Launching Rise & Shine to Invest in Parent Leadership: In 2019 and 2020, Rise ran its first two sessions of our 18-week, parent-led leadership program to prepare 10 parents each year to lead at Rise and in aligned community justice movements. Rise & Shine supports healing and community and builds knowledge, writing, public speaking and community organizing skills.

• Current Rise & Shine Coordinator Teresa Bachiller, the former assistant director of CWOP, joined the staff.
• Watch our 2019 video and 2020 graduation video and read our 2019 and 2020 Program Report to learn more.

Addressing the Harm of Surveillance: In a 2019 series, Rise parents documented how unnecessary investigations and monitoring of families traumatize parents and children and draw resources away from the real help parents need.

• City Council funded NYC’s family defender agencies to offer legal counsel during investigations and introduced a slate of bills to better protect parents rights in an investigation, such as a Miranda-type warning. Rise parents testified about the need for early representation and for parents to be informed of their rights.
• Rise created FacebookLive Know Your Rights videos with Bronx Defenders, Brooklyn Defenders and Center for Family Representation.
• In 2020, New York State passed a law to raise the standard of evidence to find parents guilty of neglect and limited the time parents are listed on the state central registry. Through PLAN (Parent Legislative Action Network), Rise parents spoke to legislators, wrote op-eds and shared their experiences with media to advocate for the bill.