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 and mediation, academic and professional mentoring, leadership and workforce development, as well as parent education and staff development, training and consultation for their adult allies.

Our Brothers, Unite! programs provide boys with manhood training, media/arts literacy and production, as well as sportsmanship and fitness – all towards developing the leadership skills they need to succeed at school, in their communities and in life itself.

Our Lift a Brother Up programs focus on developing young men as college bound and career ready. Through academic support and our professional men’s speaker’s series, male youth are put on a path towards higher education and jobs that benefit themselves and their communities.

Moving forward, we are excited to expand our school and community based programs further to serve more of Oakland and beyond, and develop our college bound and workforce development components to provide academic credit and job placements outside of Brothers on the rise within 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 a growing staff, interns, Advisory Groups, volunteers, and community partners.

Now in its third year of programming, BOTR is an emerging leader in the field of boys and young men’s work. In fiscal year 2009-10, this was achieved through generous support by Edna Brewer Middle School, Oakland Unified School District, Safe Passages, Aspiranet, Y&H Soda Foundation, Mitch Kapor Foundation, Clorox Foundation, The Barrios Trust, Jonas Family Fund. Already in this new fiscal year we have also received support from Alameda County Health Pipeline Partnership; Kaiser Permanente East Bay; Hagen, Streiff, Newton & Oshiro, Accountants P.C., as well as a number of past funders.

We also thank our generous in-kind donors from this past year, which include CBS5, The Oakland Marriott City Center, World Centric, Somar Bar and Lounge, Uncle Willy’s BBQ, Fabrics that Care, Kitchen Cousins, Los Cantaros (Grand Ave), Chabot Space and Science Museum, Cartoon Art Museum of San Francisco, Trader Joe’s (Lakeshore), Bakesale Betty’s, Peet’s Coffee & Tea (Berkeley on Vine), Berkeley Bowl (Shattuck), Cal Adventures, Salsa With Juan, Anna McGee and Precious Gifts and Arts.

Finally, we thank our many generous individual donors, corporations making matching gifts, and volunteers from inside and outside of our Advisory Groups that have contributed their time and financial resources to our cause.

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, Unite! Camping at the Presidio trip.

Lift a Brother Up Speaker’s Series Event.

BOTR Youth Intern mentors a Summer Youth Participant.