The Heart of Our Organization
Club Stride, Inc. was founded as a grassroots initiative in 1997. The organization is a 501 (c)(3) public benefit corporation formed in the State of California in 2012 for the principal purpose of training and empowering young leaders.
Today, Club Stride provides high-quality experiential civic education to close civic participation gaps that contribute to unhealthy communities, and increase the proportion of children and adolescents who use civic knowledge, skills and action to make a positive difference in the public life of the communities where they live.
FOUNDING TEAM
ADVANCING EQUITY
Our youth exist in an era of increased access to information and technology, the growth and reach of politically engineered fake news, alongside political agendas that lead to racial injustice. Voter suppression, the intersecting legacies of mass incarceration and educational disparity, and the impact of state sponsored violence continue to shape the destinies of youth of color. Club Stride is committed to the empowerment of youth to repair past damage and shape new destinies for future generations. We do this through storytelling alongside civic engagement. Authentic storytelling has been a tool that has the power to interrupt the engineering of racial and ethnic despair. Narratives of hope and injustice have a history of speaking truth to power. These narratives also inspire civic engagement to build opportunity in places where resources and people have disproportionately been taken away. The prison industrial complex, educational disparity, and police violence have targeted the communities that our youth are a part of. This selective targeting has impacted family, community, and the opportunity structure that our youth have access to. We provide youth with media tools and training in civic engagement that drives equity centered action. The history of our country hinges on youth taking a stand against injustice. Our goal is to continue this legacy by providing the education and tools to empower tomorrow’s leaders today.
We wholeheartedly believe in the incredible potential of our youth. They are the key to building a prosperous and equitable community, and we're here to support them every step of the way. That's why we strategically invest in them, empowering them with specialized training and opportunities for career development.