ARISE combines leadership training with community organizing to mobilize Southeast Asian and other Rhode Island youth of color for education justice.
Photograph by Belinda Phivilay.
Our programs
Youth Leaders
ARISE's Youth Leaders are a cohort of stipend high schoolers who meet throughout the year to support their development, relationships, and work as community organizers.
Junior Flames
Junior Flames is a year-long leadership, academic, and social-personal development program, centered on middle school students. It is grounded in intergenerational, intersectional, and multi-racial activism.
Summer Programs
Our Summer programming, offered every year, includes our “Hidden Lotus” series, “Ethnic Studies,” series, and “Post-Secondary Access,” series.
Our Campaigns
Teach Truth
ARISE has been organizing since 2018 for Ethnic Studies in Providence schools. We’re a founding member and Tier 1 organization in OurSchoolsPVD, an RI coalition for Ethnic Studies, and have taught Southeast Asian history at several PPSD schools.
Counselors Not Cops
Since 2019, ARISE has been organizing to remove school resource officers from Providence schools and redirect funding toward mental health resources. We are a founding member of the Providence Alliance for Student Safety, an RI coalition for #CounselorsNotCops.
All Students Count
The aggregation of academic achievement data under "Asian American" has overshadowed the real experiences of our Southeast Asian communities. Since 2017, ARISE has been organizing to disaggregate this data.
Community Strength
Recognizing how multiple systems of oppression are interconnected, ARISE is part of several community coalitions to combat a wide range of inequities.
Civics Education for All
After 4 years of organizing and legislative work on Cook V Raimondo, our coalition has achieved a hard-fought victory: the Commissioner of Education has established an official Civics Task Force.
Other Campaigns
ARISE has been part of several other campaigns over the last few years., including (but not limited to): the RI solidarity fund, GenZ Votes, combating domestic violence, organizing communities for the 2020 census, and beyond.
We Need Your Support
We rely on your monthly contributions so we can fund the stipends, meals, and transport for our youth activists (all of whom are BIPOC students between the ages of 12 and 18) on a consistent basis. Your commitment ensures that they can afford to do the work they love. Our goal is 100 monthly donors to sustain this work. Today, we’re at 85.
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