Summit 2026 – The Rising Foundation https://therisingfoundation.org Cooperating for a Better Tomorrow Thu, 29 Jan 2026 19:42:10 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9 https://therisingfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/favicon2.png Summit 2026 – The Rising Foundation https://therisingfoundation.org 32 32 Compostars https://therisingfoundation.org/2025/11/12/composters/ Wed, 12 Nov 2025 15:13:12 +0000 https://therisingfoundation.org/?p=3071 The Bionutrient Food Association is hosting a series of strategic convenings in Europe, North America, and Australia, bringing together thought leaders from agriculture, nutrition, business, and related fields. These events will offer opportunities for expert insight, refinement of our strategy, and formal coalition-building – inviting key stakeholders to provide guidance, endorse and actively support our approach to defining nutrient density, in order to improve the quality in the food supply.

]]> Bionutrient Food Association https://therisingfoundation.org/2025/07/21/bionutrient-food-association-2/ Mon, 21 Jul 2025 00:00:52 +0000 https://therisingfoundation.org/?p=2920 The Bionutrient Food Association is hosting a series of strategic convenings in Europe, North America, and Australia, bringing together thought leaders from agriculture, nutrition, business, and related fields. These events will offer opportunities for expert insight, refinement of our strategy, and formal coalition-building – inviting key stakeholders to provide guidance, endorse and actively support our approach to defining nutrient density, in order to improve the quality in the food supply.

]]> Fresh Approach https://therisingfoundation.org/2025/07/18/fresh-approach/ Fri, 18 Jul 2025 00:00:19 +0000 https://therisingfoundation.org/?p=2928 Fresh Approach collaborates with communities and farmers to increase access to locally grown food, culturally relevant nutrition education, and urban agriculture—rooted in the belief that everyone deserves nourishing food and the knowledge to support their well-being. We do this through Mobile and Traditional Farmers’ Markets with accompanying incentives programs, trauma-informed VeggieRx nutrition workshops, and community-based agriculture programs. 

This grant will support monthly, hands-on cooking and nutrition classes at Bay Area food pantries, where participants will learn how to prepare and preserve culturally relevant produce. Each class includes VeggieRx vouchers to help families access fresh fruits and vegetables at local farmers’ markets. Participants will also be invited to join a 16-week bilingual “Food as Medicine” online series, providing deeper insights into nutrition and chronic disease prevention. To build long-term sustainability, the project includes a train-the-trainer model to equip pantry staff and community leaders to deliver culturally responsive nutrition education. Together, these efforts will reach ~170 households, increase access to healthy and locally-grown food, and strengthen community-based food systems through education, empowerment, and dignity.

]]> Sociocracy For All https://therisingfoundation.org/2023/01/16/sociocracy-for-all-2/ Mon, 16 Jan 2023 00:00:43 +0000 https://therisingfoundation.org/?p=2773

Sociocracy For All (SoFA) aims to spread the use of egalitarian, sociocratic governance. SoFA provides content and training, supporting networks and communities of practice among people in similar sectors and language groups.

The Metasynthesis and Research on Sociocracy (MARS) project systematizes, advances, and curates the research on sociocracy and in decentralized, consent-based organizations in general. MARS has a special focus on three focus areas:

  1. Team performance
  2. DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion)
  3. Psychological safety

It will provide high-quality information for practitioners on what research shows in useful measures around those focus areas in the context of self-management. We hope to build a stronger case for our work and our colleagues to strengthen the movement overall. We’re also excited about stimulating more academic research on sociocracy and helping to focus that research around questions that are particularly useful for the field.

 

]]> Office for Refuge, Asylum and Migration https://therisingfoundation.org/2022/05/12/office-for-refuge-asylum-and-migration/ Thu, 12 May 2022 00:00:27 +0000 https://therisingfoundation.org/?p=2650

Founded in 2008, ORAM is recognized as one of the first international NGOs to assist people fleeing persecution based on their sexual orientation and/or gender identity and expression. It has since become a thought leader in LGBTIQ migration. Our mission is to protect and empower LGBTIQ asylum seekers and refugees globally, creating sustainability and systemic change. Over the last decade, ORAM has trained NGOs, governments and the UNHCR on the unique protection needs of the severely marginalized LGBTIQ refugee population. We have supported thousands of LGBTIQ asylum seekers and refugees from navigating the long asylum process from the moment they arrive in their first country of asylum to being resettled to a safe third country. 

