Jason Rivers
Co-founder and Director, Jason served the Pittsburgh Public Schools community for over 20 years. Including, his time in the Office of Equity where he took an unapologetic stance to interrupt systemic racism and the barriers it creates for all students, especially students of color.
His areas of interest include race in athletics, the impact of trauma on communities of color, racial equity coaching, positive racial identity development, and restorative justice. Jason also serves as a Racial Equity Consultant, and is known for his strength and passion as a facilitator of equity focused professional learning having led sessions on local and national levels.
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Starting in 2013, Jason lead the Pittsburgh School District’s We Promise program as a Project Manager in the Office of Equity. We Promise mentors Black male high school students to increase GPAs and attendance rates necessary to meet Pittsburgh Promise scholarship eligibility requirements. He work with school leadership to mentor, plan quarterly summit workshops for students, and build relationships with all young men in the program. In October of 2015 Jason was presented with the Jeron X. Grayson Community MVP Award. 1Nation, a local mentoring program, recognized Rivers for his dedication to the community and in the lives of youth across the city.
Jason now looks to create social change in cities across the country directing TandemEd’s,” Own Your Story” initiative. OYS is a campaign aimed at producing asset-based content of Black communities using the same marketing tools often used to depict false and divisive narratives about communities of color.
Nationally, Jason is a certified court appointed Defense Victim Outreach specialist for surviving family members of victims of violent crime to assist in the navigation of the criminal justice system, offering a bridge between them and defense teams.
He is a founding member of AR3, a summer basketball league that evolved into a restorative justice movement in the city of Pittsburgh earning the tag line its “Bigger than Basketball”. The league grew out of Jason's decision to channel his personal pain from the loss of his and Vaughn's brother to gun violence into efforts to uplift and heal his community.