Community
Crowded in the back of St. Vincent de Paul’s community center, dozens of people paint an extensive wood panel with a mosaic of images—trees, faces, buildings and flowers. They’re creating a work for display at the center, but these painters aren’t professional artists, they’re low-income and homeless clients of St. Vincent de Paul.
Oakland North is continuing with our new feature. Every Wednesday, we will publish a photo submitted by one of our readers. This week’s photo is by Deborah Cussen.
Snap Judgment—which began airing weekly last July and is produced in Washington’s studio in Oakland—is now the fastest-growing show on National Public Radio, with more than 100 stations airing it weekly and over 160 having played its specials. All the episodes are available to stream on the show’s website (SnapJudgment.org) and to download as a podcast on iTunes.
Early morning rain didn’t stop thousands of people from swarming into a 96,000-square-foot warehouse for the annual preview of the White Elephant Sale, benefiting the Oakland Museum of California. Bargain-hunters scoured the donated goods–from bundles of utensils and slightly charred frying pans to vintage jewelry and ‘80s-style clothing.
Oakland North is continuing with our new feature. Every Tuesday, Oakland Animal Services will spotlight an “Animal of the Week” that’s up for adoption at their facility. This week it’s two rabbits, Noodle and Nugget.
On Saturday and Sunday, Oakland’s Chinese community came out to buy, sell and celebrate at the New Year Lunar Bazaar. The bazaar, which was started by the Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce in 1991, takes place every year at 9th and Franklin Streets in the Pacific Renaissance Plaza.
When it comes to groups that fight poverty, the Internal Revenue Service doesn’t immediately come to mind. But the CEO of Alameda County’s First 5 program, which funds efforts to support families with young children, says the IRS provides an overlooked service to low-income families, boosting their incomes substantially with a tax credit.
Hundreds of after-school program coordinators and instructors from seven Bay Area counties gathered Friday and Saturday at Oakland Technical High School for a conference focused on improving the quality and range of regional after-school programs.
Diaper costs are something that many non-parents don’t think about. Individual diapers seem relatively inexpensive and are often considered part of the cost of childcare, but for homeless or low-income families finding $1,100 a year for diapers, which is the average yearly cost to diaper a baby, can be an overwhelming household expense.