about Rise

At RISE, we’re unleashing the youth wave — the next generation of civic leaders who will reshape the future of our country.

Founded in 2017, RISE is a college student and youth-led nonprofit fighting to make higher education accessible and affordable for all by building students’ political power. Rise creates campaigns to advance policies and strategies to make college more accessible and affordable, and mobilizes students and young people to become lifelong voters. Rise’s track record of major wins includes: launching or scaling free college for thousands of students across states including California, Georgia, New Mexico, and Wisconsin, and contacting a combined 1 million youth voters since 2018.

Invest in the Next Generation
of Civic Leaders

Our Approach

We activate youth around an issue they are passionate about — the college affordability crisis. We build students’ political power by training them to advocate for college affordability and bring their voices to the ballot box to make sure our elected leaders work to support this vision. We do this through three core programming types. Learn more about our work below:

RISE seeks to create an imprint on real people and leave a lasting impact on a generation.

Our Programs Provide a 3 Layer Return on Investment for Youth

Paid Employment: Through our paid fellowships, Rise employs BIPOC/Low Income students who may not ordinarily be able to participate in advocacy and civic engagement

Transferable Skills: Youth who participate in our programs are trained in organizing, advocacy and professional management skills

Civic Engagement Pipeline: Participation in RISE fuels a pipeline of Gen Z talent to stay engaged and work in the civic engagement space after RISE

Policy Areas

Rise works to drive policy change related to establishing and protecting young people's right to higher education and a just democracy. We believe these two issue areas are interconnected and have the potential to impact racial, social, and economic inequities in the U.S.

Given this interconnectedness, our top policy priorities include:

Cancel all student debt
Provide tuition, fee and debt-free trade/technical school, community college and public university education
Invest in Historically Black Colleges & Universities, Minority Serving Institutions, and Tribal Colleges & Universities
Address non-tuition costs of college (food, housing, transportation, childcare, technology etc.) to end equity gaps in higher education attainment
Fight for equitable investment in civics education to cultivate young people into engaged civic participants
Protect the youth vote

Email

[email protected]

Address

13535 Ventura Blvd, Suite C, 513
Sherman Oaks, CA 91423

Press & Media

Media Kit

Click here to sign up for our newsletter.

Rise Action Fund is a 501(c)(4) organization.

EIN: 82-1876815