For our second impact story in the 2024 Holiday Year End giving series, we talked with Ari Lozano (she/they), one of the current Co-Executive Directors — Hana Kawai being the other — for AGE UP. This organization, which stands for All Girl Everything Ultimate Program, has been one of RVC’s Operation Support partners since we started the program in 2018. They were also a Fellowship host organization partner and hosted our very own Miko Pugal when he was a Community Impact Fellow 2017-2018!
In this interview, Ari shared some beautiful insights about AGE UP’s growth and trajectory as an organization, so settle in for this long-form story with a warm mug of tea.
(note: throughout this story, we use the alternating language of girl or gx, which is the shorthand for girl-identifying. AGE UP is part of the larger movement to be expansive and create safe spaces for genderqueer youth)
Roots in the Southend
AGE UP’s roots in the Southend community are visible in its organizational structure. When Ari began playing ultimate frisbee in 2007 at Asa Mercer Middle School on Beacon Hill, her then coach was Sam Terry, the current Deputy Director at AGE UP, and the current program manager, Anthony “Zig” Ziegler, was her teammate.
Of the current staff of ten, eight are alumni of the program and the other two were her coaches (fun fact, Hana, the other co-ED, was Ari’s high school coach!).
AGE UP occupies a unique position in the regional ultimate scene. The communities they serve are situated in Southeast Seattle, which is home to the highest proportions of low-income, foreign-born, and non-white residents in the metropolitan area. Currently, 90% of AGE UP’s leadership program participants are young people of color from South Seattle: predominantly second-generation youth from Filipino, Cambodian, Vietnamese, Chinese, Lao, Somali, and Eritrean communities.
Referencing her original middle school team from 2007, “We were a team from South Seattle that had a bunch of Black and brown kids on it, and we were competing against all of the other well-resourced middle school teams around Seattle — not just public schools, but private schools, too. Like, we obviously noticed that we were different.”
But unlike other sports with steeper entry costs, there are ways in which ultimate is a level playing field. It’s one of the reasons why its popularity has risen sharply, both with youth and adults. “It doesn’t require that much extra equipment: just space, a disc, and, like, running shoes.”
Ari’s team exemplified that. In their eighth-grade year, they won every tournament that the league provided. This crew — Ari’s first teammates and cohort of players in the Southend — realized that they had something really special in their community. Fortunately, a group of coaches also saw the potential in continuing to build the sport in their community. This eventually led to a partnership with the Jefferson Community Center, whose director at the time introduced them to grant funding that enabled them to launch a cohort-based learning for girl or gx athletes in partnership with the community center in 2010. In 2013, a boys’ program was started and quickly became a shared learning space — which is now AGE UP’s summer internship program.
(Above) 2024 Franklin High Gx seniors
Winter ’23/’24 Boys Program
(above) Winter 23’/24′ Cleveland High JV Championship
Spring 2024 Franklin senior night
Learning On and Off the Field
Ultimate is a unique sport in that it is self-officiated. “You’re supposed to make your own calls, and if your opponent disagrees with it, you’re supposed to have a conversation about it on the spot. If we can’t come to an agreement, there’s a neutral understanding of what is supposed to happen. I think that’s a pretty unique aspect of it that’s not in any other sports where there are refs, line judges…outside people that make the choice for you.” This is a clear way in which the sport’s inherent culture and structure are helpful for young people to learn how to navigate conflict. “That particular life skill is just so translatable off the field.”
Beyond the sport and the deep friendships the players build together, AGE UP’s shared learning is a thread that runs through all of their programming. For instance, the workshops from the most recent 2024 program featured environmental racism, implicit bias, toxic masculinity, gentrification, and racism. In the summer internship program, in-depth topics included: healthy relationships, mental health, self-identity, and environmental justice. From their most recent annual report: “Something we try to explore in our programs is our relationship to the land, colonization, immigration, and connection to local tribes. This year, we visited the Duwamish Longhouse as well as drove five hours to visit The Tamástslikt Cultural Institute in Pendleton, OR to learn more about the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla.”
AGE UP tackles Inequity and Disparity
Wealth gap
Despite the inherent opportunity for equity in the sport itself, like so many aspects of living in our region, structural challenges introduce inequity back into the sport.
“Since 2010, there’s always been this commitment to support the school-based teams because a lot of other schools have, like, boosters or fundraising, and money and resources attached to that.” Ari described how this would also be apparent during games when wealthier families could bring snacks to the sideline and be more available to drive their kids to various events, while Southend kids were taking multiple buses to games.
To address this discrepancy, AGE UP’s model includes paying coaches at the school-based teams, which currently includes Rainier Beach, Franklin, and Cleveland high schools; Mercer, Aki, and South Shore; and, even some of the teams at elementary schools that feed into those schools.
In addition to active coaching time, these coaches spend time in the buildings themselves – to be familiar faces at lunches and recess – by volunteering through the school. It’s the kind of decision that is only possible through AGE UP’s deep understanding of social relations within their community context.
Beyond high school, the class and resource differences get even more stark in higher-level ultimate. “It’s not particularly safe spaces for Black and brown athletes.” This inspired alumni athletes to create their own teams that compete at the club level, which AGE UP supports with player and tournament costs and fees. Because of the national “pay-to-play” model for adults, AGE UP’s support for these community-based teams makes a difference.
