Students Rebuild Marks 15-Year Milestone of Global Impact:

Over 1M Youth Engaged, $16.6M Million Raised, and 7M Works of Art

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 16, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Students Rebuild, founded by the Bezos Family Foundation and now powered by Creative Visions, marks 15 years of global youth empowerment, celebrating over 1 million youth participants, $16.6 million raised, and 7 million works of art created worldwide. This milestone comes with the launch of its 2025-2026 Unique & United project – an open invitation for young people everywhere to use creative action to explore identity, bridge divides, and build connection.

From now until June 1, 2026, students, youth leaders, parents, and educators can learn more and sign up for the Students Rebuild 2025-2026 project at www.studentsrebuild.org. There they'll access free resources, lesson plans, creative toolkits, and can submit creative works in any medium. Each submission or student engaged sparks a $5 donation, up to $1 million, for organizations fostering connection and championing collaborative change worldwide.

"Right now, young people are facing a world of division, uncertainty, and rapid change," says Pat Chandler, CEO of Creative Visions. "Yet they are seeking ways to understand themselves and connect with others. This year's project, Unique & United, helps students explore their uniqueness, challenge assumptions, and build bridges and empathy through creative expression."

What is Students Rebuild?

Students Rebuild is a global program, founded by the Bezos Family Foundation, that invites young people to use their creativity to engage with our world's most pressing issues and create meaningful change. Since 2010, the initiative has mobilized youth in all 50 U.S. states and more than 100 countries to use creative action to help communities address the most pressing issues of our time, from climate change to migration to war and conflict.

About Unique & United

Unique & United empowers youth to understand our shared humanity, foster dialogue, and collaborate to spark positive change.

This year, Students Rebuild is collaborating with global impact partners spanning Honduras, Ukraine, Greece, Kenya, and Los Angeles, whose work celebrates being unique, building unity, and expanding the reach of arts-based education and youth empowerment.

Meet the Impact Partners Driving Global Unity Through The Arts

• CARE will empower young people in Honduras—especially girls—facing poverty, violence, and migration by fostering solidarity and equipping youth as community advocates.
• Choose Love is partnering with organizations in Ukraine and Greece to provide youth with safe spaces for art-based healing from war trauma.
• Kids for Peace will engage 1,000 youth across 50 states and 10 countries in inclusion activities like affirmation card creation and trust-building exercises.
• Narrative 4 is expanding its Cities School Challenge to 40 schools in Kenya through story exchanges and creative projects that strengthen empathy and leadership.
• Search for Common Ground will pilot the Common Ground Leadership Academy to train future leaders in navigating complex landscapes and fostering collaboration across divides.
• Homeboy Art Academy will launch healing-centered arts programming, blending workshops and exhibitions to support formerly incarcerated and gang-involved youth in Los Angeles.
• Ripples of Hope will support South Africa-based fellows in using creative activities like dance and spoken word to promote cultural exchange and strengthen community bonds.
• Green Horizon Ventures will combine classroom participation with public awareness campaigns to engage 12,000 youth across Rwanda's five provinces in arts-based education.
• TREEAMS will empower students across Los Angeles to plant trees, restore optimism, and reimagine the city as greener and more resilient.
• Open Roads will support program alumni in leading discussions about individuality, unity, and the importance of nature with youth in the US.
• WelcomingAmerica will provide support to rural US leaders to increase their capacity and confidence for advancing inclusion efforts in their communities.

To learn more about the Unique & United Impact Partners, visit https://www.studentsrebuild.org/partners. 

About Students Rebuild
Students Rebuild is a Creative Visions program. Created in January 2010 by the Bezos Family Foundation in response to the devastating Haiti earthquake, Students Rebuild has mobilized more than 1.3 million participants in 102 countries and all 50 states and raised more than $16.6 million in matching funds. Annual Project funds have worked towards rebuilding schools in Haiti, bringing awareness to humanitarian crises in Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, helping Syrian youth from conflict areas recover from crisis, and supporting empowerment opportunities for youth affected by hunger and food insecurity. Find more at www.studentsrebuild.org and @StudentsRebuild.

About Creative Visions
Creative Visions empowers artists, filmmakers, musicians, and other impact media makers to raise awareness of critical issues and drive positive change through storytelling – one of our most powerful tools for creating a more just, caring, and sustainable world. The nonprofit organization and United Nations NGO, was founded in memory of 22-year-old artist and photojournalist Dan Eldon, who died in 1993 while covering the conflict in Somalia for Reuters New Agency.Creative Visions' Impact Education programs support youth, educators, and changemakers to understand how to use media, arts, and technology to take creative action about the things they care about. For more information: www.creativevisions.org.

SOURCE Creative Visions