Since 2014, a local non-profit organization Raincross Boxing Academy (RBA) has been reaching out to the community and mentoring Riverside’s youth. The organization was founded by Riverside Detective Mario Dorado and students at UC Riverside to create a free boxing program for students and their families, including community service and education.
RBA is partnered with RCC. The director Alex Bungalon is an RCC student himself. Bungalon started at RBA as a volunteer in 2021 and became a marketing intern. He was gaining more experience, leading him to become a marketing manager and eventually the director of operations.
“As director of RBA, I am the person that runs the day-to-day operations. I make sure everything is running and people are doing what they’re supposed to be doing” Bungalon said. “I also help with the budgets and all things financially oriented… At RBA, there is a high turnover rate. The entire staff are college students and typically they leave as soon as they graduate.”
Bungalon explains that RBA’s mission is to “Instill responsibility and discipline within Riverside County, with at-risk youth… through mentorship, tutoring, and boxing.”
Trinie Ngo is a 19-year-old student at RCC and volunteers through College Corps.
“I like to be a part of the other side. I try to learn to box from people who are more advanced than me and work out with them,” she said. “I’m studying computer science, and I wanted to find a way to give back to my community.”
As an academic tutor, Ngo mentors the kids and helps them achieve their academic goals.
“I notice math is mostly what they need tutoring in. Some of them are more cooperative than others, but sometimes they want you to give them the answer.”
Volunteers come from all over Riverside. The program requires volunteers to be a college student or a graduate. RBA currently has an annual contract with RCC fellowships and internships, including College Corps and Community Action Leadership Academy. Students can connect with their community and work alongside people from different backgrounds.
“I knew I wanted to work with kids… RBA has a boxing aspect to it, which I thought was interesting and would give me a different perspective,” Bungalon said. “ I don’t know much about boxing… You really meet different kinds of people. You get to understand their background and why they want to be a boxer and what motivates them”
Along with doing community outreach, working at RBA can help you reach your personal goals.
“In the future, I’m trying to become a physical therapist. I found that running a boxing gym helps me understand muscle movements. Everything I’m learning in school, I can apply here at boxing. Some of these students that I work with don’t know how to keep their bodies safe (while boxing),” Ngo said.“Until I started working at RBA, I realized I needed to work better with kids. It made me understand there are different kinds of people you’ll be surrounded by in life, and now here I’m learning how to work with them.”
It has been proven that guidance can benefit the youth in many ways. Bungalon shared a time when he made an impact on a student.
“There was this girl… when she had to leave to pursue gymnastics, she left me a letter thanking me for the help I’ve done. I was like dang, it doesn’t hit you how much you affect a person once you tell them that.”
Ngo added, “The hardest is when they are disrespectful, like when they get frustrated easily and can’t contain their emotions, and they lash out. What I try to do is try to be nice and patient and give them positive reinforcement.”
Bungalon was originally not from Riverside. However, he has learned through RBA that community is an important aspect in life and making a difference with the youth. “I never felt like I knew the city well until I joined the organization, where I’m doing a lot of groundwork and going to different schools, and people around Riverside who genuinely want to make the community improve.”
“The biggest thing that makes a difference within the community (with the youth) is having a healthy mentor figure. A lot of these times, these kids feel neglected, or need some type of guidance especially if they’re coming from a community that doesn’t have that type of thing. We are trying to bridge the gap between higher education, and what these kids are lacking in.” Ngo says, “When we describe at-risk kids, we talk about students who come from poor backgrounds or they have a lower chance to graduate, or a high chance to be incarcerated.”
Raincross Boxing Academy is open Tuesdays to Thursdays from 4 pm to 6:30 pm.
