Get Involved

Given our national political context, as well as the crises facing our planet and our economy, young people need to be front and center of any movement in forging our path forward for future generations. Students and young people are already taking leadership across the country, and San Francisco Rising is part of this movement. We cultivate the leadership of young people of color, in particular, to organize, shape, and determine California’s future.

We began organizing with students at San Francisco State University, City College of San Francisco and the University of San Francisco, in the fall of 2017. Together, we are developing a school-to-organizing pathway of students equipped with strategic, culturally-relevant organizing skills to actively support a political agenda of working-class communities of color. Our organizing alongside students helped establish the Students Rising: Resistance Class, a space led by students, for students to discuss and train on combating authoritarianism. If you’d like to join your campus’s Resistance Class, you can sign up here bit.ly/ResistanceClass

Every summer, we develop the next generation of leaders by hosting an organizing fellowship. This fellowship is a space for students to learn hands-on skills to sharpen their leadership abilities and step into organizing as a career path. Our fellowship is rooted in 5 main pillars, including: Skills Building, Movement History, Field Training, Healing Justice, and a Junta Grande (Big Meeting) as the Final Project. Students can expect to work with us part-time for 20 hours a week, usually for 5-7 weeks, while they engage in these workshops and training spaces. Since 2017, we’ve successfully trained over 100 students through our fellowship. Including students from SFSU, CCSF, USF, Skyline College, Chabot College, Merritt College, University of California Berkeley, Stanford, San Jose State, and Cal State East Bay.

In 2025, we set out to conduct a survey to understand what issues young people are facing in this current moment, our students surveyed over 600 students across Bay Area College campuses. By speaking to students directly, we learned about the impacts of authoritarianism on them as students and young people. Students are not only juggling managing their education but also the rising costs of tuition, rent, and groceries. Read more here.

Students Rising is committed to fighting for the needs of our next generation and creating space for working-class, queer, Black, Indigenous, and other students of color to lead and build community with other college students from across the Bay Area.

This form is for individuals. If you represent an organization that would like to join San Francisco Rising as an affiliate please contact information@sanfranciscorising.org.

Fighting for a People's Budget in San Francisco

Last year, SF Rising was proud to help convene a People’s Budget Coalition to fight for the resources our communities need to thrive. Although we experienced great loss, we won back $30 million of the proposed $120 million cut. 2025’s budget cycle may be even harder as our city faces a nearly $900 million budget deficit. We are ready to continue the fight for funding for programs that help lift up our communities. Sign up to volunteer with us to help us win a People’s Budget.

Protect our Status as a Sanctuary City

We know that under a Trump administration, our immigrant and undocumented community will be under attack. As these threats arise, we want to build cross-solidarity between immigrants and undocumented people by mobilizing impacted people and allies. We are following the lead from Bay Resistance, who is leading the fight to protect our communities against these threats. Sign up for our updates to stay in the loop about upcoming actions and mobilizations.

Organizing Students to Rise against Authoritarianism

Given our national political context, as well as the crises facing our planet and our economy, young people need to be front and center of any movement in forging our path forward for future generations. Students and young people are already taking leadership across the country, and San Francisco Rising is part of this movement. We cultivate the leadership of young people of color, in particular, to organize, shape, and determine California’s future.