September 2015 Newsletter

 

HOPE is gearing up for some exciting events this fall including the Chef Competition and a celebration of big, healthy changes at One Stop Liquor! Our youth leaders have been busy building their skills to advocate at the state capitol. And HOPE is also recruiting for new Project Assistant to join our team. Please help us spread the word about our upcoming events and opportunities at HOPE! As always, our work is not possible without the dedication and efforts or our partners and resident leaders. This month we celebrate Annie Flores and her contributions in the Elmhurst. Read below for more details.
Join Our Team! HOPE is hiring!
HOPE Collaborative is hiring a Project Assistant to provide programmatic and communications support across our initiatives.  This is an exciting opportunity for an individual who is passionate about food justice, health equity, and community change.  We are seeking a highly organized team player with communications and administrative experience.  Deadline to apply is September 16.  Full job description here.

Thank You, Farewell, and Best Wishes to Anita Wong!
HOPE Collaborative would like to acknowledge the contributions of Anita Wong, who served as Project Assistant for the past two years, and congratulate her as she moves on to a new position at Kaiser Permanente's health education team.  In her time at HOPE, Anita updated and oversaw implementation of the collaborative's Communications Plan.  She improved our monthly newsletters, increased our social media presence, and created a HOPE blog, a venue for collaborative members to share their personal perspectives on food systems, built environment, and school food issues.  She also provided support across all of HOPE's program areas.  HOPE Collaborative wishes Anita the best in her next steps!
HOPE Spotlight 
Annie Flores, Lincoln Child Center's Family Resource Center Coordinator
Annie Flores, Lincoln Child Center's Family Resource Center Coordinator
This month, we would like to highlight Annabella (Annie) Flores, the coordinator of Lincoln Child Center's Family Resource Center (FRC). The FRC is located on the New Highland - RISE elementary school campus; a school community located in the neighborhood where HOPE Collaborative has been working with partners and residents to develop the Elmhurst Neighborhood Planning Initiative.  The Family Resource Center is a project of Lincoln Child Center, a non- profit dedicated to providing pediatric mental health for over 130 years* in the East Bay. The FRC's goal is to offer parents and caregivers opportunities to strengthen adult capacity and to build emotional resilience to stressful life events. Annie is part of healing team from Lincoln Child Center; this core group of clinicians and therapists coordinate group and individual emotional healing services to students, their families and caregivers.

Annie has been providing mental health services and building community at the FRC since January of 2013. She is proud that she was hired by a panel made up of parents, teachers and community. Her work at the New Highland - RISE elementary schools (which combined served almost 800 elementary students) reflects a life-long commitment to community empowerment. As she states, "personally I was born into social justice work; it is a way of life for my family and I.  I receive an abundance of love and loyalty from the community in East -Oakland.  I'm constantly inspired by this community and as long as inspiration continues I will continue to work here."

A partnership between the FRC and HOPE's Built Environment Action Team (BEAT) is very natural.  Notably, BEAT (which is the body that organizes and implements activities related to the Elmhurst planning initiative) offers FRC parents opportunities to build community and promote emotional wellness. FRC parents are active in HOPE's BEAT. This partnership will continue to grow via a 2015/2016 mini-grant the FRC was awarded to maintain school gardens on the campus. The long-term goal of the partnership is to increase local access to fresh food and green space while engaging Elmhurst parents and residents. 

*correction, a previous version of this article mistakenly stated that Lincoln Child Center had only been around for 50 years instead of 130 years.
Food Systems 
Cast Your Vote at HOPE's Chef Challenge for Healthy Corner Stores.
Chef Challenge Logo

You can be a judge at a community Chef Challenge event!  HOPE Collaborative is hosting an exciting event which will showcase recipes from Bay Area chefs who are cooking for a cause.  Chefs will compete to create a meal to serve at a Healthy Corner Store for $5 or less!  Taste and vote for your favorite dishes at the event.  The top audience picks will be awarded that evening, and winning dishes will appear as menu items at partner corner stores or in a HOPE Healthy Corner Store Cookbook (forthcoming).  

Monday, October 5th, 5-8pm
Humanist Hall
390 27th Street, Oakland
 
Sliding scale tickets: $10-50 at the door
To enter HOPE's Chef Challenge, visit www.hopecollaborative.net/chefchallenge. All entries due by Wednesday, September 30th!
Questions? Contact Lauren at 847-606-0744 or lauren@hopecollaborative.net
One Stop Liquor Getting a Big, Healthy Makeover
One Stop Mural Panel
One of four health & community promoting murals to be installed at One Stop.

One Stop Liquor, located at 8400 International Blvd., has been a part of the neighborhood for almost forty years and is one of the few remaining African American owned liquor stores left in Oakland. Leonard and Chelsea Charles have been running the family store since 1992 and know most of their customers on a first name basis. They care about their customers and see kids coming in looking for a meal because their parents aren't cooking or adults who don't have time grabbing something unhealthy to eat on the go. Sometimes Chelsea will even share her home cooked meals with customers who need something good to eat. The Charles' want to find a way to help, but making improvements to their store has been challenging and at times overwhelming.

