who we are
ABOUT US
The Charles Roundtree Bloom Project is an outdoor healing justice program for youth and families impacted by incarceration in Yanaguana/San Antonio, Texas.
WHY THE OUTDOORS?
Time in nature is important for our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing.
Nature is medicine and the land is our teacher. We believe that if we can begin to heal our relationship with the land, we can begin to heal our relationships with ourselves and one another. We also believe being outdoors is the best way to facilitate self-reflection and community connection to benefit ourselves and our communities.
WHAT IS OUTDOOR HEALING JUSTICE?
Healing justice is about collectively healing from the oppressive systems that impact our lives
Healing justice is an understanding that healing is political because trauma and oppression are political. The Bloom Project brings in the outdoors into healing justice by centering our relationship to land, offering nature and community care as medicine for healing trauma and oppression. As an outdoor healing justice program we strive to transform the consequences of trauma and oppression that we hold within our hearts, bodies, minds, and spirits through reconnecting with and learning from the land. We use an abolitionist and decolonial approach to our healing–addressing root causes of harm, practicing communal care and reconnecting with the land in reciprocal ways, and building toward a world where we can breathe.
MEET THE TEAM
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Ki’Amber Thompson
CO-FOUNDER & CO-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (RESEARCH, VISION, & CULTURE)
Ki’Amber Thompson (they/she) is the visionary behind the Bloom Project, taking it from idea to pilot in 2019. They are also a Sociology PhD candidate at the University of California in Santa Cruz. Ki’Amber was raised on the West and East sides of San Antonio, where she experienced the impacts of incarceration and environmental inequity. While at Pomona College in California, Ki'Amber found healing and sense of purpose through transformative outdoor experiences. She started the Bloom Project as a way to care for youth like her and share a path toward healing.
A month after Ki'Amber came up with the idea for the Bloom Project, her younger cousin, Charles "Chop" Roundtree Jr, was murdered by San Antonio police while sitting in his living room. He was only 18 and did not have to chance to bloom to his full potential. Ki'Amber named the program in honor him. Chop embodied joy and play and his legacy lives on through the work of the program.
Ki'Amber has done social and environmental justice research, storytelling, and organizing across the globe, including North and South America and Southeast Asia. They previously co-led a youth water education and testing program in Flint with Fresh Water Future through the Doris Duke Conservation Scholars Program at the University of Michigan, which ultimately led to the first community lab in Flint. She also worked at the Ocean Conservancy through the RAY Fellowship, where she contributed to environmental justice storytelling and policy initiatives. Ki’Amber's work has been recognized locally and nationally, and she has received several awards, including Grist 50 Fixers and EE 30 Under 30.
Gabriela Lopez
CO-FOUNDER & CO-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (PROGRAMS & DEVELOPMENT)
In 2022, Gabriela joined the Bloom Project team and helped expand the program to include more programming for elementary-aged youth and caregivers. Gabriela has been instrumental in developing "Bloom Project 2.0", or the current iteration of the organization, where she now serves as the Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director. Gabriela grew up in the southside of San Antonio and later decided to teach at her Alma Mater for several years. In her upbringing and experience as an educator, she realized the drastic effects poverty, incarceration, and over-policing had on a young person’s mental health. More specifically, she learned how underserved youth of color are in the city's South, West, and East sides. She began to implement journaling, restorative practices, and mindfulness in her classroom and witnessed the benefits of leading with empathy.
In her personal life, Gabby takes care of her own mental health by gardening, trail running, and finding simple ways to connect with the outdoors. She loves creating the same type of therapeutic experiences for youth, as well as educating them about social and environmental justice issues. In her role as Co-Executive Director of the Bloom Project her goal is to assist the youth in gaining the necessary tools towards healing from traumas and helping them become advocates for themselves and their community. Gabby was awarded the Camelback Fellowship for her leadership and development of the Bloom Project, which now, because of her contributions, not only serves youth but the entire family system.
