CREDO grantee Hollaback! is now Right To Be

Hollaback! is now Right To Be!

In October 2021, CREDO chose Right To Be (formerly Hollaback!) as a grant recipient to support their work in preventing and reducing harassment in public spaces. During that time, Right To Be was expanding their programming to rapidly serve communities in need – including expanded bystander intervention trainings to address rising hate and harassment across the nation.

In 2022, Right To Be worked with brand consultants Wunderdogs to rebrand, creating a name, logo, and mission that was more reflective of the enduring Institution that they had become. Hollaback! began over 15 years ago as a small blog with a mission to end gender-based “street harassment,” a relatively unknown term at the time. Their mission has grown substantially since that point. In the words of Right To Be Deputy Director, Jorge Arteaga:

“Hollaback! was the call to speak up about their experience. And now we’re in a different phase. Now we want you to go out there and start a change in your communities. If you’re in a community board, in your kid’s schools, if you are a CEO, what are the changes you’re doing there so that your folks feel like they have the right to be themselves while they’re there?” 

The Wunderdogs team shared, “Hollaback! was guiding a change in culture where we no longer stand by but stand with. It started as a call to action against street harassment but it has the power to become a call to power for each of us to build the world we want free of harassment and filled with humanity.”

Right To Be is driven by the same vision, that the world we want isn’t some far-off destination, but something that each one of us actively creates and recreates, bit by bit, day by day. Right To Be works to turn the care that we have for each other into action. The organization is creating space for everyone to join in this journey: Space for people experiencing harassment to share their stories for affirmation and support, space for allies to listen, learn, and show up for each other, and space for each of us to grow and heal. 

Right To Be is built on inclusivity and intersectionality. “Everyone is invited to the movement. Come be yourself, whoever you are. Show up and take care of each other,” says Arteaga. 

Right To Be has broadened their work to reach a wide audience, partnering with community-based organizations to offer bystander intervention programming at moments of heightened need. The organization works to provide:

• Story Sharing and Mapping: Share your stories of experiencing or intervening in harassment to raise awareness of the realities of harassment in public space. You can offer support to people who have shared their stories, and all stories are used to inform programming and direct action against harassment.
• Training People and Preparing New Leaders: Right To Be equips people with the tools to combat harassment in their everyday lives and to create impact in the organizations, institutions, and businesses around them. They provide trainings across a number of topics including Bystander Intervention; How to Respond to Harassment; Conflict De-Escalation; Resilience; and more. Join an upcoming free training or access the organization’s resource page to learn more about how you can recognize, respond to, and heal from harassment.

As a result of CREDO’s support, Right To Be has been able to train tens of thousands of people in bystander intervention, a best practice in de-escalating violence. As a CREDO supporter, you’re invited to join in one of their free upcoming trainings, including Bystander Intervention to Stand Up Against Street Harassment on May 3rd and Bystander Intervention to Stop Anti-Asian/American and Xenophobic Harassment on May 9th (also available in Chinese). 

Together, we’re working to build a world that’s free of harassment and filled with humanity – where everyone has the right to be their full selves. Thank you for your support – and for showing up when it matters most.