HIP-HOP IN OAKLAND
Oakland Community Centers: Encouraging, Organizing, and Providing Resources for Artistic Youth
Youth Centers in Oakland provide after school and weekend programs in art, dance, music along with leadership training, community outreach, and career development. Youth Centers are devoted to encouraging positive creative outlets for the many "at risk" young people of Oakland and support young artists in pursuing their creative aspirations. The focus on collaboration and comradery within youth centers builds strength and understanding among Oakland's future generations and ensures a positive and safe environment for the hip-hop youth to exchange ideas and create politically and socially relevant art. Community support is integral in empowering self-esteem in young artists, encouraging possibilities for their future beyond stereotypes and statistics, and inspiring and educating Oakland's youth.
Myself (back row, 2nd from the left) and friends in an after school program. Oakland, 2005
Youth Centers Making a Difference in Oakland
Youth Uprising
Youth Uprising (nicknamed YU) is a center for Oakland youth, ages 13-24, located in East Oakland. Their mission statement is "to transform East Oakland into a healthy and economically robust community by developing the leadership of youth and young adults and improving the systems that impact them." The center provides support for young artists with programs in sound engineering and music composition as well as providing free studio recording and dance rehearsal space. The youth can show their skills at "Free Style Fridays" that allow artists of all disciplines to appreciate each other's work.
United Roots
Founded in 2009, United Roots is a collaboration of many East Bay organizations and has the distinction of being the first "green" center of its kind. United Roots provides services to youth most highly effected by urban and poverty related issues such as economic struggles and violence. United Roots defines their mission statement as a cycle of four steps used to aid the youth that attend their programs; civic engagement, personal development, creative arts education, and career & workforce membership that circles back to civic engagement. United Roots Provides professional media training and has produced hundreds of media projects created by the young people they have educated and inspired.
Destiny Arts Center
Destiny Arts Center was established in 1988 and pursues partnerships with Oakland's public schools to provide arts education and career development by conducting seminars during school hours, in after school centers, and through incarcerated youth programs. Destiny Arts Center provides services to almost 3,000 children in Oakland, 84% who fall beneath the poverty line. The Destiny Arts Youth Performance Company (DAYPC) integrateship-hop culture with other genres of music, dance and theater to create original performance pieces focusing on social reform. Social activist Angela Davis has endorsed DAYPC and praises their "political activism and cutting edge cultural expression."