On the RISE

Youth Leadership Development

PROGRAM SUMMARY

On the RISE uses leadership development strategies to create meaningful experiences for high school students from underserved communities that empower and inspire them to participate in social change.

High school students in the San Diego area are selected to participate in On the RISE through which they grow as leaders through a series of workshops and discussions. The three main models used for this program are The Social Change Model of Leadership Development, The Servant Leadership Model, and Adaptive Leadership (Harvard University).

Through On the RISE, students acquire a higher level of self-awareness, understand the relationship between their past and their future, identify an issue that they are passionate about, connect the issue to a movement or cause and build a network of meaningful connections. These outcomes culminate in the development of a CAPstone (Community Action Project) plan along with a personal narrative that explores their personal story, leadership experience, community issues, and their action plan.

PROGRAM FOCUS

The primary focus of On the RISE is to expose 16-18 year old students with civic engagement training and leadership development through self-exploration, community analysis and career pathway assessment.

PROGRAM CURRICULUM

The program can be thought of as a three-part approach: relationship, resources, and resilience.

Relationship: The program will involve taking the time necessary to establish trusting relationships between educators and students to yield authentic healing and hope.

Resources: Every week, students will be provided with resources to increase their capacity to manage stress by integrating various activities (visual, auditory, and tactile) to support different learning styles. Activities will include reading silently and aloud, participating in group dialogue, drawing, making posters, listening to songs, doing hands-on activities like building, etc.

Resilience: Through culturally responsive and trauma-informed mindfulness approaches to healing, the program emphasizes building resilience. The training and development model would involve looking for patterns and trends that best inform personal, social, and community action. We would build a circle of resilience that can be brought to scale and sustained by the community-at-large.

As a result of these efforts, the student’s outcome would include two major assignments. The first being that students will be asked to write a personal narrative that explores their personal story, leadership experience, and community issues. The second being that students will be asked to design a project, movement, or experience related to their legacy.

ANTICIPATED PROGRAM OUTCOMES

Students who participate in On the RISE will…

Have a better understanding of who they are and how they show up in various contexts
Be able to articulate their purpose and vision for the future within 5 weeks
Commit to volunteering their time to a community-based organization or initiative within 3 months of joining OTR
Develop meaningful relationships with influential community leaders across San Diego