Salt Lake City, UT – (Good Things Utah) – Bri Ray Aupiu from the Raising Me Foundation and Karlee Crowther, a Community Specialist, stepped into the studio today to discuss a special event to celebrate and promote diverse representation. Raising Me Foundation is committed to empowering, encouraging, and uplifting parents and children through transracial adoption and interracial families. Their mission is to build bridges of understanding that cross racial, cultural, and educational barriers to help loving parents raise confident children of color.

Through an event on May 25th & 26th, sponsored by Larry H. Miller Family Foundation & Megaplex at the District in South Jourdan, the Raising Me Foundation is hosting a special movie screening experience of Disney’s The Little Mermaid – a live-action film. Community partners & sponsors also include: RISE Academy, L3Harris, Curly Me, Focal Point, Raise the Future.

Events like this matter in Utah due to the impact it has towards children being able to see themselves represented in the media. Halle Bailey is the first ever black actress to play Ariel – or a princess – in a Disney Live-action film. This movie is positioned to be an exemplary pillar for representation as the faces of entertainment and media continue to diversify. Raising Me Foundation hopes to fill the theaters with local BIPOC children and their families so they can finally see this reflection of themselves in such a powerful “main character” way.

If you’d like to connect with Raising Me Foundation find them on Instagram @when_raisingme or visit their website at RaisingMe.org.