothing and has been a committed volunteer artist for various events. Tom grew in the midwest and studied art at Azusa Pacific University in Southern California.



From his website: "Growing up in the mid-west has affected me more than I thought. Though not all stereotypes of the region are true, it was a very wholesome and relational environment-forming a system of valuing people and events that informs every part of my life, underwriting especially my art. I find inspiration in people and their own creativity. Whether it takes the form of music, artwork, or even nature itself, creativity ignites my creativity..." You can view the rest of his artist statement at TomcMonson.com



This Friday, November 21st Tom debuts "Images that Breeethe, frum Thawts that Burn" a collection of new artwork at the Poethouse Art (where he is a resident artist) in Bend, Oregon.

Extra Extra: Maria Roberts honoured as Local Hero

Rise Up Founder Maria Roberts was recently honored by the Source Weekly as a Local Hero.

Ron picked up a fresh copy from the newsstands...



You can read the article by clicking on the image below...

Nicaragua Intern Journal: Entry #2

This second journal entry is part of a series written by Ashlee Rosichan, Rise Up intern extraordinaire. Ashlee just returned from five weeks of Nicaragua glory!



Granada Market

While spending some time in Granada, a more touristy city in Nicaragua, I had a very unsettling experience. This isn’t something bad or violent or anything, just an observation really. While walking around the main square, one person after another came to our group asking for money, some were vendors selling pots or whistles or shoe-shines. This is definitely a normal happening. There were plenty of other people who were bombarded by people begging. If a person looks like a tourist it is assumed by others that they have money to spare. As people started crowding around us, my friend specifically, it occurred to me that this wasn’t personal, it was not an attack because we were tourists. This was simply people who needed anything anyone could give them. And we happened to look like people that had extra to give. None of these people were begging because they like to do it. A lot of them really just don’t have another option. It was awful, for me, to see so many people in need and give them nothing. Especially because most days that is exactly what they have, nothing. Yet you can not really pass on money to just one person or buy one person food without doing something for everyone else who is also standing there. Then thought occurs, “but what do I do, I’m one of those ‘starving college students’ with really nothing to give but my time.” But when people are hungry right now asking for help what good is time? Unless you look at it as maybe having to ignore what is in front of you at the moment and give your time to prevent future people from being in this exact situation. The poor are constantly promised a better opportunity for life and more work from the government and yet when it really comes down to it they get nothing. When does it ever get better? When will a government really, really give more to the poor than to the rich, ever? It seems like the same story in all countries, the US included. The bigger the pocketbook, the more important the life. Yet when so few even have a pocketbook, how can this be the most accepted practice? With that said it seems pretty clear that this problem is not easy to solve, but with communities of people banding together aiding each other, eventually situations will get better. Changing the entire way a country works is long and difficult process, but with over half the world’s population in dire need of a change, it seems an obvious choice for people to contribute their time and energy to help.

RISE UP X TOMS SHOES

Last Month Rise Up partnered with TOMS Shoes for an evening of art, music, and activism!



Hosted by our four high school senior interns, the event featured local high school bands Walter & the Cronkites, We are Brontosaurus, and the Delta Waves. The Rise Up Tin Pan Alley offices packed in a crowd of over 125 teens, with over 30 signing up to become committed volunteers!



The event helped raise awareness for the work of TOMS Shoes (for every pair of shoes purchased TOMS gives a pair to a child in need- one for one). We viewed the TOMS shoe drop documentary filmed in Argentina & styled our soles as students gave their artistic touch to blank pairs of TOMS.

We are looking forward to many more events at our offices in Tin Pan Alley! Many thanks to impromptu performers Mosley Wotta, our house DeeJay Mud, and the TOMS Vagabond crew as they travel the country in support of a great cause.

You can view more photos from the event on the Rise Up Flickr Page here.

The following video is from the TOMS Northwest Tour- it features our National Coordinator Ron & footage of the event.

Nicaragua Intern Journal: Entry #1

Since July, Rise Up has had the privilege of having UCSC community studies major Ashlee Skiver-Rosichan intern with us. She has become an integral part of the Rise Up family and will be interning with us until December. She recently spent the last 5 weeks in Nicaragua. Over the course of the next few weeks, we will share her journal entries & photos on this blog.



Jovenes con Esperanza-Masaya
Here in Nicaragua, one of the projects that Rise Up supports is a boy’s rescue home in Masaya called Jovenes con Esperanza (youth with hope). The purpose of this home is to aid street youth, specifically young boys, in stopping their addiction to huffing glue. Glue sniffing is a huge epidemic not only in Nicaragua, but in most of Latin America. This addiction is a result of impoverished youth who are forced to live life on the streets. Sniffing glue provides these youth with a false sense of warmth as well as a seemingly full belly, when in actuality they are cold and hungry. Jovenes con Esperanza provides not only a shelter for the boys, but also three meals a day to those that have made the commitment to live inside the home. There are also many boys who do not live in the home but a meal at dinner is available to each of them should they choose to come and get it.
My experience with the boys was wonderful. Me and a team of four others took the boys that live inside the home in Masaya to Granada. We spent the whole day with them there. We walked around the market and the main square, then went out to lunch. After that we took a boat ride around the islands which surround the volcano, Volcán Mombacho. An absolutely beautiful ride! Most of the boys had never visited Granada and definitely not the islands, so they really enjoyed themselves. After that we took the boys to the street market back in Masaya and bought each of them a new pair of shoes (most of the ones they had were in tatters). When we returned with the boys to their house dinner was being prepared for them and boys were streaming in from off the street to come eat.
There is a couple, Katie and Mike who run things at the boys home. They make sure everything runs smoothly and the boys are getting everything they need. There are also three young men that live inside the home with the boys and care for them, make sure they eat, are not sniffing glue, go to school, etc. I was amazed by the love and care within this house. Katie, Mike and the helpers, Fransisco, Jorge, and Nelson, are kind of like parents to all the boys. It was very apparent how much they care about the well being of each and every boy that lives in and outside the home. They are excited about good grades, worry when the boys are sick, and are always always supportive. They really want what is best for each of the boys. The boys themselves are pretty incredible as well. To have gone through so much hardship, experience such turmoil in their young lives it is no surprise that many of them turn to huffing glue. Though under harsh circumstances the boys are still hopeful and are looking forward in life to a future hopefully different than that of the generations before them.

Rising Up: Joe Kimmel

Rise Up is privileged to partner with some of the most talented young artists. These artists are committed to using their natural gifts & passions to meet the needs of the world.



Joe Kimmel has contributed to Rise Up art shows & benefits in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and the Northwest. Many of his sketches and concepts have been illuminated on Rise Up tees and sold all over the world. This week he was featured in local Oregon weekly The Source. You can read the full article here.



Joe unveils his latest works at an installation called "gods of War" at Evergreen studios in Redmond, Oregon this Saturday, the 8th of November.



Thank you Joe for using your talents to Rise Up!