RUCKUSROOTS INC
ARTivism for people and the planet.
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
The problem that all our programs seek to address is multi-faceted. Throughout Los Angeles and beyond, we see a lack of community, creativity and environmental stewardship in both young people and adults alike. The arts have always been at the forefront of monumental societal shifts, building empathy, understanding and bridging the gap between problem and solution. But, accessible artistic programming is lacking in the communities we serve and simultaneously, these communities are disproportionately and negatively impacted by environmental injustices like litter, pollution and a lack of green spaces. Our programs offer art-making as an essential tool for addressing these injustices.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Wild Art
WILD ART CONNECTS NORTHEAST LOS ANGELES YOUTH TO NATURE IN THEIR OWN COMMUNITY.
By combining visual arts skills with sustainability and wildlife education, youth create a platform to creatively express themselves, connect to nature in LA and to take ownership of and pride in their community. We believe this introduction to wildlife and conservation issues is the first step in leading young people to engagement in and possibly beyond Los Angeles.
TRASHformation
TRASHformation is an interactive art experience that turns community-generated waste into a sustainably and collaboratively built art piece.
TRASHformation aims to raise awareness about consumption and waste production while TRASHformation teaching participants fundamental art, construction and sustainable building skills. Our goal is to transform solitary bystanders into a bonded and empowered community of "can do” activists, enthusiastically collaborating on a common goal.
Chimes for Change
In Chimes for Change, LA teens use recycled and found materials to create wind chimes. Participants learn how to use digital software to record their chimes, and turn those sounds into electronic music compositions. Finally, both visual and audio art works are publicly displayed to to engage participants in sustainability issues impacting the community.
The curriculum blends 4 components: sustainability education, visual arts education, music education and community activism and leadership. A combination of experiential learning and leadership from professional mentors results in a versatile lesson plan that reveals the connection between sustainability, creativity and community. It also gives students the tools they need to translate education into action. Our “Change-Making” workshops include field trips to neighborhood council meetings that give students a chance to participate in the change-making process.
The Rebel Garden Project
The Rebel Garden Project (RGP) offers an opportunity for South L.A. teens and young adults to become empowered in climate resilience and food sovereignty while working towards entrepreneurial careers in creative or food-based fields. Besides learning how to build and cultivate urban food gardens, participants can learn how to certify the produce they grow to sell at local farmers markets, helping address both income inequality and the food desert issue in South L.A.
Where we work
External reviews
Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of individuals in the target audience that expresses intent to adopt (or continue) desired behavior
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth
Related Program
Wild Art
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Over 75% of our participants become effective changemakers. Criteria: 1)pursuit of higher ed/employment 2)involvement in sustainability issues/community enrichment 3)creative thinking/problem solving
Number of students who demonstrated understanding of sustainability concepts
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Young adults, Children, People of Latin American descent, Low-income people, Working poor
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Our students demonstrate more than an 80% increase in understanding of environmental and sustainability concepts after RuckusRoots program participation.
Number of works exhibited temporarily
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of programs documented
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Women and girls, Men and boys, Multiracial people
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Number of program sites
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Women and girls, Men and boys, Children and youth
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Hours of programing delivered
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of youth programs offered
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Women and girls, Men and boys, Children and youth
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Total number of audience members
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Our audience grew by over 25% in 2022!
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
GOALS
1. Co-create arts programming in communities where it is needed and wanted.
2. Bring awareness to social and environmental challenges confronting Los Angeles.
3. Amplify the artistic voices of marginalized groups.
4. Share resources with local artists from the communities where we work.
5. Utilize found, recycled or natural materials in artworks whenever possible, expanding the notion of what can become art, and encouraging art as a sustainable lifestyle practice.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Standard Methodologies
RuckusRoots' main goal is to creatively engage young people in local environmental and social issues, creating art and encouraging action that improve their communities.
The following five principles guide all of our programs. Each project must be:
1) Interactive
2) Collaborative
3) Creative
4) Empowering
5) Community Driven
We have two ways of accomplishing our mission. Our school-based programs provide sustainable arts education for youth in underserved communities, while our outreach efforts include interactive art installations and events that engage viewers of all ages in community and sustainability issues.
