RISE UP

RISE UP, Resources and Investments for Student Entrepreneurs Urban Places, is a 501(c)3 pending non-profit that seeks to foster a community of young entrepreneurs in underserved communities. RISE UP enables these communities to directly address these needs and enable "studentpreneurs” to change the face of their communities by testing their ideas in the marketplace through an online Entrepreneurship Resource Center and an Entrepreneurship Certificate Program. Our goal is to enable youths from all backgrounds and income levels to have access to the tools needed to start a business today. This will enable RISE UP to achieve its vision of alleviating the countless obstacles faced by low income communities relating to education, crime, gang violence and community development in urban environments. RISE UP is fuelled by Ben, Umair and Muffadal's experiences with education inequality and mentorship. Ben spent a year working with City Year teaching in North Kenwood/Oakland Charter school and working with Woodlawn Children's Promise Community's Summer University at Emmet Till. Umair has been an active mentor with The Boys and Girls Clubs of Chicago for 2 years in Chicago. Muffadal spent a summer in Nairobi, Kenya teaching math and business in the Kibera slums. These three were exposed firsthand to inequality, societal strife, and neglected communities, but most importantly they learned about the resilience of these societies and their hunger for entrepreneurship.