Upward Roots is 10 Years Old!

During the long days of the 2020-2021 school year, Upward Roots celebrated its 10 year anniversary. A major milestone in the life of a grassroots nonprofit organization.

It didn’t feel right to celebrate, so instead we looked inwards and examined how we could be a better Upward Roots. We are in the early stages of marching towards a more responsive, dynamic, robust, and sustainable Upward Roots. One that emerges as the local leader in nurturing young people to be the changemakers they already are, and to help them change their world for the better together.

Since 2011, we have empowered 2,342 young people in Oakland to design and lead 186 service projects benefiting over 5000 members of their community. Their youth-led, youth-designed service projects have fed hundreds of unhoused Oaklanders; educated hundreds of peers about climate change, racism, and bullying; and created unique solutions to some of the biggest challenges all of our communities face like violence and mental health. 

Since day one, Upward Roots has existed because of three key pillars: our team, our programs, and our supporters. We would not be here today without each of them.

 TEAM

Our team, from our founder, Lindsey Jones, to our board of directors, to our program facilitators, are our heartbeat. They keep us moving, changing, growing, reaching. In reflecting on our past and looking ahead, our ambition is to reach every Oakland elementary and middle school by 2025. To achieve this, we decided we had to invest in us, to double down on our commitment to Oakland and take a leap of faith. We hired our first-ever Deputy Director, growing the capacity of our mighty team.

We remain deeply rooted in our Oakland community, those we get to collaborate with and those who support us. By doubling our human capacity, we can show up more for our partners, the schools, afterschool program teams, and educators that we work so closely with. They are all carrying more than we can ever understand and they need our love, appreciation, and support. This keeps our programs and our partnerships thriving.

PROGRAMS

Part of being better is exploring new ways to deliver our programs to more young people. This has included our constant adaptation to on-the-ground needs of our partner schools. This has included new tools, like our Changemaker Journal, deeper integration of social and emotional learning into our curriculum, and flexibility in our program models. And, as teachers and principals have asked, we are exploring how to embed our programs in school-day learning. Our first pitch to a cohort of Oakland school leaders is in just a few weeks.

Another aspect of being better is expanding access to our mission and programs. We are launching Do Good Now, which is designed to be a way for anyone to become a positive changemaker in their community, to share our mission with anyone willing to take the time to do good with others. Through our core program practices, Do Good Now, is a changemaking journey for a family, a class, a group of colleagues to take positive action in their community. It is also an informal entry-way into our rigorous school-based afterschool programs that will grow our impact. 

 SUPPORTERS

As our supporters, we often note that you fuel our impact. Yet, this understates the impact of your generosity. Nonprofits exist for the benefit of the communities they’re in and can only sustain themselves through financial gifts. It is important to us, though, that as we mature into a 10+ year old nonprofit, we are moving beyond the transactional to a deeper relationship between you, our donor and supporter, and Upward Roots. 

Already, you may have noticed more frequent emails coming from our Executive Director, Elizabeth. We want to bring the work our Upward Roots community is doing to life for you. In the spirit of authenticity, we also invite you to participate in the inaugural launch of Do Good Now.  We want you to experience Upward Roots in real and unique ways. It matters to us that you understand the value of Upward Roots because that value extends beyond who we immediately serve, it is a mission to build a better future for us all. We all have the power to create positive change in our communities and we invite you to join us in that action.