Budding Roses was founded as a project of Black Rose/Rosa Negra Anarchist Federation, inspired by global examples of mutual aid and popular education projects like the Paideia Free School in Spain and the Black Panther’s Free Breakfast Programs, and Paolo Friere’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed. We believe in empowerment through education, while also understanding that mainstream education often reproduces structural oppression and disempowers youth, particularly low income and youth of color. Youth are members of our communities and are directly impacted by social justice issues, yet their perspectives are discounted and they are not taken seriously as actors of social change. We organize camp as a democratic educational space, where campers identify topics they are interested in learning about, set community ground rules, use restorative justice to resolve conflicts, and lead their own workshops to teach their peers.

We believe that empowering youth to become critically engaged with social justice issues lays the groundwork for transformational social change tomorrow and today. We see returning campers taking on leadership roles at camp, getting involved in their communities, holding banners at marches, and initiating discussion about social issues with their parents. This shows the effectiveness of Budding Roses at activating young leaders to see themselves as agents of change with the power to work together to change the world.