Our purpose is to build collective power for young people tocreate the safer, happier, healthier world we want to live in.
Get Involved
Whether you are a high school student interested in joining the Civic Service Fellowship or a young adult applying to be a Community Organizer, we'd love to have you with us!
JOIN RHIZOME
Sign up today to become a Civic Service Fellow with Rhizome!
Message From Our Co-CEOs
"We know there are students in each high school who care about social change and want to make the world a better place. We also know that whether you care about improving our schools, social isolation, climate and environment, economic structures, mental health, or any other big issue of inequality or human rights, it can be hard to know how to get started. We exist to empower you."
Rhizome is here for you to learn how to create change around the issues you care about and to help you become the kind of person you want to be in the process. Our purpose is to build collective power for young people to create the safer, happier, healthier world we want to live in. We provide the community, professional support, and training to serve alongside other youth changemakers who care about justice. We hope you'll consider joining the Civic Service Fellowship this year, and we look forward to supporting you on your leadership journey!
In Community,
K. Jones & Jacob
Rhizome's Co-CEOs
Community Agreements
Respect Time, Boundaries, & Perspectives
Respect for others' time, opinions, perspectives, boundaries, and experiences.
Open Communication
Transparency, honesty, setting boundaries, respecting boundaries, and fostering a safe space for open dialogue.
Inclusivity & Respect for Diversity
Remember that we all come from different backgrounds, cultures, and experiences. Encourage each other to practice cultural humility over cultural competency.
Honesty & Intention
Be honest, don't agree for the sake of harmony. Commit to saying what needs to be said but be intentional with your words. Speak truth to power, speak truth to each other.
Curiosity Over Judgement
Willingness to consider different viewpoints and perspectives; offer others grace.
Active Listening
Being present, paying attention, camera on, and focusing on understanding others instead of simply responding to others.
Be Accountable to Each Other
Take responsibility for your actions and commitments.
Focus on the Long-Term Vision
Remember why you're here, why you chose to join Rhizome, and what calls you to this work.
Co-create the Space
Actively create a supportive and caring environment where everyone can do their best work.
Prioritize the Person
Take care of your mental + physical health. Take care of others by protecting others' privacy and stepping up, stepping back, and stepping out, as needed.
Values And Norms
"Freedom and love go together. Love is not a reaction. If I love you because you love me, that is mere trade, a thing to be bought in the market; it is not love. To love is not to ask anything in return, not even to feel you are giving something - and it is only such love that can know freedom." - Jiddu Krishnamurti
Culture is self-replicating, so we wanted to establish a healthy culture from the very beginning. We co-created a set of values and norms to tie the threads of our work together. These values were drafted by all 90 Co-Founders, and they show how we want to move.
Go overboard with credit and praise where it's due.
We like to say, normalize "mom energy." Let people know you see their work during meetings, check-ins, and throughout the week.
Commit to your own happiness and well being.
Take care of yourself — drink water, get sleep, set boundaries, dance, finish writing that paper, hang with your friends.
Center the people in your work, not the numbers.
Listen to people's experiences and perspectives and lead with empathy so we can connect with one another and ourselves.
Strive to build a space to learn and grow.
Admit when you don't understand and ask for help. Someone is always around to support you.
Believe that this thing we've built can work.
Be the best version of yourself and believe you can shape the future in fundamental ways — for the next generation and the one after that.
Learn from your mistakes, your wins, and your in between.
Our best work comes with community. Share your journey so the team can learn with you.
Our Board
Aditi Juneja
Board Member
Kenny Diggs
Board Member
Sarah Lippek
Board Member
Netra Parikh
Board Member
Emma Shockley
Board Member
Staff
Jacob Merkle
Co-CEO
k.jones
Co-CEO
Erin Barry
Director of Partnerships and Systems Design
Olivia Barry
Director of Operations & Data Strategy
Jasmine Mayor
Communications & Student Stories Associate
Jasmine Whaley
Director of Training & Belonging
Where Do We Go From Here?
Some things are easier done than said.
In an era when mental health has been declining for two decades, the root causes of the crisis run deeper than politics. Politics is an outgrowth of culture, just the tip of the iceberg. Any long-term solution for national well-being must start at the level of culture: who we are, how we spend our time, and how we treat each other.
We believe the only way for our country to heal — for us to create a safer, happier, and healthier society — is with time. Young people must come together to build systems that fit the needs of modern people, modern conditions, modern tensions. Our faith in meliorism is why we build civic power for young people to create the world they want to live in.
This is why we have worked so carefully to create a student-led, self-organizing system. It's why we are nonpartisan, with loyalty to people over party. And it is why we are deeply focused on the work ahead: waiting to be done, to be thought, to be felt.