WE CAN’T DO WHAT WE DO, WITHOUT YOU.
Safety net nonprofit organizations are lacking the social and emotional support they need to tackle issues of systemic racism in addition to a lack of support in incubating their leadership, creativity, scholarship, entrepreneurship, activism, and innovations.
Umi connects youth, their families, and community to the support, resources, and opportunities they need to advance their lives, and directly confronts forces of systemic oppression that bar them from full participation in the economic, cultural, and civic life of our world.
A 2020 report by the Bridgespan consultancy and Echoing Green, which provides support to leaders of emerging social enterprises, found nonprofits led by people of color are awarded less grant money than white-lead groups, and the money they do receive has more restrictions on its use.
Umi offers love, support, and space to be heard from everyone in our community, especially youth and their families. Umi harnesses the power of kinship-building to cultivate collective healing and develop trust so that everyone in our community, especially youth and their families, feel safe sharing their stories so that hope can be nurtured, belief can be cultivated, and dreams can be ignited.
Umi is committed to providing a safe, celebratory, and cathartic third space where youth, families, and the community can engage in holistic curiosity through our programs and services designed from an inclusive yet culturally competent lens and grounded in the timeless and fundamental pillars of love, family, and community.
Umi says “You are brilliant, brave, and meant to be here. You are wanted and deserving and rise on the shoulders of great people who have come before.