OUR HISTORY
Our program was founded by our current Executive Director, Katherine Kasmir, in 2005 with a 3 month planning grant from Ventura County Behavioral Health (VCBH). Katherine was asked to bring her experience with facilitating exploration of community issues through applied improvisation and social change theatre to address concerns around underage and binge drinking. Through a fiscal agent, the nonprofit Westside Cultural Center, the program was originally named Straight Up.
The goal was to bring the youth voice to the conversation and engage teens and young adults in developing meaningful and effective drug and alcohol prevention strategies. Since then we have continued through yearly contracts with VCBH. We also contract with Ventura County Office of Education (VCOE) and school districts through their Tobacco Use Prevention Education (TUPE) grants.
In 2013 we incorporated our own nonprofit organization, Reality Improv Connection. We have since changed the program name from Straight Up to BRITE, using the acronym for Building Resilience & Inclusion Through Engagement. Our specialty is the development of innovative and interactive prevention content and empowering youth to advocate for themselves and others around issues they care about. Each year an average of 10,000 Ventura County youth participate in our prevention workshops. Approximately 1000 teens and young adults each year advocate for change by developing audio or video PSAs, social media campaigns, peer and parent outreach projects, presentations, and performances.
