RuckusRoots Inc

Note: The organization did not respond to this question.

Note: The organization did not respond to this question.

In the past year, we've invested in 1:1 Executive Leadership Coaching for our Executive Director, among other professional development training for our leadership team including The Racial Equity Toolkit and Training from The Collective Impact Forum, Communicating with Your Team from The Nonprofit Partnership, Grant writing trainings and program management and development trainings.

Our organization's external mobilization efforts are focused primarily on Los Angeles and our communities and constituents because the city is so large and the need is so great. We connect with our civic leaders when possible through written or in-person communications / meetings. Some of our board members have relationships with neighborhood and city councils that allow for communication, promotion and advocacy for our message in support of the arts and climate resilience.

A dominant and much-needed focus for us over the last two years has been to reevaluate how we develop programs. The aim of this reevaluation is to avoid “parachute programming” AKA programs that do not create lasting change or respond to community needs. To remedy this, we have pivoted very intentionally toward a strategy centered on co-creation and community listening in both program design and program implementation. This new process involves a collaborative planning process between RuckusRoots administration, program site administration, our program facilitators and community members. In these meetings, we discuss the goals of our program, the community to be served, the participants to be served and the host site. The end result of these meetings is a program curriculum that establishes our collective desired outcomes as a group and a plan for achieving those outcomes. These new changes and processes have helped us develop transparency and build trust with our partners and host communities, as we continually work to ensure we are offering programs that truly serve and adapt to the needs of our constituencies.