SOUL was founded in 1996 in the midst of a California youth movement that brought thousands of young people of color out into the streets for the first time, fighting for educational equity and against criminalization at the ballot box and beyond. Inspired by the example of the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee, an organizer training center at the heart of the Civil Rights Movement, SOUL started as an institution dedicated to developing the skills of local youth organizers. Two decades later we have trained over 10,000 people and our popular education curriculum has been used to train thousands more. SOUL has convened organizers of all ages in neighborhoods near and far and built new capacity in hundreds of organizations. We are honored to strengthen the fights that win justice for our communities and to contribute to building the movements that will win liberation for our people.