Upward Roots was founded to  empower youth to be leaders and changemakers through youth-led, youth-driven community service.

In 2010, Upward Roots was founded to address the service opportunity gap, launching its first pilot program in the spring of 2011 at Esperanza Academy in East Oakland with 28 boys and girls.

Since then, Upward Roots has enrolled over 2,000 students attending 20 Oakland Title I elementary schools and has supported over 160 youth-led service projects directly benefiting their schools and communities. Participants have focused on areas such as homelessness, environment, health, and violence in their communities.

We would not be the organization that we are without our incredible team! 

We like to think of our staff, many of them volunteers, as a group of rock stars. They are our front line, our very own set of changemakers. From the exceptional work in the office to the change we see happening every day at our program sites, we couldn’t be more proud of our Upward Roots team!

our team

our board of directors & directors emeritus