About U & I Rise
U & I Rise
U&I-RISE is an education and training company that uses African-Centered Philosophy to solve American problems. We use basic relationship fundamentals to connect people in ways that improve production and culture at school, at work and in the community.
U&I-RISE is a Limited-Liability Corporation whose purpose is to foster individual, family and community empowerment. U&I-RISE is an acronym that stands for Unapparencies and Intra-Racial Insight/Sensitivity Education. Many people have heard of, and even participated in, inter-racial sensitivity training, which seeks to increase respect between races and cultures. U&I-RISE is INTRA-racial sensitivity, which seeks to increase respect among Black / African-American people for Black / African-American people by making us more aware of the conditioned prejudices we have toward – and more sensitive to and embracing of – ourselves. In layman’s terms, this is known as self-love and self-respect, which is the foundation of empowerment.
U&I-RISE’s foundational course, that bears the same name, helps organizations made up of, and employers of, and/or serves majority Black / African-American people to accomplish and exceed organizational goals by uncovering hidden generational obstacles that make it difficult for us to work for and/or cooperate with one another.
Tapping Our Parental Power (TOPP), another U&I-RISE foundational course, focuses on parenting, mainly of pre-K thru 8th grade children. TOPP workshop participants complete exercises and discuss specific topics in order to create parenting plans tailored to the unique needs of their household in the company, and with the support of, other parents who are doing the same thing for their families. The TOPP curriculum, simply put, sets a day, time and place for parents to gather in order to approach parenting in a more thoughtful and effective manner.
TOPP began with the writing and self-publishing of “Tapping Our Parental Power (In a Nutshell),” a quick, easy-read that details the one thing parents can do to dramatically increase parental effectiveness, improve their parent-child relationship and create a solid foundation for their child(ren)’s academic success. The workshop curriculum was written from the questions that were asked during book readings, so was created organically by a parent with the help of other parents.
TOPP workshops have been facilitated for parents at Walnut Grove Elementary, Airport Elementary, Central Elementary, Cool Valley Elementary, Cross Keys Elementary, Ferguson Middle, McCluer High – all part of Ferguson-Florissant School District; the 3 elementary Confluence Academy charter schools; and St. Louis Public Schools’ Froebel Elementary and Bertha Knox Gilkey Pamoja Preparatory Academy @ Cole. TOPP exercises are part of Bertha Knox Gilkey Pamoja Preparatory Academy Cole’s New Parent Orientation; the completion of which is a requirement for any new parent enrolling their child at that school.
Bolanle Ambonisye (Bo Lahn Lay Ahm Bo Nees Yay) is the CEO, Lead Facilitator of U&I-RISE workshops. Bolanle created the curriculum based on over 10 years as an African-Centered Educator and over 30 years of parenting.
Bolanle is a parent of 4. She also enjoys African dance, which she also teaches.