Give Boldly: Missions of the For Our Youth Program

The BLK & Bold 5% For Our Youth program supports 13 non-profit organizations with missions that focus on uplifting traditionally underserved youth. The organizations range from general youth support to more focused niches like the arts, tech, conservation and food equity.

Pledging a portion of our revenue to these organizations is important to us because we believe that giving should be part of our business’ DNA. When BLK & Bold was founded, we knew that we wanted to make domestic social impact accessible for both our consumers and our partners. We do this by contributing to initiatives relevant to our (and our partner’s) consumers through the For Our Youth program.

This year, the best way we know how to celebrate the return to gathering for the holidays is to Give Boldly. Not only is the NBA still matching donations on our NBA-licensed brew, The Warm Up, but we’ve added a new giving feature to the BLK & Bold website. With this feature, all of our customers can choose an additional percentage to pledge to organizations. 

Since adding this feature, we thought it would be helpful to introduce all of the organizations to you by sharing their missions and a few details about their programs. The organizations we support are located across the nation, giving us the opportunity to broaden our impact. We encourage you to take a moment to read through the organizations’ full mission statements to get familiar with where your dollars are going.

Join us in supporting the For Our Youth Organizations by shopping BLK & Bold this holiday season.

For Our Youth Organizations

Cloud 9 Community Farm FKA Urbanstead in Philadelphia, PA

“Cloud 9 fosters community and environmental stewardship through community-led farming, training, and educational programming. Cloud 9 leverages rooftop and urban space to improve stormwater management, fresh food access, and community cohesion.

Cloud 9 partners with organizations and buildings to design, build, and support the growth of community-led gardens and farms in Philadelphia. Cloud 9 offers community-led design facilitation, project management, trainings, and community programs.” LEARN MORE

Acta Non Verba in Oakland, CA

“Acta Non Verba: Youth Urban Farm Project (ANV) elevates life in Oakland and beyond by challenging oppressive dynamics and environments through urban farming. Founded and led mainly by women of color from the surrounding neighborhood and larger community, ANV creates a safe and creative outdoor space for children, youth, and families in East Oakland, CA. ANV engages and strengthens young people’s understanding of nutrition, food production, and healthy living as well as strengthens their ties to the community.” LEARN MORE

City Growers in New York, NY

“City Growers is a 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit organization based in New York City. Rooted in experiential learning theory, our programs use urban agriculture to close fundamental gaps in the experiences of city kids: exploration of the natural world and understanding of where our food comes from.

From field trips to after school, City Growers’ programs engage thousands of kids in farm-based learning each year through our hands-on farm workshops at Brooklyn Grange rooftop farms, summer camps, school garden residencies, after school programs, summer internships, and ecology workshops. Our annual City Growers Education Conference brings garden- and farm-based educators together to share best practices in the field. City Growers is committed to providing and expanding access to experiential environmental and food education to kids in New York City and beyond.

City Growers harnesses the wonders of nature to teach kids where their food comes from, why it matters, and how they can change the world.” LEARN MORE

No Kid Hungry in Washington, D.C.

“No Kid Hungry is a national campaign run by Share Our Strength, a nonprofit working to solve problems of hunger and poverty in the United States and around the world. After 25 years of successfully investing in local nonprofits and helping find the best approaches to eradicating poverty and hunger, Share Our Strength launched No Kid Hungry in 2010.

As a child hunger organization, ending childhood hunger is our primary focus, though Share Our Strength continues to invest in and develop other campaigns.

In our work, the team at Share Our Strength believes in some specific values. We strive to be bold; we have a clear mission and ambitious goals. We believe everyone has a strength to share and we try to mobilize people. We demand a diversity of ideas, people and communities, which leads to stronger solutions. We believe in always being inventive - trying new things and challenging the status quo. Last but not least, we value doing good work and have a good time while we’re at it.” LEARN MORE

Urban Growers Collective in Chicago, IL

“Rooted in growing food, we cultivate nourishing environments which promote health, economic development, healing, & creativity through urban agriculture.

Urban Growers Collective is a Black- and women-led non-profit farm in Chicago, Illinois working to build a more just and equitable local food system. We aim to address the inequities and structural racism that exist in the food system and in communities of color. Rooted in growing food, our mission is to cultivate nourishing environments which support health, economic development, healing, and creativity through urban agriculture.

