In 2002, the student body of King/Drew was mostly comprised of Black and Brown students who come from the surrounding areas: Los Angeles, Compton, and Watts. Because we were students, it was assumed all too readily that we were subjects to be contained, restricted, and policed This assumption was reinforced by a police presence at our school that was straight up intimidating. Their station was located by the front entrance; they patrolled the hallways throughout the day constantly; and they even had jail cells just before you got to the boys locker room on the second floor. The sheriff guards at the entrance combined with the metal detectors blurred the line between school and prison for us. Teachers were also restricted by state expectations and incentives to adhere to the rigid academic standards that were enforced by “No Child Left Behind” (NCLB). Signed into law in May 2001 by president George W. Bush, NCLB restricted both students and teachers and, consequently, a fuller exchange of ideas On its face, the bill had two goals: to decrease the performance gap between affluent schools and inner-city schools, and to increase teacher accountability in the areas of reading comprehension and mathematics Schools that did not meet the mandated proficiency level lost their opportunity to receive federal funding. If they exhibited poor performance for two years consecutively, they not only risked losing federal funding, but they were also forced to undergo massive overhauls of their curriculum until testing standards were met.
This incentive for high-test scores had a perverse effect on the quality of education we received Rather, it represented a policing strategy that was reinforced by an actual on-campus police presence. Students at King/Drew were resistant toward the policy and educational strategies that focused exclusively on teaching to a test; they fostered our general discontent with school.
In response to these conditions, nine students and an English instructor, Thomas Lee, constructed a safe space where students to learn, dialogue with each other, and build knowledge together on campus. Our goal at the time was to facilitate a longer lasting connection between students’ personal experiences and the expectations we had for our education. Such a space allowed us to reflect on our community and ideas that would improve our current social conditions Moreover, it prepared us to engage in the literacy practices that we would later need to succeed at our respective universities and later in our professions. We knew that we were trying to do more than get ourselves out of trouble We were trying to do right by each other, our communities, and those in the past who spoke truth to power. We took the name Elevated Minds Embracing Righteousness & Gaining Equality (EMERGE).
Elevated Minds Embracing Righteousness And Gaining Equality (EMERGE) grounds its philosophy in the existential witness propounded by Hip Hop culture Our organization approaches issues of aesthetics, culture, economics, sociology, philosophy, and psychology purely from a Hip Hop perspective, which is viewing the latter concepts with critical, inclusive, intellectual, and progressive lenses From its inception, Hip Hop is the prototype of avant-garde forms of expression. Diverse voices from around the world have found a home within the music after hearing the siren songs of America’s urban and agrarian youth: the reverberations of pain and affirmation universally ring true. Beginning as an art form, Hip Hop is now a philosophical tool for creating a vocabulary, analyzing, and disseminating ideas about the world in which we live. EMERGE uses Hip Hop as a tool for education, communal development, activism, critical thinking, humanization, and social reconstruction
EMERGE is a community-based organization that uses Hip Hop culture to put the community back into college through college readiness, financial literacy, professional development, socio-emotional skills building opportunities. We envision a culture where Black and Brown youth are educated to live, not just to survive. We believe that Hip Hop has the power to motivate, instruct, and develop transformative leaders and to build coalitions with community action groups that will make access to college, employment, workforce skills development more equitable and available
Our mission is to develop and produce future leaders from marginalized communities using Hip Hop to raise social awareness and to affect more equal and just transformation of society.
We envision a culture where underserved youth are educated to live, not just to survive We believe that Hip Hop has the power to motivate, instruct, and develop transformative leaders and to build coalitions with community action groups that will make access to housing, education, employment, and career readiness resources more equitable and available.
As a community-based literacy-building organization, we are guided by the core values of:
Building sustainable communities is vital to the survival of the next generation
Social and contextual awareness leads to social transformation
Success come through developing knowledge of self
College and Career Readiness
How to Apply to College Workshops
Mentoring EmpowerMENt lEADERSHIP cERTIFICATE pROGRAM
We build clear academic pathways from the community to college. Provide resources and support for participants to achieve college acceptance and/or university transfer Develop and implement strategies to increase awareness of academic culture among elementary and high school students
Through workshops, conferences, and mentorship, students will develop the language and skills of transformative leadership based on Hip Hop critical literacy, social justice, and strong moral character
A race conscious professional development pathway that connects researchers, leaders, staff, instructors, organizers, stakeholders, and college policymakers to identify and eliminate structural barriers to equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in K12 & Community College organizations.
