Oakland

In celebration of Black History Month, Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson and other community leaders hosted the 2nd Annual African American Organizations Making Connections “Strategies and Outcomes for Our Black Community” event on Saturday.

BART police are adopting a more community-oriented law enforcement strategy, designed to increase officer accountability and help identify systemic crime problems.

Oakland's Ella Baker Center for Human Rights has authored a letter urging Oakland City Council to reject the proposed youth curfew.  The curfew was introduced by  Oakland City Council members in response to the rates of violence in Oakland.

As part of Soul of the City campaign, the Ella Baker Center organized residents to help Oakland shine through volunteer work at more than 20 service projects around the city.

Alicia Caballero, an associate with Ella Baker Center’s volunteer division known as “Soul of the City,” said it was great to hear how neighbors were excited “to get their hands dirty and really do something for the community.” Caballero said that Saturday was more than just another day of service, but a way to encourage more residents to view their neighborhood and city as an extension of their own homes.

Hundreds of volunteers will work this week on 25 service projects in Oakland.

If you sense an exceptional air of benevolence on the streets of Oakland on Saturday, August 13, don't chalk it up to a kindhearted coincidence. It could be due in part to the Soul of the City's Throw Down for the Town Oakland Service Festival.

More than 200 people are slated to come out Saturday to work on about two dozen service projects in Oakland, organizers from the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights said.

All over town on Saturday, volunteers will head out to community gardens, dog parks, senior centers and schools to spend the day trying to improve Oakland.