Neighborhoods

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Cinco De Mayo in Oakland’s Fruitvale

Coatlicue drummers and dancers occupied the island between East and West-bound traffic on International Blvd in Oakland, as they celebrated and prayed. With shells at their ankles and feathers on their crowns, over a dozen...
Doctor Allison Briscoe-Smith reflects on neighborhood violence issues and discusses strategies in which she feels would effectively curb the  problems it creates.

Children’s Hospital doctor talks Oakland violence, trauma consequences

Allison Briscoe-Smith, the director of the Center for the Vulnerable Child at Children’s Hospital in Oakland, sees consequences in Oakland’s violence that extend far beyond the victims to become a public health issue for the...
HUB Oakland co-founder Konda Mason addresses the crowd at the project's Kickstarter campaign launch party.

HUB Oakland launches Kickstarter campaign for new Uptown location

More than 500 people from around the Bay Area attended a launch party in downtown Oakland Monday to help HUB Oakland try and raise $100,000 so that it can move into a large, permanent space...
Federal agents surround Oaksterdam during the raid on April 2, 2012. Photo by Ryan Phillips.

After the raid: One year after federal agents raided Oaksterdam, what’s changed?

One year ago, federal agents raided Oaksterdam University, a move that sent ripples throughout Oakland’s well-established cannabis industry and raised questions about the complex and often conflicting web of state and federal regulations surrounding medical...
Betti Ono art.

Women and hip-hop: A discussion in downtown Oakland

On Friday, the Betti Ono art gallery in downtown Oakland hosted a panel discussion about women and Hip-Hop. The “My Art, My Culture: Women, media, and Hip-Hop” three-part discussion was the product of the combined...
Gutierrez interacts with students of Castlemont High School in Oakland.

Youth Alive! tries to break cycle of violence in Oakland

In a Castlemont High School classroom converted into a theater for the day, seven-year-old Junior returned home from school to face his parents after receiving a bad report card. “How the hell did you get...
Ile Omode students march into the auditorium dressed as their ancestors, as parents and teachers applaude.

Children celebrate Black History Month at Ile Omode Elementary

Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, and a number of famous African Americans ancestors made an appearance at an elementary school in East Oakland on the final day of Black History Month. Ancestor Day 2013 at Ile...
"The shootings in Newtown are a tragedy, but I live in a community where Newtown happens every day," McBride said. "We need to have targeted approaches to addressing gun violence, not just universal strategies."

Pastor Michael McBride speaks out against gun violence

In January, about a month after the massacre that left 27 people dead in Newtown, Connecticut, Vice President Joe Biden met with a group of 12 religious leaders to discuss national strategies to combat gun...
Bailey's barbershop

Reggie Bailey’s Barbershop

“My last trip in the penitentiary, I had to make a decision on what I wanted to do with my life,” said Reggie Bailey, sitting in the swiveling barber chair in his small shop in...
SAVE members march against violence in Oakland.

Every Saturday, SAVE honors one of Oakland’s homicide victims with a march

On a recent Saturday morning in Oakland, a group of residents marched and chanted, “Stop the violence, stop the silence! Do something!” The group calls themselves SAVE, an acronym for Soldiers Against Violence Everywhere. “We...
College students practice their Bollywood dance performance hours before the real competition starts at Bollywood Berkeley.

Bollywood comes to Oakland’s Paramount Theater

At the Paramount Theater in downtown Oakland, UC San Diego's Bollywood dance team wowed judges Saturday with a film-worthy love story between a wealthy girl and a village boy who need to win a dance...