RISE SUPER BOWL LEADERSHIP PROGRAM: EMPOWERING AND CONNECTING COMMUNITIES FOR RACIAL JUSTICE

My goal for 2022 is to get my HBCU community to begin to think about how they have the power to CHOOSE. The influence we have as student athletes at my institution can set the environment around us to be more inclusive and less hostile. My canvas will be a beacon of light every time athletes enter our facilities. I want my colleagues to see the phrase “I Choose” every-day to instill that attitude within themselves. I will encourage athletes, staff,and faculty to continue to add positive words to the canvas as the years advance. The word “Harmony” symbolizes cohesiveness through my community between all cultures and people and that is the ultimate goal.

My name is Jesus Lemus and I am 13 years old. I am a middle school student and because of my blended family I want to stand up against racism. I am an accomplice in my baseball community by bringing awareness of anti-racism because we all deserve to be treated equally. This is how I am standing up against racism, I am fundraising for the BLM organization by selling “Strike Out Racism” pins and stickers I created.

My name is Anthony Almaguer, I am a 14 year old high school student. I want to bring awareness to the immigration community. This is a topic you hear in the news, social media or radio but not a lot of people understand what it means to be an immigrant or family of an immigrant. I want to teach my peers that they too can be allies and accomplices in the immigration community.

My project is a collage to show that with softball it's able to bring people together as one big community. To me the softball has done so much for girls of all ages to bring us all into one big community.

Celebrating Young Activists (C.Y.A.) is a social media page for individuals between the ages of 13-19 recognizing their activism in their communities and school to amplify their voices.

16x20 mixed media acrylic painting on wood panel

It's a mixed media piece based off art, my community. This piece describes who I am as a person and things that I like this is a way people can bond and get to know each other.

Encapsulating the greatness that is Inglewood takes a lot more than facts and statistics. Let me show you the Pride of Inglewood, its family.

During my internship with RISE this past summer, I was able to create mockup cleats and shoes for our NFL partners to wear for the My Cause My Cleats Initiative. I was later connected to the company that printed the mockups and I began doing some concept designs for the team.While going through the leadership program and discussing potential project ideas, I thought it would be unique and powerful to continue and help athletes share their identity and empower their communities through custom cleats and shoes. For my project, I plan to empower and connect communities by working with college athletes or professionals to design custom cleats supporting a cause that they are affected by.

My name is Carlos Escobar, I am a middle school student that wants to speak up about Teamwork. As an Athlete I have had some good and bad experiences in team sports. I didn't return to the sport of basketball because it wasn't fair, fun or exciting for me anymore. The coaches would only give playtime to the"good" players and that was not fair. We all come to practices and always try our hardest. A coach is supposed to encourage and teach their players teamwork not make us feel bad because we are "not good enough " to win the game. My project is named "Teamwork" and the importance of equal play for all team members.

My name is Chance Quarry and what my project is is a sonnet that I wrote in three different sections of 4 sentences.

As Co-President of the Michigan Sport Business Inclusion Community, I feel that I have a unique opportunity to mobilize my members to engage in meaningful social justice work. With this project, members will have the opportunity to reflect on their currentsocial platform and determine how to best use it to make change.

This short personal essay focuses on the power of voting, what it means to be an ally, and the importance of trust in a community. The project provided an optimal opportunity for me to look back at how much I have learned about this space, and an opportunity to use my platform to inform as many people as possible about the power of their voice. RISE has taught me the power that difference in opinion can bring, and that engaging in conversations among those with alternative perspectives can be a very positive change agent.

My project is about peer pressure in my school community and what students can do to avoid conflict and overall address the problem. What I'm doing to make a difference is presenting my slideshow to classrooms and helping them understand the problem.