Students Rebuild joins with our community of students, educators, and families deeply impacted by the violence and bigotry that has taken Black lives—George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and many others. We condemn the racial injustice experienced by far too many and boldly proclaim that Black Lives Matter.

At our core, Students Rebuild has always valued connecting students from vastly different backgrounds to support the development of a global worldview and to challenge assumptions of difference. Each year, we build our programming around global issues that address injustices young people care about, from the refugee crisis, to genocide to food insecurity. We believe young people can ignite empathy and change that makes the world a better place.

We saw this in 2018 when we invited young people to reflect on and celebrate their identity through the Facing Difference Challenge. Students from all around the world created empathy and understanding through 200,000 self-portraits. This year as we focus on hunger, students are making recipes for world peace, compassion, and ending racism. More than any other, we have received recipes for kindness.

As we close this year’s Hunger’s Challenge, we are aware that food justice is closely linked to racial justice. The current pandemic has exposed the vulnerabilities in our food systems and highlighted inequities such as the fact that African American households face hunger at a rate more than twice that of white households. Your participation by making art through our Challenges is one small way to address these disparities.

Together, we will continue to examine our programming and the ways we can address systemic inequities to better serve our educators and teams. We will continue to support students to use their passion and creativity to be the change they hope to see in the world. They are not only our future, but our very present hope. We will continue to listen, learn, and work in tandem with partners that are serving marginalized communities and impacting needed change.

In solidarity and hope, Leonetta and the team at Students Rebuild