Besides our own projects, we also systematically contribute to other organizations who are doing positive work in Oakland.
To engage with and support these programs is integral to the Oaklandish creed.
We don't consider it "giving back" to the community; it is being a part of the community. It's simply who we are.
Our Community Support Initiatives include:
- Oakland Innovators Award Fund
- Local Arts-In-Action Grant
- Event & Fundraising Sponsorships
The appication deadline for the 2009 Oakland Innovators Award has passed. The applications for the 2010 awards will be availavle in October 2009.
OAKLAND INNOVATORS AWARD FUND
" ... recognizing trail blazing community work in the East Bay Area".
Oakland has historically been a hotbed of renegade activity, where boundaries are redefined and trends are created rather than followed.
To help encourage the continuation of this "trailblazers' legacy", Oaklandish has created the Oakland Innovators Award,
a fund that offers annual grants to those organizations and individuals who are doing pioneering work in our community.
This award is meant to offer recognition and financial rewards to local programs that exemplify the values of innovation and progress
in all areas of civic live, including arts, education, technology, and business.
The recipients represent a wide range of social interests and populations, and are not restricted by any political agenda.
Every year five honorees are selected, each receiving a $5,000 grant along with a certificate of achievement.
The total award fund equals $25,000 annually, which we hope will grow with your support!
This award was created in the spirit of those Oakland legends who have had a direct influence on global culture; Architect Julia Morgan, Martial Artist Bruce Lee, Musician Larry Graham, Dancer Isadora Duncan, Aviator Joe Fong Guey, Artist Mike "Dream" Francisco, and Director Russ Myer, among many many others.
2009 OAKLAND INNOVATORS AWARD WINNERS
KUNG FU GROCERY
The Kung Fu school Kajunekbo Kwoon was opened in North Oakland in 2006. The Oaklandish Innovators Award grant of $5,000 will help fund the Kung Fu Grocery Summer Camp. The goal of this neighborhood-based project is to give kids ages 6-16 the opportunity to practice Kung Fu and learn practical skills to earn their own money. The program includes Kung Fu workouts and other sports activities, math practice, and cooking healthy snacks to sell at the student-run store. The grant will provide stipends for youth leaders and scholarships for students. Contact sifukate.hobbs@gmail.com for more information.
BAY AREA GIRLS ROCK CAMP
This project, started in 2008, exists to celebrate women and girls' voices and empower more women and girls through music. The Camp includes instrument and voice lessons, self-defense classes, other aspects of music production, and Image and Identity workshops. The Bay Area Girls Rock Camp also plans to implement an instrument lending program and is committed to remaining a long-term fixture in the Oakland Arts Community. The Innovators Award grant of $2,500 will go toward defraying tuition costs for the 2009 summer session.
bayareagirlsrockcamp.org
TOWN PARK
Town Park was created by a group of conscientious Oakland residents who recognized the need to provide Oakland youth with a safe and legal place to skate. Spearheaded by Keith "K-Dub" Williams, their goal is to legitimize the popularity of skateboarding among urban youth by creating a skate park within Oakland, allowing the youth to stay in the community and not be criminalized for skating in public places. In addition to providing free skate access to all skill levels and age groups, Town Park will host special community events, such as the Hood Games, as well as provide skate camps, clinics, professional demos and amateur to professional competitions. The Oaklandish Innovators Award of $5,000 will help fund the "Cabeza Project" in which selected local artists will paint/decorate thirty skateboard helmets for an art exhibition. Afterward, the helmets will be worn in competition at Town Park.
myspace.com/hoodgamestownpark
CYCLES OF CHANGE
This 10-year-old grassroots organization works for social and environmental justice through bicycle, environmental, nutrition education, community gardening programs, and just resource allocation. The Oaklandish Innovators Award will help fund an Earn-A-Bike program at Edna Brewer Middle School Bike Club and a project of creating and selling "bike art" to raise money for an overnight bike/camping trip. The Innovators Award grant of $2,500 will help equip Cycles of Change to give away 40 bikes, helmets, and locks.
