RISE CO-FOUNDERS & FOUNDING COLLECTIVE
Nziki Wiltz
Nziki Wiltz is a native New Orleanian, mother, educator, and community advocate. She taught in New Orleans public schools for 25 years until she was maliciously sought after for charges she did not commit in Orleans Parish. Her personal experience with the criminal legal system made her turn to community organizations that were invested in fighting for directly impacted people and their families. She beat the false charges, but it changed the trajectory of her life forever. Nziki is deeply committed to empowering her community to vote for elected officials that have the people's best interest at heart, and ensuring that all people are provided the resources they need to thrive. She works full time at VOTE-Nola as a Political Regional Coordinator. Nziki believes that if we change the hearts of people who oppress us, we can change the way they make laws and policies that dictate our livelihood. She zealously fights to get men and women out of prisons across Louisiana.
Grace Bronson
Grace Bronson is a criminal defense attorney based out of New Orleans. For the past 10 years she has worked in communities that are purposefully under resourced, devalued, and surveilled by state actors and has seen the extreme harm that our systems cause on individual lives. She uses her legal experience to ensure that directly impacted families are empowered and know their rights. Her commitment to freedom is rooted in a moral revolution. She believes that a system created to out of slavery to incarcerate black and brown and poor people at exponentially higher rates will never make us safe. Grace envisions creating a beloved community through collective organizing, empowered awareness and knowledge, and equitable resource sharing. She is honored to work with women and families of RISE Collective to build a healing space for those directly impacted by carceral violence and fight for true justice.
"No one is free until everyone is free." —Fannie Lou Hamer
Danielle Metz
Danielle Metz is a native of New Orleans, who was sentenced to three life sentences plus 20 years in federal prison. After serving over 23 years, President Obama commuted her sentence in 2017, and she was released from prison to rejoin her community and family in New Orleans. Danielle vigorously started working on the front lines of criminal justice reform and advocacy for the rights of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women. She an activist, abolitionist, and a voice for those that the justice system has made invisible. She advocates for all of the women she left behind bars. She is a community health worker for the FIT Clinic and the Director of Clemency for the National Council for Incarcerated Women and Girls. She is the subject of Nailah Jefferson’s documentary “Commuted,” which premiered in 2023.
“The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members.” — Coretta Scott King
Kim Robinson
Kim values communication and outreach. During her time as a contractor with Shell Oil Company for nearly 2 decades, she, along with other former colleagues, were instrumental in ensuring that the needs of constituents in select communities were met. Kim embodies the notion that vibrant and healthy communities benefit everyone. Kim then dove into matters of public health, labor education reform, civic engagement, workforce development and advocating for rectification of injustices and inequality in diverse communities. Kim has organized and participated in numerous community meetings to foster relationship building, collaboration, and equitable services. Kim worked with Step Up Louisiana, focusing on labor and education justice, and VOTE-Nola (Voice of the Experienced), a organization led by formerly incarcerated people. Kim is a member of the board of Council of Children of Incarcerated Parents and Caregivers, and has been interviewed by the Wall Street Journal & NPR for her contributions and passions towards community activism.
Hannah Rose Groedel
Hannah Rose is a staff attorney and Program Manager of the Impacted Leaders Initiative at the Louisiana Parole Project.
She began this work by collaborating with incarcerated legal experts to develop resources, provide education, and create learning exchanges with law students. The advocates inside taught her that those most impacted by the carceral system are the ones best equipped to transform it.
Her work advocating for both people who have been harmed and those who have caused harm drives her commitment to challenging legal system binaries and uplifting marginalized voices. She is excited to see liberation taking root through the powerful and restorative community building at RISE Collective.
“We do this til we free us.” — Mariame Kaba