We provide hands-on job training and create economic opportunities for youth, beginner BIPOC farmers, and men who are at high risk for gun violence. Our aim is to provide jobs while working to mitigate food insecurity and limited access to affordable, culturally-affirming, and nutritionally-dense food.

Our team cultivates eight urban farms on 11 acres of land, predominantly located on Chicago’s South Side. These farms are production-oriented but also offer opportunities for staff-led education, training, and leadership development. Our produce is available at farmers’ markets, in our Collective Supported Agriculture program, and at the Fresh Moves Mobile Market.” LEARN MORE

Code Fever Miami in Miami, FL

“Code Fever Miami works on ridding our communities of innovation deserts to increase the innovation potential of black students, startups, and communities.” LEARN MORE

Comp-U-Dopt in Houston, TX

“Comp-U-Dopt programs serve to eliminate limited access to computers, facilitate growth in technical and digital literacy skills and support the future of youth and their communities.”
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Greening Youth Foundation in Atlanta, GA

“The Greening Youth Foundation’s (GYF) mission is to engage under-represented youth and young adults, while connecting them to the outdoors and careers in conservation. GYF’s cultural based environmental education programming engages children from local communities and exposes them to healthy lifestyle choices in order to create an overall healthy community. GYF believes that youth and young adults from diverse backgrounds can greatly benefit from the career opportunities presented within the state and federal land management sectors. 

Accordingly, GYF continues to develop and strengthen partnerships with land management agencies to provide service and internship opportunities for youth and young adults thereby creating pathways to conservation careers.”
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LA Conservation Corps in Los Angeles, CA

"LA Conservation Corps programs offer opportunity youth paid work experience on a variety of conservation projects as well as the chance to build valuable life skills and personal resilience in a supportive environment. Some of those projects include:

• building parks and community gardens,
• planting trees,
• refurbishing hiking trails,
• removing graffiti, and
• cleaning alleyways.

Corpsmembers can earn a high school diploma through our affiliated charter school and the support services and case management they need to remove their barriers to success. Our goal is to give under-served young adults the chance for a meaningful, living-wage job with a career pathway or college or vocational school experience with future prospects for employment.

is to provide at-risk young adults and school-aged youth with opportunities for success through job skills training, education and work experience with an emphasis on conservation and service projects that benefit the community."
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Juxtaposition in Minneapolis, MN

“Juxtaposition Arts is a teen-staffed art and design center, gallery, retail shop, and artists’ studio space in North Minneapolis.

Juxtaposition Arts develops community by engaging and employing young urban artists in hands-on education initiatives that create pathways to self-sufficiency while actualizing creative power.” LEARN MORE

Youth Guidance in Chicago, IL

“Youth Guidance creates and implements school-based programs that enable children to overcome obstacles, focus on their education and, ultimately, to succeed in school and in life.

Youth Guidance sees a bright and successful future for every elementary and high school student.  Because we believe that success in school is not only possible but should be achieved and celebrated, we are present in the schools to facilitate an environment that truly engages students in the learning process, and through careful guidance, enables them to realize their full potential and graduate with a meaningful plan for successfully managing life.” LEARN MORE

Sunset Youth Services in San Francisco, CA

“The mission of Sunset Youth Services is to foster long-term stability and growth in in-risk* youth, young adults, and families through caring relationships and supportive services. This goal is based on the simple belief that youth are inherently worthy of dignity and respect and have the potential to positively contribute to their communities when their real needs are met.

Our trauma-informed approach to youth development helps us to recognize and effectively respond to the many Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) that mark our young people's lives.  

Our dynamic youth programs offer practical pathways to the life skills and healthy relationships young people need to thrive at home, school, and work.”
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By Degrees Foundation in Des Moines, IA

“By Degrees partners with whole schools to increase high school graduation and postsecondary readiness rates on Des Moines' northside. Our work begins in kindergarten and follows students through high school graduation, ensuring they’re immersed in an expansive culture of postsecondary education, career exploration and future-focused planning throughout their K-12 experience.

We build intentional partnerships with our schools, community organizations, businesses and postsecondary institutions to uplift students, families and whole neighborhoods.” LEARN MORE