Meet Us

With a background in social services, I realized that too many teens grow up without someone in their life to make them feel special, to give them a family, or to be there for them. As a caseworker, too many teen girls would say to me that they were going to get pregnant so that they had someone to love them. I watched too many teens ‘age-out’ of the system without a support system. I witnessed child after child fall through the cracks and not have the tools needed to survive on their own, regardless of how hard I tried to help.

So, after years of saying we were going to adopt one day, our family became a foster to adopt home.  We adopted a sibling set of three from foster care, but that wasn’t enough; we knew we could still do more, our calling to help all teens have the same opportunities as our own kids, continued. 

So, we created RiseUP Cooperative, a non-profit charitable organization, that supports teens and at-risk youth, by filling in service gaps. We equip today’s teens to have better tomorrows with life and leadership workshops. 

We know we cannot parent more children.

We know that we cannot help every teen.

We know that we need help with this mission. 

We know that if we can help start a ripple effect, it can change generations of families.

We know that we can help those we do touch, succeed.

We know we can provide tools to create a better tomorrow for all. 

We know teens will RiseUP for a better tomorrow! Being Responsible Independent Strong Empowered Upstanding Productive in society!

-Joe and Sandy Pricer | Founders RiseUP Cooperative