Photos : Paulo Macedo
Video : Luke Lutz
Words : Husky Brown
Next Up Foundation a 501C3 non-profit launched in 2009 from the vision of Vinicius 'Vina' Tinoco. Each week, from Tuesday to Friday over 100 young people from the city of Anaheim pass through the Next Up Success Lab between 3 - 6pm, as thousands have done over the 10 years before them. Best thing is, they have their own skatepark right next to the building that the city has intrusted to Vina because of the impact of the Next Up program.
The idea behind Next Up is simple. Use skateboarding as a tool to encourage positive social mobility for at-risk young people who otherwise won't have anyone around to be a positive role model in their life. At the Success Lab Vina has personal relationships with an entire tribe of skateboard wielding groms, who all seem to be connected to this community for different reasons to the next.
Vina and his team of volunteers provide a bad ass list of programs for the young people who access the centre. From homework tutorials, graphic design work shops, content creation workshops, yoga, art classes and the list goes on. Vina even does shoe design workshops where the someone ends up with their design on a Vans skate shoes!?! This place heaven for a teenager with weekly guest appearances from various professional skateboarders suck as Christian Hosoi, Chad Muska, Paul Rodriguez and shit loads more.
Ready for the insane part to the story? Vina is not only responsible for the programs and daily running of the center, he has zero long-term funding. Every month Vina is required to find new program donors to keep Next Up programs alive while working multiple jobs to keep the Next Up dream moving forward. There are not many people in the world like Vina. He is passionate, resilient, talented and when it comes to caring for a community of people that everyone else has seemed to forget about, he is committed to seeing the potential in every young person that accesses the center each week.
You should check out the Next Up website HERE to find out more about the programs Vina runs and you can donate to the righteously cool program that Next Up is rolling out in Anaheim every week.
I have had the pleasure of helping Vina with Next Up since I met him in 2016 and when we started The Bumbag Co we wanted to build a brand that helped make the world a better place. 6-months back Vina told us that this year was the 10th year anniversary of Next Up Foundation and to celebrate this monumental milestone we are privileged to be releasing a limited edition Next Up Foundation Compact shoulder bags that will contribute 100% of the proceeds to funding future Next Up programs.
When brainstorming the project we asked professional skateboarder and iconic artist Sebo Walker if he wanted to get involved. From the first conversation we had with Sebo he has been so down to support what Vina is doing and get behind the programs with Next Up we are truly grateful to have his support. He recently held a grip tape design workshop at the Next Up Success Lab and skated with everyone there.
Sebo - if you are reading this my G, THANK YOU for everything with this project, nothing was too hard, and your support has been insanely appreciated!!
Vina – When you read this. Thank you for your vison and impact. The world needs more homies like you, looking out for the people around us who can see the potential in every human being. Your impact will live on in the lives of all the homies you help!
Need a new bag? Buy this one be part of the solution!
