Dare to Be: Tuff Love’s 2023 Year-End Fundraiser

The last few years have been challenging times for our city of Oakland as well as for the world. Crime rates in Oakland have been increasing, including robberies, burglaries, and violent crime, while hate crimes levels have continued to rise in California and violent conflicts and wars have escalated around the world. Speaking to our students and members of our community, we hear repeated themes of anxiety, distress, and despair. These feelings are amplified for young people and members of marginalized communities. Mental health challenges have risen to crisis levels in the age of Covid-19 according to the National Institutes of Health, while the World Health Organization recently declared loneliness to be a global public health concern with negative health effects comparable to heavy smoking. For children and teens, the social and academic challenges caused by loneliness can have lifelong impacts to their mental and physical health.

At Tuff Love, we design our training to respond in real-time to the challenges of our era. We held safety and self-defense trainings for AAPI people and elders when they faced an escalation of racist attacks, organized LGBTQ+ safety workshops in response to rising hate crimes, and created a youth martial arts program after learning of the emotional and social consequences of the Covid shutdown on children and teens. Our ongoing martial arts and self-defense programming is also structured to emphasize community, inclusivity, and camaraderie. Training alongside like-minded peers creates a supportive environment where people can share their experiences, encourage each others’ progress, and build connections and friendships. The bonds formed through self-defense and martial arts programs extend beyond the gym and contribute to a network of empowered individuals of diverse ages, genders, cultures, and backgrounds. 

To make our services truly accessible, all our community self-defense workshops are offered for free . We recognize that cost is one of the most significant barriers to pursuing wellness-increasing practices, including training in self-defense, martial arts, and fitness. Meanwhile, those who can least afford expensive classes are the same people who need them most. The risk of mental health challenges is increased for people living in poverty ; likewise, people from marginalized populations–including people of color , LGBTQ+ people , elderly people , and young people –are at increased risk for anxiety and depression while having inequitable access to resources. To us, care and accessibility means making sure that cost is not a barrier to training. We ensure that all our public classes and workshops are low-cost for martial arts and no-cost for self-defense by working with partner organizations who share our mission, as well as our amazing community of supporters like you.  

Joining our community of donors is something you can feel great about . When you donate, you are contributing to a woman-of-color-run nonprofit. You are supporting the mental and physical wellbeing of youth through martial arts. You are manifesting your belief that safety and wellbeing are basic human rights, and that those rights should be available to all, regardless of income, race, age, ethnicity, or any other factor. You are taking powerful action to be part of the solution. 

Your tax-deductible donation funds free and low-cost self-defense and martial arts training for the Bay Area and beyond, including: 

• Tuff Love Self-Defense : Free and low-cost self-defense training opportunities for communities in need
• Tuff Squad Kids Program : Low-cost, empowerment-focused martial arts and self-defense for kids 5-16
• Four Elements Fitness : An inclusive, women-run martial arts and fitness gym in downtown Oakland
• Tuff Love Scholarship Program : Offering complete and partial scholarships for participants in our training programs, based on financial need

Your support will allow us to continue and grow these programs, giving our community an affordable and supportive gym to learn and thrive and a toolbox of skills to increase confidence and safety.

What Do You Dare to Be?  

Dare to be brave in spite of your fear. Dare to be a champion for the vulnerable, the underserved individuals in your community. Dare to recognize that you deserve love and support when you struggle. Dare to be the beautiful authentic you.

The theme of this year’s fundraiser is “Dare to Be.” We chose this theme to honor the bravery, creativity, and determination it will take to confront the challenges facing our city and our world. “Dare to be” can mean so many things, big and small. It can mean showing up to our first self-defense or martial arts class alone, not knowing what to expect. Or simply getting up and putting one foot in front of the other on a day we’d rather stay in bed with the blankets pulled over our heads. Sometimes it means curling up in bed and engaging in self-care. Other times it can mean fighting for others or reaching out to someone for help. Any time we choose courage over comfort, live wholeheartedly, and engage actively in our own lives and our community, we are daring to be.

At Tuff Love, daring to be is at the core of our history and our mission. We founded Tuff Love as a nonprofit in 2020 and took over Four Elements Fitness gym in 2021, after years of teaching self-defense, martial arts, and fitness. Establishing two new business ventures requiring close physical contact during a global pandemic was risky to say the least, and we often asked ourselves if we were making the right decision. However, we also knew we had something special: our beautiful gym, our amazing students, and our wide network of cheerleaders and supporters. With all of you in mind, we knew we had no choice but to press forward, face our fears, and dare to share our skills and message with our community and the world.

