Rina Risper, is the publisher and owner of the multicultural Michigan-based newspaper, The New Citizens Press. She is also the Executive Director of The New Citizens Press Community Action Network (TNCP CAN). TNCP CAN's mission is to raise awareness of stopping violence including domestic violence; to promote literacy programs; and to promote all forms of the arts, literary, expressive, and musical.
Rina received her B.A. in Sociology, with honors from City College of New York. She has worked for a law firm, the United Nations, a bank, the Michigan House of Representatives and Jackson National Life Insurance Company. In February 2002, The New Citizens Press debuted. It is published and distributed biweekly and has a readership of over 30,000 with a concentration in Michigan's Ingham County. The New Citizens Press provides readers with a wide array of information and current topics about people of all backgrounds.
She started the State of Our Health: Through the Voices of Our People after the death of her father in 2007. Since its inception in 2008, the program has served over 1,000 people. She also created the Poetry in the City program, which gives people an opportunity to perform on the Capital steps. A new venture started last year, is Read to Succeed, Write to Ignite. Rina has collected over 300 dictionaries and thesauruses to give to classrooms and teachers. She believes that success in life begins with a good vocabulary.
She reflects on during her life she has struggled with homelessness, assault and domestic violence had gripped her until fear was no longer an option. She says that God and his angels became the source of her strength and faith during times that seemed so dark.
She was the recipient of the A. Phillip Randolph "Unsung Hero Award"and the Kappa Alpha Psi Community Service Award She has also been featured on radio programs in Pennsylvania, Michigan and California. She was recently the recipient of the Lansing Black Chamber of Commerce Community Pillar Award and the Business Excellence Award went to the The New Citizens Press (Rina Risper) given by the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s Clubs.
Rina is very active in the community and volunteered for Open Door Ministries and EVEs House. She personally works one on one with individuals in the community helping them find the resources they need to be successful, especially the homeless population and those impacted by murder. Rina also enjoys Facebooking and exploring Michigan. In 2011, she began hosting The New Perspective radio show on Michigan Business Network. She also is the President of the Walnut Neighborhood Organization and successful managed to broker a deal with a large corporation to benefit the community at large for years to come.
Rina’s other love is poetry. She created the Nu Poet Collective, which puts on a free “Poetry in the City” series in local establishments. She is working on her book “Somewhere in Between”. She continues to volunteer teaching poetry at Shabazz Academy and has been the mentor to the journalism class at Pleasant View Middle School for years.
She is also a member of the Lansing Black Chamber Commerce and Lansing/ DeWitt Sunrise Rotary. Her motto is Live Simply. Take Chances. Love People!