Critical reading and writing improvement
CriticalReadingand WritingDevelopment
Participants will read and analyze literary works by some of America’s most recognized rappers, writers, playwrights, and poets Participants will learn how to:
Employ the writing process to complete writing tasks
Write with a specific purpose, audience, and message
Learn how to compose messages using a variety of modes with specific details, examples, and illustrations to fulfill a purpose
Demonstrate critical engagement with outside sources
Write in prose style characterized by clarity, complexity, and linguistic variety
Apply the conventions of standard written English
Our goals for each youth-participant is to increase their overall sense of personal and academic efficacy; to improve their reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills; and to change the life outcomes of boys and young men of color as the vanguard of positive youth development in Los Angeles, California. In addition, we aim to publish each youthparticipant in a graphic novel anthology, titled Young Graphic Novelists Dropping Superhero Stories for Culture a& Community. The anthology will be published in the Michelle Obama library in North Long Beach and selected authors will presented certificate of leadership at the EMERGE Year-end Gala
to establish pro-social skills and relationships between youth, caregivers, and family
EmpowerMENt
255 total youth enrollment
100+ foster youth enrolled
100% engaged in mentoring activities
to identify processes and procedures for applying and transferring to fouryear university.
to have 25 youth complete the FAFSA
College Readiness Workshop Series
123 youth enrolled
100% participants reside in low-income households
College Readiness Workshop Series
toemploythewriting processanddevelopgraphic novelstocreateacollection ofcounter-narrativesthat countertheeffectsofdeficitlensnarratives
EmpowerMENt
123 participants completed FAFSA
126 youth published in original graphic novel collection
EMERGE has recently completed a successful fiscal year in 2021-22. Here are a few key statistics:
100% of Critical Reading and Writing Improvement program participants learned the writing process to produce narrative works and had their narratives published
From 2020-22, 123 youth were engaged in our College Readiness program
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100% of College Readiness participants completed their FAFSA
In November of 2021, EMERGE organized a Thanksgiving bundle who provided 30 families with Thanksgiving dinners which included a Turkey, Canned Yams, Macaroni and Cheese, and Gravy.
In December 2021, EMERGE provided 100 toys and 30 gift cards for foster-youth in Christmas toy drive 05
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100% of all program participants are low-income
As of June 2022, over 100 foster youth from LA County DCFS offices were enrolled in our Fostering Youth Resiliency Program, while the EmpowerMENt Mentoring Program has served 378 youth total.
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100%respondentsidentified theworkshopsaswell organizedandinformational
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A number of respondents point out the thoughtfulness and attention to detail behind the construction of the HAC workshops.
Most of the participants notice the meticulous attention to detail about the information in the HAC workshops. Most of the participants notice the meticulous attention to detail about the information in the HAC workshops.
During our first year as an active 501.c3, we received a $95k allotment from Friends of the Children, LA. These funds were primarily utilized for the EmpowerMENt Leadership Certificate program and to provide paid opportunities to professional mentors, professional speakers and presenters, program incentives, and marketing and advertisement Overall, we were able to make efficient use of the allotment By exercising fiscal responsibility, we were able to begin awarding scholarships for collegebound youth from low-income communities in our programs
How we used our inaugural year of funding
The total balance after Y1 were used to start an endowment and to fund annual scholarships to college. 100%
EMERGE is a community-based organization that uses Hip Hop culture to put the community back into college through college readiness, financial literacy, professional development, socio-emotional skills building services. Our passion is to provide youth with information; to give access to resources and opportunities for academic and social advancement. We seek to motivate, instruct, and guide youth of today to develop the kind of communal literacy that will transform their lives and communities.
Highlight 01
NUMBER OF PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS
378 Total served
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63 avg # participants
100% Reside in low-income households
Highlight 03
100% are students of color
We envision a culture where FOSTER youth are educated to live, not just to survive. We believe that Hip Hop has the power to motivate, instruct, and develop transformative leaders and to build coalitions with community action groups that will make access to college, employment, workforce skills development more equitable and available. FOR EVERYONE.
