On Thursday, June 16, KYCC’s Prevention Education hosted the 6th Annual Rise Up Speak Out event. RUSO began in 2017 and has become an annual event that is hosted for the Los Angeles community.  

The purpose of the program is to promote health and resiliency by giving community members the opportunity to raise their voices by expressing themselves through many different forms of art including painting, drawing, photography, spoken word, dancing, and music, to bring awareness to societal and world concerns, peer and media pressures, oppression, violence, and substance use/abuse. There were 89 youth, staff, volunteers, and community members present at this year’s event. 

“This year, we welcomed artists of all ages, so we have children as young as 4 and up to 70 years. It was really spectacular to see members of the community come together and put their own twist to our theme of Reimagining the Future. RUSO wouldn’t have been possible without our artists who expressed themselves through painting, music, poetry, and film,” says Andrea Marquez, KYCC Prevention Specialist and RUSO Co-Lead. 

“It was amazing to see that the RUSO event became a family art expression event this year,” says Christine Nguyen, KYCC Prevention Specialist and RUSO co-lead. “RUSO has definitely evolved from being solely a youth art showcase event to an all-inclusive art showcase community event.” 

Thank you to program and event partners Coalition for Prevention and Awareness in Los Angeles Metro (CoPALM) Social Model Recovery System, Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, Behavioral Health Services, and Jewish Family Services of Los Angeles. 

Funding is provided by Los Angeles County Substance Abuse Prevention & Control. 

To learn more about the work of KYCC Prevention Education click here.