Education
Oakland is the right location for a marijuana exhibition, because it is a “cannabis-friendly city,” says curator Sarah Seiter.
Guests could hear music and laughter the moment they walked through the entrance of Building L at Merritt College one chilly March evening. They were here for the community open house for the new Africana Studies Community Research Center and Curriculum, which focuses on educating the public on African-American Studies and history. Every inch of the room was occupied by excited attendees, trays of soul food, decorations and detailed pamphlets that explained how the interactive curriculum in the center’s computer…
Today’s episode is all about education in the East Bay. And not just your standard classroom education. Tune in to hear about an art class taught by a 10-year-old, an innovative organization bringing music education to a Richmond school and a program at Richmond Public Libraries that allow adults to receive a high school diploma.
“Ghost Town to Havana,” screened in Berkeley on Saturday, tells the stories behind the youth baseball team the Oakland Royals and its visit to Cuba’s capital.
Despite being one of the dance capitals of the world, with 73 public and private colleges and universities offer dance majors, for decades there hasn’t been a single-subject teaching credential in dance for the California public school system.
California’s FAIR Act is an attempt to diversify history curriculum—specifically, to represent in history lessons people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender and people with disabilities. The FAIR Education Act, or SB 48, went into effect on January 1, 2012. The law requires elementary, middle and high schools to represent these groups in history curriculum in a way that is “fair, accurate, inclusive and respectful”—or FAIR.
On March 23, members of the Pandora team held a music day at Roots International Academy, a middle school in East Oakland. This is a continuation of their Little Kids Rock program, which works to bring music education to schools serving a low-income student population.
The Bay Area’s first and only all-women construction and solar training program was launched last week in Berkeley. Women Build was launched in response to the low participation of women in the construction trades.
Any deaf visitors will be directed to DeafHope, which focuses specifically on providing services to victims of domestic violence in that community. “We just feel like there really is a need,” says Aracelia Aguilar, an empowerment director with DeafHope, speaking through a relay interpreter via phone. “And we can see how people are trying to survive. There’s such limited communication.”
DeafHope was founded in 2003 by Julie Rems-Smario along with eight other women, who recognized there was a need for specialized services. Previously, says Rems-Smario, also speaking through a relay interpreter, in domestic violence cases, it was often easier for survivors to stay in an abusive home where the abuser knew sign language than to access services available for sexual assault or domestic violence victims, which were designed for the hearing community.