Gentrification
Another key challenge Ari named was very familiar: gentrification. “What does our community look like when many of the people in our community are forced out of South Seattle?” As their school programs have increasingly reflected the changing demographics of the schools themselves, AGE UP has intentionally focused on creating spaces and critically building programming that goes beyond geography to reflect the spirit and heart of the Southend community.
Gx engagement fall-off
“The pandemic itself just kind of wiped out a lot of our girl-specific engagement.” This has been apparent in other coalitions — and other sports — that AGE UP is in conversation with, as well. While boys re-engaged in school-based ultimate programs as the pandemic receded, girls and gx youth stayed home, involved in familial obligations such as child- or elder-care, or working. This exacerbates the challenge of accessible movement for girls.
“One of the things I’ve felt the most proud of in this past year is that we have re-hyped-up our girls lifting program. Girl athletes were getting injuries that are specific to their bodies. A lot of that is, like, lack of cross-training and not knowing enough about what your body needs.”
(below) Summer 2024 Gx Lifting Program
Coalition work
It’s these kinds of systemic challenges that make AGE UP’s connections to coalitions and other community-based organizations so critical. AGE UP is part of the Racial Equity Coalition, a group of BIPOC-led organizations in South King County organized by United Way King County that meets to collectively prioritize community needs. Ari also serves on the board of the King County Play Equity Coalition, “That’s been a really sweet coalition to be a part of, to be connected and build relationships with other people and organizations committed to accessible play.”
Their work partnering with Disc NW, the regional frisbee organization, also meant they were part of the conversations that led to a shift towards the pay-what-you-can model, which was implemented 3 years ago to address the inequitable access to ultimate leagues. Under this model, people have to think about their own capital and their privilege.
Ari also highlighted a crucial partnership with API Chaya in which the organization supported AGE UP in the shared learning around healthy relationships and violence prevention work.
AGE UP Centers Youth Leadership
Youth leadership is at the heart of what AGE UP is all about. AGE UP’s investment in youth leadership is evident in the way they hire staff from within the community. This carries through to the school coaches that contract with them; they prioritize folks who are alumni from the program, who understand and are rooted in the Southend, and who reflect the identities of the kids they coach.
From the start when they had their summer cohort programming, it was the program participants’ feedback that led to the evolution and changes in the program offering, the topics covered in the cohort-based learning.
Youth advisory board
Something that is structurally possible due to AGE UP’s status as RVC’s fiscal sponsored organization is that — since RVC’s board is legally AGE UP’s board — they can prioritize having a board made up of current program participants, program alumni, and community members, that can offer feedback and big picture decision-making to guide the organization.
Ari noted that she was on this board as a young adult and was able to apply to internship programs at her school that allowed her to work at AGE UP during summers.
The current board president is a high school senior, and the co-president is a coach who has served on the board since the start of the organization. In their recruitment strategy, they strive for a balance of representation from different schools, as well as having some younger people who can learn and grow through their time on the board. It does require meeting folks where they are at — for instance, the meetings have to happen after school — and also challenges them to find creative ways to engage with information — like budgets! — in a way that is accessible to everyone.
But the model’s success was apparent at the Family Feast hosted by AGE UP in October. The entire event was planned by the board’s youth team with the support of AGE UP staff.
Family Feast event held at Ding Feng Seafood Restaurant. Photo © Jojo Gaon.
Photobooth photo of AGE UP crew at Family Feast.
Spring 2024 Staff Retreat
AGE UP’s growth and evolution
When Ari started working at AGE UP, there were only two full-time employees (Hana and Sam). There was a working board and other program coordinators who were supported through AmeriCorps.
AGE UP’s growth, in a way, illustrates RVC’s beyond-the-bare-bones fiscal sponsorship model. Four of AGE UP’s staff were part of the 2019-2020 RVC Community Impact Fellowship, and that time to build a cohort and take part in shared learning, even through the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, was a valuable opportunity for strengthening organizational capacity.
Ari also highlighted that not everyone on their staff is college-educated or has worked at a nonprofit, so opportunities such as RVC’s Community Impact fellowship are great for professional development. She also shared that the relational nature of the partnership led to their ability to ask for help and work through challenges together. And, of course, RVC’s operations support allowed them to focus on their programming and the direct service aspect of their work. “The support of all of the admin stuff in the background is so key for a small org.”
As AGE UP continued to put its vision for youth leadership into practice, and because it always had the goal to have AGE UP led by someone who grew up in its programs, Ari became a clear potential candidate for taking up the responsibilities held jointly by the co-executive directors. Throughout Ari’s time at AGE UP, they were able to see everything behind the scenes, including the co-executive directorship between Hana and Sam. Around 2021, they started to discuss the leadership transition with Ari becoming a co-executive director and Sam a deputy director, which kicked off thoughtful conversations around how to dismantle the oppressive roots tangled in the structures and cultures of nonprofits, including around sharing and transferring power.
All of us at RVC have been so privileged to be AGE UP’s partner throughout their journey, and we’re so excited to see what’s next for them!!
We envision a world where all communities have the resources they need to be healthy and powerful, and believe that centering the leadership and expertise of young people of color is crucial to getting us there. (source)
This holiday season, donate to sustain our work in providing capacity-building and operations support to community-based organizations in Seattle and South King County!