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Celebrating MLK, Chef Challenge & More!
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We started the new year off right, with a Martin Luther King, Jr. Day community event and our last round of Chef Challenge Finals! Read below for the exciting things we've been up to and for how to get involved.
And here's to Black History Month! We look forward to honoring black history and to celebrating the achievements of African Americans in U.S. history. We hope you'll join us at a special Black History Month event at one of our Healthy Corner Stores on February 24th - find out more below.
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MLK Day on G-Street
Every year Block by Block Organizing Network District 7 (BBBON D7) holds a service event in District 7 to commemorate Martin Luther King Day. In 2016, BBBON D7 continued this tradition by hosting a planting and cleaning event on G-Street (between 85th and 92nd Avenues).
For over the past two years, BBBON D7 and HOPE Collaborative have partnered to reduce blight on G-Street. Heavy illegal trash dumping was identified by hundreds of Elmhurst residents as a community concern and health impediment during the development of the Elmhurst Neighborhood Plan. Responding to this neighborhood need, HOPE Collaborative has partnered with BBBON D7 to host regular service activities on G-Street. Some past accomplishments include planting approximately 30 trees on G-Street, installation of motion lights and door-to door-outreach to residents and businesses on and nearby G-Street. This work has been made possible by two rounds of mini-grants administered by HOPE Collaborative and funded by The California Endowment.
This year's event built on past efforts by focusing on bringing local attention to the activities on G-Street and installing five large planter boxes on G-Street. Ideally, bringing additional greenery to G-Street will decorate and beautify the area while also acting as a blight impediment. Overall, 50 individuals participated in the event. Together, folks collected 97 bags of trash, and 5 big planter boxes were painted by kids who live in the neighborhood working alongside local artists at NIMBY.
The planter boxes are now located throughout G-Street. The event was a success due to the diverse groups who volunteered. Thanks to everyone who participated, including the local youth (11 in all) and their parents who helped decorate the planter boxes, NIMBY, Oakland Catholic Workers, Youth Action Board and HOPE members,
OUSD school board member Shanti Gonzales and former Mayor Quan
,
and of course, BBBON D7 for organizing the event. Thanks as well to the Oakland Public Works Department for the tools and materials.
If you are interested in learning more about the G-Street project or in attending BBBON D7's next monthly meeting (scheduled for Friday, February 26, 6:30-8:00pm at Allen Temple Baptist Church, Family Life Ctr. 2nd Flr., end of the hall) please contact Sheryl Walton of BBBON D7 or Ruben
at ruben@hopecollaborative.net or 510.444.4295.
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Chef Challenge Finals Wrap Up at Sunbeam Market
Our last Chef Challenge Final was held on Saturday, January 30
th at Sunbeam Market in West Oakland. Four recipes competed for the approval of local customers and a spot on the corner store deli menus. The recipes at this event included a kale and pinto chili, chicken pasilla soup, mana bread, and red beans and rice.
Over 45 community members and customers sampled the recipes and enjoyed fun activities ranging from face painting to hula hoop contests. A team of youth volunteers from Build On supported HOPE leaders by canvassing the whole neighborhood to get people to turn out and helping run activity stations. The final overall winner(s) of the Chef Challenge will be announced in March and a cookbook of recipes is in production, so stay tuned!
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Voice your opinion about mobile food vending in Oakland
HOPE and Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) are addressing mobile food vending occurring near schools.
OUSD identified the high prevalence of mobile food vendors congregating near schools to target direct sales of inexpensive foods and beverages, often of low nutritional value, to students before, during, and after the school day.
OUSD's School Wellness Manager estimates that approximately 80% of a total of 65 OUSD elementary schools face this issue, and these schools are almost all located in and serving low- income communities of color.
In 2015, HOPE engaged with vendors operating near 5 schools where principals or school staff identified illegal and unhealthy mobile food vending as a problem and brought the perspectives and needs of these vendors to City of Oakland's Planning staff, who were updating the Oakland's mobile food vending ordinance. Now there is a proposed new ordinance, which is available for public comment. The ordinance covers not only vending near schools, but how mobile food vending should occur across the whole city, including areas where it is allowed and enforcement. HOPE supports mobile food vending as a creative form of food entrepreneurship that, with the right regulations in place, has the potential to increase access to healthy foods that reflect Oakland's diverse cultural traditions. We encourage you to learn more about the city process at
http://www2.oaklandnet.com/FoodVending/
and voice your opinion on the draft proposal. To find out more about what HOPE and OUSD are working on, please contact us at info@hopecollaborative.net.
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Youth Media Training at RYSE Center
The Youth Media Team of HOPE's Youth Action Board stepped up their skills at a three part training on January 16
th at RYSE Center. Here's the scoop on the lessons learned, from Youth Leader Sarahy Dominguez:
Part 1: Storytelling. Every photo and video always has to have a story to tell. Something that will connect with the audience and make them feel something. The story will always be the most powerful part of media.
Part 2: Working the Equipment. We learned the different types of shots that we can use like a wide shot or birds eye shot. We learned how lighting works especially outdoors. We learned that an interview can always be shot better if you know how to work the camera. That was when they put us to the test and we went around RYSE Center and took pictures using all the different types of shots. We also had to interview one of our teammates, practicing what angles would give us a great video and asking the right questions in order to get the footage that is needed.
Part 3: Editing. This is the hardest part; knowing what scene should be removed, how the lighting may be fixed, and if there is music to add or background noise to fix. This is the part where you see it all come together.
What I took away from this training is that a story should always make someone feel something and as a group the greatest thing we could have learned is that media is a way for us as youth to tell the stories that go unheard. RYSE Center is a wonderful place for youth and we are grateful to have had the opportunity of being taught by them. We are working together to share as many videos as we can with everyone. Even though our training was short we will put these parts into practice soon. We have many stories to tell and they will all be created by us - the youth!
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Chelsea and Leonard Charles, owners of One Stop (a Healthy Corner Store)
If you have ever been to One Stop on 84
th Ave and International Blvd, you have probably had a conversation with Chelsea or Leonard Charles. The Charles' have been running One Stop since 1991 when Leonard took over the family business from his father. One of only three remaining African-American owned liquor stores left in Oakland, the family business has been in the neighborhood since 1974. Before taking over the store, Leonard used his degree in Aerospace Engineering from USC to work at the Alameda Naval Air Station until it closed in 1995. He is also a pilot and enjoys riding motorcycles. Outside of One Stop, Chelsea is an accomplished dancer and choreographer who has worked extensively with youth and carries a Masters of Fine Arts from the California Institute for the Arts. She is also a chocolatier and is continually developing new and unique chocolate bar lines. They have three children together and have called East Oakland home for more than 30 years.
Through HOPE's Healthy Corner Store Project, Chelsea and Leonard have transformed theirstore from a traditional liquor store to a neighborhood market that sells fresh fruits and vegetables along with staple grocery items. Originally skeptical of how well healthy foods might sell, they have fully embraced the project of bringing healthier food options to their neighbors employing their resourcefulness and creativity to find and promote new, healthy items. The Charles' know many customers by name and have seen children grow up and people go through all the ups and downs of life. The couple's genuine commitment and concern for their customers has resulted in the neighborhood embracing the changes at the store. Many customers now make a point to come to One Stop not only to find high quality and affordable groceries but store owners that make them feel comfortable and appreciated.
Please join us and the Charles' on Wednesday, February 24th from 3pm - 5pm to celebrate One Stop in the context of Black History Month and the legacy of food justice work in East Oakland from the Black Panthers to Black Farmers to an emerging Black Business and Cultural District.
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