Health
Many Oakland urban farmers raise animals for a healthier, sustainable and cheaper source of food, and their backyard farms can foster positive relationships between neighbors, according to a recent report on urban livestock practices in the city.
Women’s Cancer Resource Center celebrated its 16th annual Swim A Mile fundraiser this weekend. Cancer survivors, their supporters, center staff and others swam laps in support of the center’s services, while spectators waved homemade signs and cheered encouragement.
A Safe Place hosted its 10th annual Walk Against Domestic Violence and Teen Dating Violence at Lake Merritt on Saturday to kick off Domestic Violence Awareness Month. In 2010, Alameda County reported over six thousand calls for domestic violence – more than two thousand of those calls involved a weapon.
The California Healthy Food Financing Initiative (CHFFI) landed on Governor Jerry Brown’s desk last week, after the state Senate and Assembly both voted to approve it by a wide margin. If signed by the governor, the bill would help bring more grocery stores, farmers’ markets and other sources of produce to under-served communities throughout the state, including West and East Oakland.
At the Eat Real Festival in Oakland’s Jack London Square on Saturday afternoon, crowds of people gathered on the waterfront, queuing up for $4 miniature sweet-potato pies and $5 citrus pork sandwiches on organic, brick oven flatbread. But in front of Bay Area Bikes, four cyclists had a different idea—riding gloves were slipped on, four helmet locks clicked shut, and the group rode away from the food festival to get an inside look at some of Oakland’s local food and drink makers.
The scent of locally-raised barbeque meat, organic Asian Fusion cuisine, and many other tasty bites cooked by dozens of food trucks is wafting over Jack London Square for the third annual Eat Real Festival this weekend.
An estimated 21,000 healthcare workers joined picket lines, attended rallies or simply stayed home from work in protest of proposed employee benefit cuts at 40 hospitals across California.
Kindergarten and first grade students gathered in the auditorium of Horace Mann Elementary Wednesday afternoon cheered as Oakland Police officers handed teachers a special community policing accessory—four brown teddy bears, with blue bows tied around their necks.
The third annual annual Eat Real Festival’s organizers hope the event is so much fun you’ll forget it’s reshaping your assumptions about food. The free event in Jack London Square this weekend, which is billed as half street festival, half block party, will feature local music and film screenings alongside food workshops, demonstrations, contests and scores of vendors.