Client Feature: Confluence Rising (formerly the California Conference for Equality and Justice)

We are proud to highlight one of our valued clients, Confluence Rising — an organization dedicated to fostering equity, understanding, and meaningful connection across communities. Through transformative education, youth leadership programs, and conflict resolution work, Confluence Rising empowers individuals to lead change and build more inclusive environments throughout Southern California.

We connected with their team to learn more about their history, mission, and the lasting impact of their programs on the communities they serve.

Tell us about Confluence Rising.

Confluence Rising (formerly the California Conference for Equality and Justice or CCEJ) has been active since the 1950’s.  We used to be made up of individual Southern California chapters of the National Conference of Christians and Jews (later known as the National Conference for Community and Justice), and in 2005 formed one independent organization.  NCCJ started because community leaders saw a need to bring people of all backgrounds together to build connections and understanding across differences, in order to promote equity and inclusion in the United States – and we carry on that work today.  Each year, we serve more than 4,000 youth and adults in our transformative education, training, and conflict resolution programs.

What is your primary goal? 

Our goal is to bring together youth and adults from different backgrounds, racial identities, gender identities and other diversities to increase understanding, acceptance and inclusion.

What is your mission statement?  

Confluence Rising’s mission is to educate and empower youth and adults to lead change for equity and justice in our communities.

Describe your vision and core values.

Our vision is of a world where people live free of oppression and thrive.  We know it’s possible to create this world through the values of relationships, care, curiosity, accountability, imagination, and interdependence.

What communities do you serve?

We are based in Long Beach and serve all of Southern California with a staff of 16 and more than 60 volunteers.  Our youth leadership programs serve nearly 1,000 youth annually and our adult training and coaching programs serve 3,000 people.

How are volunteers a part of your organization? How can people get involved?

We train adult volunteers to work with our youth programs (Camp & Conscious Classrooms) and we also welcome volunteers to provide support for our fundraising and development activities. We also have more than 30 community leaders volunteering their time to serve on our Board of Directors and Advisory Committee.  People can visit our website to learn more about opportunities (https://www.confluencerising.org/volunteer) or email info@confluencerising.org for more information.

How has your organization grown?

Out of the many programs that we’ve offered to the community, two stand out as having lifelong impact:

• Since the 1980’s, more than 23,000 students in middle and high school have participated in our Camps (known variously as Anytown, Brotherhood Sisterhood Camp, or Building Bridges Camp). Our alumni always tell us that it’s transformed their lives.  As Lecia Brooks, our keynote speaker at this year’s Roots of Justice Convening, shared: “Who knew? Planning and facilitating a week-long camp and all of that will prepare you for life, right? But it really has. I am who I am because of it. I’m able to feel like I belong because I belonged at Camp.  We had such courage, but we didn’t even call it courage – it was before we had conversations about courage, connection, belonging. I advocate for different groups and people and value identity so much because of Camp.”

• Confluence Rising was one of the first to promote the use of Restorative Justice practices in LA County to reduce the number of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) students who are referred for suspension and/or expulsion, and one of the first to provide Restorative Justice processes as an alternative to incarceration for youth ages 13-17. Since 2012 our program has kept more than 1,000 youth out of the juvenile justice system, keeping them connected to their family and community and setting the up for future success. As our youth graduates share, “I got a second chance and also learned about the harm that I was doing to others. Confluence Rising’s diversion program gave me the opportunity to better my life over a mistake that has happened and I am thankful for everything.”

What do your donor dollars allow you to do?

Our annual budget is approximately $2 million – we receive about 60% from government and foundation grants, 25% from fees for services we provide to nonprofits, schools and businesses, and the remaining 15% (about $300,000) from individual donors, special events and corporate donors.  Donations from individuals are critical to ensuring that we have are able to pay for the full costs of providing services to the community.  Many grants have restrictions – we can’t pay for food with some, and others won’t pay for our administrative costs – so donor dollars allow us to make sure that our staff and rent gets paid, our program participants get food & supplies, and that we can spend time on strategic planning and visioning for the future.

What makes your organization unique?

Confluence Rising’s services are sought after by everyone in our communities who want to transform their schools, organizations and businesses to increase equity and inclusion, address conflict and build stronger relationships.  We bring people of all races, ethnicities, ages, genders, sexual orientations together to build bridges of understanding across differences. We stand strong in our values and unapologetically support diversity, equity, inclusion and justice.

What are the biggest challenges your organization faces? 

More than 1,300 hate crimes were reported last year in LA County targeting Black people, Asian people, immigrants, LGBTQ+ people and Jewish people.  National attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion programs, immigrants, Black people, LGBTQIA+ people, and other marginalized communities multiply through our airwaves and social media feeds. Confluence Rising’s work to bring together youth and adults from different backgrounds, racial identities, gender identities and other diversities and build understanding, acceptance and inclusion has never been more important.

How has Evergreen Alliance impacted the work you do? 

We’ve been working with Evergreen Alliance since 2021 on our annual audit, which helps us present our financial position clearly and transparently to our Board, staff, donors and funders.  Not only that, the Evergreen Alliance team also provides expert financial advice that takes into account our mission, values, and organizational structure.  We are fortunate to be able to work with such caring people!