cyclesofchange.org
JUST CAUSE OAKLAND
This membership-based community organization has been building a powerful voice for Oakland's low-income tenants and workers since 1999. Just Cause Oakland works to develop leadership skills in Oakland residents to advocate for housing and jobs as human rights, and to mobilize for policies that produce social and economic justice. The Oaklandish Innovators Award grant of $2,500 will help fund Just Cause Oakland's bilingual community newspaper "Just Causes." The purpose of this publication is to bring new people from specific neighborhoods into the grassroots movement for social justice, and provide working-class Oaklanders with updated information about housing issues and other local resources.
justcauseoakland.org
YOUTH SPIRIT ARTWORKS
This is an interfaith youth education and jobs program whose mission is to empower and transform the lives of homeless and low-income youth. The Oaklandish Innovators Award grant of $2,500 will help fund the project "Healthy Bollards, Benches, and Turn-A-Rounds," in which homeless and low-income youth will work with Bay Area artists to create permanent outdoor art benches focused on the theme of health. This is a key historical and social issue that references the health-related outreach done by the Black Panthers in the communities where the art benches will be created. The benches will be exhibited at the Oakland Airport before being put at their permanent sites in North Oakland.
youthspiritartworks.org
SCRAPER BIKES
Founded by Tyrone Stevenson Jr., this grassroots movement seeks to empower youth through the artistic re-creation of bicycles. The Scraper Bike movement gives East Oakland youth a positive outlet that is fun, educational, and promotes healthy lifestyles. The goal is to support youth entrepreneurship and cultural innovation. True to its legacy as an origin of pioneering movements, Oakland is the one and only birthplace of the Scraper Bikes. The Scraper Bike movement could have only been founded in Oakland -- where the everyday and the discarded is rendered beautiful and uplifting through the creative hustle of its citizens.
scraperbikes.net
Read about previous Oaklandish Innovators Award winners...
ARTS-IN-ACTION GRANT
Oaklandish began as a covert public arts campaign designed to bring a sense of history and culture to the underutilized public spaces of this city. Seven years later, we continue that legacy by encouraging other local artists to create their own Oakland-centric works in the public realm. With the Arts-In-Action Grant, Oaklandish aims to provoke public discourse and inspire creative activity throughout our urban landscape. This annual grant award of $5,000 goes to an artist for an approved project meeting the following criteria;
1. the work of art is located in public space, or is readily accessible to the public.
2. the piece in some way addresses or reflects the identity, culture, or history of Oakland.
3. the project is sponsored by a 501c3 non-profit organization.
2009 ARTS-IN-ACTION AWARD WINNER
Favianna Rodriguez, artist and entrepreneur, has been working to make art more accessible and participatory in creative ways for many years. Favianna is a printmaker and new media artist who began designing her well-known political posters in the 1990s. Her illustrations portray messages related to community efforts to defend immigrant and women's rights, empower youth, and bring recognition to the effects of war and globalization on communities of color and the poor worldwide. With the Arts-in-Action grant, Favianna will collaborate with the National Network for Immigrant & Refugee Rights to create "American Dream." This is an interdisciplinary media project focusing on the printed poster and online media tools to create a message around immigrant workers in Oakland.
EVENT & FUNDRAISING SPONSORSHIP
Organizations that we have proudly sponsored include: JustCause Oakland, Youth Together, North Oakland Community School,
Markus A. Foster Educational Institute, Hood Games, Weapons of Mass Expression Schoolyard Scholars, Indy Voter, Music For America, Future 5000, Youth Empowerment Center,
Bushrod Recreation Center's Rockridge Night Out, Children's Hostpital Patient Care Fund, and George Mark Children's Hospice.
Children's Hostpital Doctors & Friends Bike to Raise Funds for Patient Care