1) Programs at Schools and/or Community Organizations
These programs combine arts and sustainability education for middle school and high school students. Each program serves up to 200 students. An artist mentor and sustainability expert work with students over a semester, first focusing on artistic skill-building (adhering to California VAPA standards) and local ecology and sustainability education. The group then draws on these lessons to design and build a final art piece that meets the following 5 criteria:
a. Community Improvement/Beautification
b. Community Engagement: Provides thought-provoking interaction for audience members
c. Leadership: Requires student-artists to research local sustainability issues, engage with community members and present final art pieces to local community.
d. Ownership: Allows participants to creatively express a specific idea, opinion or concern through their artwork
e. Sustainable creation: encourage art that is made in a sustainable way (i.e., with recycled, found, or eco-friendly materials)
2) Public Events and Installations
Our interactive events and art installations provide a creative forum for sustainable artists to display their work, and provide unique outreach opportunities to audience members who otherwise might not be aware of the issues presented.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
RuckusRoots has successfully been serving the greater Los Angeles community for over 13 years. We are proud of the level we have reached thus far, with an Executive Board of four strong allies, a full time staff of 3 and a roster of 10 independently contracted teaching artists. Demand for our programming is always increasing, and we have met that demand due to our strong and stable foundation.
Just this last year, our significant increase in revenue led to robust program growth, new hires, and expanded reach. We have been in operation for years and in that time have implemented many impactful arts programs for local communities. We are ever-increasing our capacity for meeting the growing demand for our programs, so we can better assess our impact and the efficacy of our work.
We are lucky enough to partner with numerous community allies such as Youth Justice Coalition, Hungry Gardens, Environmental Charter Schools, LA Zoo, other public and charter schools throughout LA. Sponsors and program underwriters include The Perenchio Foundation, The Goldhirsh Foundation, Sony Pictures Entertainment, The National Philanthropic Trust, the Monat Gratitude Grant and others.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
In the 10 years since RuckusRoots has been active in the local community, our assessments have shown consistent growth and steady results across the board - from our program impact to our community change-making efficacy.
Currently, we offer 4 youth programs:
Environmental Charter High School (Gardena, CA): Our "Atabey Apprenticeship"
program offers high school students a chance to enter the world of large-scale
public artmaking by assisting artist NiNo Alicea this summer as he and his team
build sustainable art piece ATABEY for display at arts festival, Burning Man. Nino
will then offer an in-school Wild Art program this fall with students to design
site-specific wildlife-inspired artworks for a living stream on-campus. (Summer
2023, Fall 2023)
Glenfeliz Elementary (Atwater Village, Los Angeles): RuckusRoots is currently
providing a Wild Art program based on campus needs, with a focus on creating a
mural utilizing plastic waste collected from within the community. Students are
learn visual arts skills including creative reuse, painting, visual design and color
theory in combination with lessons on local wildlife conservation. Their final project
is an animal-themed painting created on canvas made from fused plastic bags to
display on campus. (Spring 2023)
Chuco's Justice Center/Youth Justice Coalition: The Rebel Garden Project Internship
for systems-impacted youth is focused on food justice, creative entrepreneurship
and skill-building (Spring 2022 & Spring 2023). We are about to graduate our second
group of teen interns from the program, who have spent a successful semester
learning to grow food in an urban garden, as well as conceptualize, design and
brand all creative materials for launching their first enterprise as certified vendors
at a local farmers market.
Eucalyptus Elementary (Hawthorne, CA): Our water-wise art and learning space, The
Friendship Garden on campus at Eucalyptus Elementary School is currently in it's
final phase of development. (Spring 2023, Fall 2023)
Hungry Gardens Urban Farm: RuckusRoots provided its Garden Magic program for
the 2nd season in a row in Spring 2022. Free ecology and visual arts lessons were
offered to home-schooled youth in Sun Valley, CA and a 200-ft mural was painted
by the students featuring native plants and pollinators highlighted in their hands-on
ecology lessons. (Spring/Summer 2022)
Pop-Up TRASHformation and creative reuse workshops w/ collaborating host site
such as FEAST L.A, Gardena Willows, Hungry Gardens and others.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We share the feedback we received with the people we serve, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback, We ask the people who gave us feedback how well they think we responded
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, The people we serve tell us they find data collection burdensome, It is difficult to get honest feedback from the people we serve
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
RUCKUSROOTS INC
Board of directorsas of 09/07/2023
she/her Stephanie Spehar
University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh
Term: 2011 - 2024
Tommi Iten
Danielle Marquez
Scott Froschauer
NiNo Alicea
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? No -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? No -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 09/07/2023GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.