Four years ago a car crashed into the side of the store and Leonard's ensuing health challenges kept the Charles' from making repairs immediately. The result of these mounting obstacles was that the grocery section of the store went into neglect with trash, construction materials, and broken equipment filling up the center of the store. Gradually, with the support of HOPE leaders and partners, One Stop has started to get cleaned up and bring healthy foods into the store. Through HOPE's Healthy Corner Store Project, partners and resources have come together to really begin to transform the store and change its role in the community from a place for liquor and lotto to a center of support for a healthier community.

At the center of the store's exterior transformation are four mural panels depicting healthy food and water as a source of strength for families, children and community. The giant "LIQUOR" and "7-up" signs around the top of the store will be replaced with signs that emphasize healthier food options. A grant from the Alameda County Department of Public Health Nutrition Services combined with additional funding from the City's Graffiti Abatement Program via Councilmember Kaplan allowed HOPE to contract with East Side Arts Alliance to develop these health promoting murals. The lead artist, Tarika Lewis, was the first female Black Panther and was part of starting the Free Breakfast Program. Her artwork, created in a class with young up and coming artists, draws on this legacy of the power of young people and residents to transform their communities and society. Acta Non Verba: Youth Urban Farm has started to sell their fresh produce grown a few blocks away at the store. All proceeds will go into Individual Development Accounts for young people in the community to support them in accessing educational opportunities. Through partnership with Allen Temple, East Side Arts Alliance, and the Oakland Sustainable Neighborhood Initiative the rebirth of One Stop will be part of emerging Black Cultural and Business Districts proposed for stretches along International Blvd.

HOPE in partnership with ACDPH and supported by East Side Arts Alliance, Allen Temple, and Acta Non Verba: Youth Urban Farm will be hosting an event to celebrate this transformation and the unveiling of the mural panels at the store on Wednesday, September 30 from 4pm - 6pm. There will be taste testing and cooking demos, store tours, games, music, and healthy grocery giveaways.  To prepare for the event HOPE will be hosting a workday on Saturday, September 19 from 10am - 2pm to really clean up and reorganize the inside of the store to make room for more healthy foods. Please join us to participate and celebrate One Stop in making these big changes in their store and for their community.
Community Engagement 
#FreeOurDreams Conference: HOPE Youth Join 300 Youth Leaders to Represent at the Capitol for Boys and Men of Color
Youth in a strategy session to advocate for BMoC at the State Capitol. HOPE Youth Leader, Sandra Muniz, center left.
Over 300 youth leaders from around California gathered together at UC Davis to plan legislative visits at the Capitol as part of the #FreeOurDreams Conference and Advocacy Days from August 21st - 23rd. Youth advocates testifying at the annual progress hearing of the Select Committee on the Status of Boys and Men of Color on August 24th. This work was built upon the Alliance for Boys and Men of Color's four priority areas: Education, Economic Justice and Employment, Safety and Justice, and Health.  

For 3 days, youth attended workshops, listened to speakers, and strategized on how to bring issues affecting young men of color to their elected officials. Youth attendees learned about the impacts of Proposition 47, the School to Prison and Deportation Pipeline, Local Control Funding, and California Healthy Youth Act. The young organizers were also treated to a performance of excerpts from "Notes from the Field: Doing Time in Education" by Anna Deavere Smith.

HOPE Youth Leaders, Sandra Muniz and Luis Ramirez, attended the conference as part of the Oakland delegation. Sandra was selected as the Mistress of Ceremonies for a rally on the Capitol steps and energized the youth leaders into their legislative visits. Both youth leaders plan on getting more youth from HOPE to attend next year's event.  
Stay tuned for more updates from the HOPE Collaborative. You can also visit us at  www.hopecollaborative.net or connect with us on social media for more frequent updates.
 

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Since
rely,
HOPE Collaborative
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In This Issue
Upcoming Events

HOPE Healthy Corner Store Workday  on
Saturday, September 19 from 10am-2pm at One Stop (8400 International Blvd.)

Food Systems Action Team meeting on Monday, September 21 from 4pm - 6pm at HOPE (221 Oak St. Suite D)

Built Environment Action Team (BEAT)
meeting on
Tuesday, September 22 from 4-6pm at
81st Ave Library  (1021 81st Ave.)

One Stop -  Art, Food, & Health Fest 
on   Wednesday, September 30  from  4-6pm  at   One  Stop (8400 International Blvd.) 

Chef Competition Tasting Event for the Healthy Corner Store Project on  Monday, October 5  from 
5-8pm at  Humanist Hall (390 27th Street)

HOPE Steering Committee meeting on Tuesday, October 13 from 4-6pm at HOPE (221 Oak St., Suite D)

Alameda County Social Services Agency
Farm Stand every Monday from
10am-2pm at
Eastmont Self-Sufficiency Center (6955 Foothill Blvd.)

Every Saturday from
10am-3pm, get fresh and healthy produce at the Freedom Farmers Market (5316 Telegraph Ave.)

 

© 2015 HOPE Collaborative

 

221 Oak St. Ste. D, Oakland, CA 94607 | Office: (510) 444-4133 | Fax: (510) 444-4819

 HOPE is a project of The Tides Center