About Brothers on the Rise

Our Vision

We envision a world free from male violence, in which boys and men contribute to a fair and peaceful planet.

Our Mission

Brothers on the Rise responsibly empowers male youth to achieve individual success, develop healthy relationships and contribute to a more just and equitable society.

Our Work

We accomplish our mission through gender-responsive programs that engage males personally and professionally in social service and social change. Our programming includes counseling, conflict resolution, leadership development, mentoring, organizing, youth workshops and workforce development for male youth, as well as training, facilitation and consultation for their adult providers.

Using a cascading mentoring model, younger male students are socialized and trained by older male youth and adults to be responsible, peaceful, caring and productive community members.

Older students – 8^th graders in middle school and 4^th/5^th graders in elementary – are engaged in peer education and community organizing as program leaders. They also may serve as Youth Assistants in the after-school program, helping to design and deliver the groups for their younger peers. This non-traditional employment training for males in the helping professions "a sector in which men are greatly under-represented yet greatly needed by boys" puts participants on a path to success, service and activism.

Moving forward, we are excited to further develop our workforce development component for teens and young adult males, to provide college credit, professional training, and connections to jobs in the education, social work, youth development and community organizing.

Our History, Our Future & Our Funders

Brothers on the Rise (BOTR) began at Oakland's Edna Brewer Middle School where founding Executive Director Jon Gilgoff first provided boys services in 2006-07 with the Girls Justice Institute and then in 2007-08 as an Independent Contractor. Now established as a fiscally sponsored project of San Francisco Study Center, BOTR has broadened its impact with 4 staff, an MSW Intern, Advisory Groups, volunteers, and community partners.

Now in its second year of programming, BOTR has achieved a successful nonprofit launch through the generous support of Edna Brewer Middle School/Oakland Unified School District, Safe Passages, Aspiranet, Y&H Soda Foundation, The Marriott, Two Mile Wines, and many other generous businesses and individuals.

We are now excited to bring our elementary and middle school models to other sites; to launch year round community based programs; to develop our workforce development initiative for young men interested in human service and social change careers; and continue to offer workshops and consultation for youth and adult groups interested in our programs.

Our Approach to Addressing Needs

Oakland is a city known for high levels of violence, and codes of the street that influence boys' decision-making and outcomes. "Respect is money, money is power and power is masculinity. Violence defines you as a man." (SF Chronicle, 2007).

Examining this code through BOTR's gender-lens and social justice framework, we see how poverty, racism and other forms of oppression unfairly put young men from low-income, marginalized, communities of color at greater risk for violence. BOTR therefore not only provides services to at-risk male youth, but also engages them in social change through youth-run projects funded by Youth UpRising, and connecting them to activist groups like the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights. Our "responsible empowerment" approach not only provides opportunities and supports for at-risk male youth to transition into successful young adulthood, but also recognizes male privilege and violence against women, developing males as allies to channel our strength towards a just and equitable society for all.

Brothers on the Rise engages families and community supports to help our boys...

...to successfully complete our program and move on to high school...

...and with our help get into College Track...like this student did!