ORAM currently supports LGBTIQ asylum seekers and refugees in Mexico, Kenya and Uganda, as well as supporting LGBTIQ displaced Ukrainians in Berlin, Germany. Our programs in each geographical location are tailored to the specific needs of the community we serve, by ensuring that those with lived experiences are included in all stages of our work. 

ORAM’s main focus is on advancing economic inclusion through livelihood programs, through capacity building and training, in order to build self-reliance; however, we also provide critical emergency response where needed, as well as legal assistance and advocacy through championing the rights of LGBTIQ asylum seekers and refugees on the global stage. 

Supporting Innovative, LGBTIQ Refugee-led Entrepreneurship and Empowerment Programs in Kenya

ORAM’s goal is to empower vulnerable but resilient LGBTIQ refugees around the world.  We do this in Kenya by providing online and in-person skills and capacity building training sessions, as well as providing seed-funding to those unable to access education and training due to their sexual orientation and / or gender identity and expression (SOGIE), as well as their status as a foreigner and refugee.  This way, we enable the community to have a fair chance at finding or creating meaningful employment. Trainings enable them to find placements in local businesses or start their own businesses and generate income to survive on a daily basis, as well as support the wider community. 

]]> Open Source Wellness https://therisingfoundation.org/2022/02/10/open-source-wellness-3/ Thu, 10 Feb 2022 00:00:59 +0000 https://therisingfoundation.org/?p=2624

Open Source Wellness is a “Behavioral Pharmacy,” an innovation bridging the gaps between healthcare and community. OSW is founded on the understanding that just as we need CVS to fill our prescription medications, we need an affordable, accessible, and effective delivery system for health behavior change – eating better, exercising, reducing our stress, and connecting meaningfully with others. With 86% of our national healthcare budget spent on chronic disease, it’s time for a low-cost, proven, experiential, and culturally-adaptable method for preventing and reversing chronic disease.

Our clinical healthcare-based model, developed in partnership with Alameda Health System (Hayward Wellness Center), has emerged as a spreadable/scalable intervention, and has generated substantial interest in the last year. In brief, Open Source Wellness delivers its signature trans diagnostic, experiential program in full workflow integration and electronic-medical-record integration on site at the clinic. Importantly, and key to our success in spreading this model, we have created a financially sustainable model via group medical visits (an MD or NP participates in the group, and then bills insurance for each patient).

National board-certification is rapidly becoming the standard of qualification for health and wellness coaching. Open Source Wellness is poised to design and deliver a health coach training program that both fulfills the requirements for national board certification AND uplifts our values of cultural humility, trauma awareness, and “Community as Medicine.” In addition to continuing to serve our populations with culturally appropriate care, this program will create a much-needed and accessible employment pathway for our participants and peer leaders who have gained valuable health and coaching knowledge and skills throughout their participation in our program and are eager to utilize them in a paid employment capacity.

]]> Inside Circle https://therisingfoundation.org/2021/06/21/inside-circle-2/ Mon, 21 Jun 2021 00:00:19 +0000 https://therisingfoundation.org/?p=2030 Inside Circle supports incarcerated and formerly incarcerated men on a deep, transformational personal growth journey that culminates in not just reduced violence and recidivism, but in active, dedicated service to others. We begin by focusing on healing emotional trauma through weekly peer-led healing circles and bi-annual intensives. As participants mature, we train them to facilitate their struggling peers in healing circles and continue that training after release to support their reentry to society.  When ready, we create opportunities for our paroled, trained formerly incarcerated facilitators to earn a living wage and serve society.