2023: A Year of Growth

At Tuff Love Fitness, 2023 has been a year of growth and community togetherness. While this year has been challenging in so many ways, we have been heartened by the tremendous bravery and fighting spirit of our students, who dare to face their fears and try something new to support their safety and wellness. We have watched our past participants thrive and become leaders, while a whole new generation of students have taken the bold step of entering our gym for the first time. We have established new relationships to help us expand our mission, while nurturing our valued existing partnerships that have made Tuff Love a success. Safety and wellness is everyone’s responsibility, and we’re honored to be in such an incredible company working together towards these goals. 

Here are some highlights from 2023: 

• We offered five editions of our free 8-Week Self Defense Workshop Series, co-sponsored by Compassion in Oakland, with over 550+ total attendees. 
• We partnered with the City of Oakland to offer self-defense workshops to seniors and their volunteers.
• We held an online self-defense workshop in honor of Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month with participants joining from as far as New York and Europe.
• We provided full scholarships for children and adults to participate in martial arts and self-defense lessons. 
• We launched our Community Wellness Workshops, hosting activities that contribute to individual and community wellbeing. 
• We held three free self-defense workshops for LGBTQ+ people in partnership with Bay Area Superheroes (BASH). 
• We volunteered alongside our students for Compassion in Oakland’s yearly Thanksgiving food distribution to elders
• We and our students volunteered as security personnel for the San Francisco Trans March. 
• We participated in Our Time , an event hosted by Asians are Strong celebrating Asian women’s accomplishments.
• We mentored multiple students to be leaders and assistant instructors.
• We provided free safety and self-defense tools in partnership with BASH and Third Culture Bakery.  
• We provided free BJJ uniforms to students facing financial hardship. 
• We hosted a grappling seminar with our mentor and board member David Meyer, one of the first twelve non-Brazilians to hold a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ). 
• We hosted multiple featured instructors including BJJ black belts Roxy Buu and Cailloux Williams and national San Shou kickboxing champion Adam Caldwell
• Our students participated in two BJJ Competitions, with all students earning medals. 
• We partnered with the Cal student club BJJ at Berkeley to provide college-focused self-defense training, BJJ training space for club members, and discounted memberships for Berkeley students. 
• We held two Jiu-jitsu belt promotions and promoted over a dozen students.

Dare to Support Safety and Wellness

Our year-end fundraising drive stretches from November 27-December 31. Your donation helps individuals access self-defense, martial arts, and fitness programs and supports health and safety in our communities. All donations are 100% secure and tax-deductible. (Please note: If you'd like to make a donation through a means other than this website, contact us at info@tufflove.org). 

Ongoing monthly donations are the most helpful for allowing us to continue our mission. Any amount is appreciated! You can change or cancel your gift at any time.  Here’s what your monthly support can do over the course of a year: 

• $16 per month: funds one month of free unlimited training at Four Elements Fitness for a student in need
• $35 per month: Covers half the total expenses for an outdoor AAPI safety training
• $50 per month: Covers two hours of self-defense instruction for a nonprofit or educational group
• $100 per month: Covers half the expenses for our free eight-week self-defense series 

Please help out by donating what you can and sharing our campaign with friends and family. We appreciate you, our community, more than words can express. We can't do this without you! 

Here’s the Truth: We Need Your Support! 

With so many new initiatives and expansion of existing ones, 2023 dared us to step out of our comfort zone, and we were ready for the challenge. Even when times are hard, seeing our students learn and grow every day keeps us strong and resilient. The nervous excitement of participants at our LGBTQ+ workshops, the smile of a teenager mastering a jiu-jitsu move, the confidence of an AAPI elder using leverage to not be pulled by her partner, the words of thanks from a domestic violence survivor finally beginning to regain their confidence–there is nothing better! As the year comes to a close, please join us in defending the wellness of ourselves and our communities. As a nonprofit organization, we rely on donors to help us continue to provide community programs to your underserved communities, particularly low income and marginalized youth, women, people of color, LGBTQ+ folks and assault survivors. With your help, 2024 will be our best year ever!