June 2014 Newsletter


Lately, our focus at HOPE Collaborative has been around food justice and working on building a healthier food system. Our staff and members got to connect with other organizations to learn about similar efforts around the country. Read below about our trip to the Kellogg Food & Community Gathering and other updates!   
HOPE Spotlight: Adralyn Zulu, Youth Action Board (YAB) Member
Adralyn Zulu, YAB member
Adralyn was a longtime volunteer at City Slickers Farm (CSF), where she enjoyed growing, harvesting, and eating the food from the gardens. She was introduced to HOPE Collaborative by a staff member at CSF and was attracted to HOPE's food justice focus and vibe. She became a HOPE YAB member and has returned to complete her second term to better Oakland.

 

Adralyn attends weekly YAB meetings where she works with other YAB members to plan small projects that involve youth's voice to improve their health and wellbeing. Currently, Adralyn wants to highlight their garden project at E.C. Reems Academy. The YAB hopes to grow fresh fruits and vegetables for the school to use for school lunches and for residents to have access to.

 

Since Adralyn has been with HOPE, she has learned how to be a leader. One ground rule at the YAB meetings that reminds her to be a good youth leader is to "step up, step back". At times, it's good to step up and lead, but it is important to remember to step back to give another person the spotlight.

Working Towards an Equitable Food System
2014 W.K.K.F. Food & Community Gathering in Detroit, MI.
On May 20-22, 2014, a HOPE Collaborative delegation joined 600 others in Detroit for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation's 2014 Food & Community Gathering: Harvesting Change.  Attendees shared and learned about best practices, challenges, trends and opportunities focused on addressing food inequities.  Angela Hadwin (HOPE staff), Angela Jenkins (Kaiser Permanente), Ariane Michas (CAFF), Chanel Williams, Diane Woloshin (Alameda County Public Health Department), Kelly Carlisle (Acta non Verba), Leon Davis, Mariah LaFleur (Samuels Center), Mario Balcita (HOPE staff), Michelle Oppen (Oakland Unified School District), Paula Beal, and Sabrina Wu (HOPE staff) represented HOPE Collaborative. 

HOPE staff and members actively contributed to the planning and knowledge-sharing at the convening by presenting and organizing several sessions focused on food retail innovation, youth engagement and developing career pipelines, engaging local communities in federal food and farm policy, and community economic development ordinances to support food innovation. Participants not only learned about food movements across the country but also had a chance to learn from local Detroit leaders about current struggles, such as water rights.

HOPE participants reflected that the convening helped them more deeply understand how their on-the-ground work connects to broader policy issues. Kelly Carlisle from Acta non Verba shared that the convening made her realize how testing the soil on her urban farm for nutrients and toxins is important both for her and the people eating the food she grows but also for informing urban agriculture policy. She says, "Maybe I'm not knocking on doors at City Hall, but I am still feeding a machine." And the people of Oakland, we'd like to add! 


HOPE Participatory Evaluation Process
What is evaluation and why do we evaluate? Samuels Center partners with HOPE to facilitate quarterly trainings with HOPE members to understand evaluation and to develop and implement a participatory evaluation process. The trainings so far have covered the basics of evaluation; defining outcomes and indicators for HOPE's community and youth engagement, corner store, and Elmhurst project; and collecting, analyzing, interpreting, and disseminating data.

Currently, Samuels is working with HOPE members to develop a local evaluation plan, with community-defined outcomes and measures, for the Elmhurst Neighborhood Project, community and youth engagement program, and the Healthy Corner Store Project. This has been an engaging process for HOPE members who are learning more about what evaluation is, why it is important, how to plan and conduct it, and how it directly relates to our work.
 
Shifting the Narrative with Social Media
Zero Divide hosted a conference with Building Healthy Communities sites located in Northern California to help communities shift their practice with tech and social media. As an organizational partner, HOPE's Youth Programs Coordinator, Mario Balcita, attended the conference and learned how to use tech and specifically social media to shift the narrative about East Oakland.

Social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram can be used as a tool to show what communities are like from actual residents. Organizations can use metrics from sites like Facebook or Constant Contact to see who is actually reading their updates and messages and see what is most effective in reaching constituencies.

The digital divide is a big issue affecting Oakland communities. This divide also impacts organizations who have been slow to adopt new technology to advance their work.

How can you use these platforms to advance your work and shift the stories of the communities you serve and the work you do?

 

Training of Trainers
Training of Trainers parrticipants connecting the dots.

Community members who are part of HOPE's leadership training series, a "Training of Trainers", are nearing completion of the training this month. The purpose of the trainings are for participants to serve as leaders within HOPE and at allied organizations, develop skills needed to serve in leadership roles within HOPE, develop a "practicum" for community members to put their learning into action, and provide concrete facilitation tools for community members to use. Facilitated by Omowale Satterwhite from Leadership Incorporated, the trainings cover a variety of skills including teambuilding, facilitation techniques, program planning and evaluation, forming and sustaining community collaboratives, effective communication, conflict resolution, and community leadership.

 

Upon completion of the training at the end of this month, participants will receive a leadership certification from HOPE Collaborative and will continue to hit the streets as powerful community change agents!

 

Stay tuned for more updates from the HOPE Collaborative. You can also visit us at www.hopecollaborative.net, like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn to find updates.
 

Like us on Facebook Follow us on TwitterView our profile on LinkedIn 

 


Since
rely,
HOPE Collaborative
Join Our Mailing List
In This Issue
HOPE Spotlight: Adralyn Zulu, YAB Member
Working Towards an Equitable Food System
HOPE Participatory Evaluation Process
Shifitng the Narrative with Social Media
Training of Trainers
Upcoming Events
 
Oakland Food Policy Council meeting on Thurs., July 19 from 4:30-7:30pm at 1000 Broadway, 5th floor, Room B

HOPE Steering Committee meeting on Tues., July 8 from 4-6pm at the HOPE office
 
Alameda County Social Services Agency Farm Stand every Monday from 10am-2pm at Eastmont Self-Sufficiency Center (6955 Foothill Blvd.)

Every Saturday from 9:30am-2pm, get fresh and healthy produce in West Oakland at the Freedom Farm Stand behind Brother's Kitchen (300 San Pablo)
Get Involved!

Donate  

 

Become a member

 

Intern

 

Employment Opportunities  

 

� 2014 HOPE Collaborative

 

221 Oak St. Ste. D, Oakland, CA 94607 | Office: (510) 444-4133 | Fax: (510) 444-4819

 HOPE is a project of The Tides Center