An emerging trend in our national projects is the absence of young people with the skill set to provide the social-emotional tools that are needed in our society. There are an abundance of young people willing to do the work, however, access to the training to do so is severely limited. Our answer is the Young Adult Empowerment Program (YAE). Creating credible messengers closer to the center mass of the age group that is driving some of society’s larger issues.  A major component in harnessing this younger group is that their needs are sometimes as strong or stronger than the groups that they would work with. Led by our own credible messengers who have demonstrated that change is possible, we would be working to influence and shift  their cultural value system. The inspiration and change we have already demonstrated has drawn young people seeking to leave their addiction to the street lifestyle behind to us like moths to a flame.

]]> Wealth & Values Initiative https://therisingfoundation.org/2021/02/01/wealth-values-initiative/ Mon, 01 Feb 2021 15:30:28 +0000 https://therisingfoundation.org/?p=2089

The mission of the WVI Dolphin Foundation ( DF ) is to provide concrete ways and
means by which we can encourage WVI Legacy Families and others of influence to utilize their considerable prestige, wealth, and power to uplift culture by supporting earlier stage/smaller nonprofit causes that are deeply aligned with the Dolphin culture and code of conduct.

  • WVI Dolphin Foundation – Dolphin Code of Conduct:
    Give first and keep giving
  • Add value even if there is no transaction
  • Earn trust with every touch
  • Be a serial connector for others
  • Build long term relationships and community
  • Monetize

In collaboration with a variety of existing partners, the WVI Dolphin Foundation is
building a “Mentor the Mentors” pilot program in which we mentor Military service
members and well known athletes to support underserved kids and Gold-Star
kids — American children who have lost a parent to war – through a curriculum
including character skills development youth sports, exposure to trades and STEM
and professional skill development.

]]> Bionutrient Food Association https://therisingfoundation.org/2020/03/01/bionutrient-food-association/ Sun, 01 Mar 2020 14:16:22 +0000 https://therisingfoundation.org/?p=1140 The Bionutrient Food Association (BFA) is the world’s leading organization working on the topic of Nutrient Density. Established in 2010 with a mission to “Increase quality in the food supply,” we coined the term “Bionutrient” to refer to those nutrients in food that are present in high levels in crops grown well, and in low levels in crops grown poorly.

In 2019, the Real Food Campaign (RFC) lab worked with 100 grower partners and 15 citizen scientists to process 1,800 samples from 20 states in the US to test 6 crops: carrots, spinach, tomatoes, kale, lettuce and grapes. As samples enter the lab they are tested with the Bionutrient Meter then extracted and analyzed for antioxidants, polyphenols, and 17 minerals (2018 results). Our lab’s accomplishments over the past two years were a major step in advancing the Bionutrient Food Association’s mission of increasing quality in the food system.

The BFA is now creating a new administrative role for a Citizen Science Coordinator in order to expand our Citizen Science initiative. The initiative began two years ago with a data partner project to engage consumers in data collection, and in 2019 we launched our grower partner program, bringing growers into the process as well. During this time, participants have helped us to document management practices, environmental conditions, soil health, plant health, carbon sequestration, nutrient density and farm viability. We can now begin to look scientifically for the
connections between these factors.

]]> Boys to Men https://therisingfoundation.org/2019/02/01/boys-to-men/ Fri, 01 Feb 2019 00:00:06 +0000 https://therisingfoundation.org/?p=1457

Boys to Men Mentoring Network‘s (BTM) mission is to build communities of male role models who, through group mentoring at schools, encourage and empower teenage boys to follow their dreams. It provides caring male mentors to 840 fatherless and/or disconnected boys ages 12-17 years old in San Diego County. In San Diego, 49,937 boys are growing up in fatherless homes.

Approximately 75% of the boys we serve are growing up without a father or a mentor at home. We work with partners, such as The Rising Foundation, to deliver four programs to engage boys in our communities: In-school Group Mentoring Circles, Open Community
Groups, Summer Surf Nights and Adventure Mountain Weekends.

Thanks to this grant we are able to expand our limited sleeping space
by building four to six sleeping quarters in a six-month period in Fall 2019 at the BTM Legacy Ranch. This project, the Friends of Legacy Ranch Sleeping Quarters Project on Mt. Palomar, will provide vitally needed additional indoor sleeping options for our AMW (Adventure Mountain Weekend) participants.

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