In November, BRL’s Executive Director, Tomas Alvarez III traveled to Edmonton, Canada to participate in the first annual Hip Hop Kulture Symposium hosted by MacEwan University. The symposium brought together Hip Hop community members, advocates, educators, scholars and policy makers to explore a vision for how Hip Hop can be used strategically and purposefully to promote health equity and community development.
Tomas was joined by Hodari Davis another prominent Oakland resident and the National Director of Youth Speaks, Inc. Tomas and Hodari proudly represented their innovative approaches to youth development and encouraged local groups to develop their own community defined strategies for fostering well-being.