Prevention work often gets overlooked in favor of crisis response, especially when it comes to protecting young people from trafficking and exploitation. That gap became the driving force behind Youth Rising-Up Initiative (YRUI), a Longmont-based non-profit built to reach kids before harm happens, not after.
Mitch Peritz, founder and Executive Director of YRUI, said the path to founding this non-profit grew out of years spent facilitating youth programs in New York City. That work shaped his approach to helping kids, rooted in restorative justice. Through that work, he kept encountering the same gap: trafficking prevention was underfunded and underdeveloped, particularly for youth already carrying generational trauma. He brought a concept to the Laboratory to Combat Human Trafficking in Denver for an experiential, creative arts-based prevention program, something therapeutic but not therapy. The organization championed the idea, and its support helped shape what eventually became Youth Rising-Up Initiative.
One of the core programs offered is the Say Y.E.S. (Youth Empowerment Strategies) program, an 11-session curriculum delivered directly to youth ages 10 to 18. Using storytelling, writing, drawing, improvisation, theater games and movement, the trauma-informed sessions teach kids to recognize manipulation and grooming tactics, understand healthy versus exploitative relationships, and build self-worth and decision-making skills. YRUI also runs Lunch & Learn presentations for parents, educators, and community and business leaders, giving adults practical strategies for recognizing warning signs and starting hard conversations with the kids in their lives.
Even at a glance, the organization’s name carries it’s message. “Rising-Up” reflects what Peritz believes already exists inside every young person: the capacity to rise above circumstance and social conditioning. “Initiative,” rooted in Latin for “to step forward into,” reinforces that same forward motion. “We believe young people have their own innate capacity to get up, stand up and rise up, not because someone rescued them, but because they activated something in themselves,” Peritz said.
Chamber membership has opened doors Peritz didn’t expect, including a Lunch & Learn presentation for the Longmont Optimist Club and early conversations with St. Vrain Valley charter schools. “What’s struck me most is their willingness to not only learn more about it, but to actually get involved in protecting their kids and their community from it,” he said. “It’s opened their eyes to the reality of trafficking hiding in plain sight in our own community.”
In just one year, YRUI has grown from concept to a fully operating 501(c)(3), now teaching Say Y.E.S. in schools and at a homeless youth shelter while building partnerships with charter schools and community organizations. Peritz runs the organization as a solo founder and executive director, supported by a four-member board and volunteer Alexia Fitzpatrick, with more volunteers coming on board soon.
This summer, YRUI hosted a booth at Unity in the Community and delivered Lunch & Learn sessions to Rotary clubs in Broomfield and Niwot. A ribbon cutting is being held TODAY, Thursday, Sept 10 at 4pm at the Longmont Chamber building. Come celebrate with us!
For Peritz, it comes down to one belief: the right adult, paying attention at the right moment, can change everything. That is the mission behind Youth Rising-Up Initiative, one conversation at a time.
Story by Kat Sabol
If you are a school, faith institution or community-based organization interested in bringing the Say Y.E.S. curriculum to the young people you serve, or a business or civic group interested in hosting a Lunch & Learn, reach out to Youth Rising-Up Initiative at. You do not need to have all the answers about trafficking to get involved, you just have to be willing to start the conversation.
