In July 2024, RISE UP — Center for Family Life’s Family Enrichment Center — was launched with funding from the Administration for Children’s Services.
As the only Family Enrichment Center in Sunset Park, RISE UP offers a welcoming, safe space where community members can connect, access resources, support one another, and collaborate to build a stronger, more united community.
For this edition of Stories from the Field, we’re celebrating some of RISE UP’s major accomplishments within their first year, including the completion of the Mural Art Co-design Project and the Weaving Connections exhibition that’s on display at Café Nube from now through August 15th!
RISE UP Mural Art Co-design Project
A guiding principle at RISE UP is to be led by community members who share a positive vision for the neighborhood. In fact, even the space of RISE UP itself was co-designed with community members who discussed everything from the color of the walls to the snacks regularly on hand.
Most recently, over the course of six co-design sessions, 17 community members of different ages, languages, and cultures came together to co-design a mural in RISE UP’s space. They thought through various creative prompts provided by RISE UP such as “If Sunset Park were a relic in a museum, what would it be?” and wrote postcards to their future selves.
By engaging in weekly exercises individually and then sharing their stories collectively, community members quickly realized how the most beloved aspects of Sunset Park vary across generations. Some honored long-lost storefronts, while others celebrated graffiti that is in the neighborhood today. Every cherished memory or location in Sunset Park, however, highlighted the intergenerational and multicultural vibrancy within our community.
Many thanks to RISE UP participants and staff, facilitating artist Yukiko Izumi, assisting artist Ji Yong Kim, and volunteers for all your hard work on the mural!
Weaving Connections Exhibit at Cafe Nube
From now through August 15th, we invite you to visit Weaving Connections, a RISE UP community weaving exhibition co-created by Sunset Park neighbors in collaboration with local art therapist Sara Rothstein and artist assistant Emily Walker.
The exhibition is on view at Café Nube (940 4th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11232), and we encourage you to look at this year-long project community members made together. Please also support Café Nube, a local and family-owned business, with a light bite or drink as well!
To stay up to date with RISE UP, please follow us on Instagram at @RISEUPSunsetPark!
