Oakland Kids First

Save the date! You’re invited to celebrate youth achievements and 30 years of community impact with Oakland Kids First.

We’ll be celebrating our amazing youth participants at our “Looking Back, Moving Forward” event.

📅 Date: Saturday, June 6th, 2026
⏰ Time: 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM
📍 Venue: California Ballroom, 1736 Franklin St, Oakland, CA

RSVP to let us know you’re coming at the link in bio.
We can’t wait to see you there. This event is open to youth, families, and our broad community of supporters, volunteers and partners.

Swipe to see flyer in Spanish and Arabic.

Join us at Castlemont Farm this weekend to connect with the land, support our amazing students, and help build a future where they can thrive. A special thank you to our sponsors, Sankofa, The Buttery Movement, for making this event possible. .garden

Event Details:
🗓️ Date: Sunday, May 17th, 2026
⏰ Time: 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM
📍 Location: Castlemont Farm, 8601 MacArthur Blvd, Oakland, CA 94605 (Pull into the driveway to the left of the main building and drive to the back of the campus)

We’ll spend the day weeding, mulching, transplanting, seeding, and prepping bed plant.

Please wear clothes and shoes you don’t mind getting dirty. Remember to bring water and a pair of gloves if you have them.

Come ready to lend a hand and connect with our growing community. Let’s make a difference together. We can’t wait to see you there!

Last week, the Elevate Castlemont choir delivered a wonderful performance at the East Oakland Vocal Festival. A special thank you to Oakland Promise and Elevate Oakland for their support.

At the resource fair, we had the pleasure of meeting some of our incoming 9th graders. We’re excited to welcome them and get to know them better during our Knight Initiation from July 29-31.

From risk to resilience: help shape Oakland’s shoreline response to sea level rise.

Oakland is already being impacted by flooding, but we have a plan to address the risks and we need your input. Join one of our upcoming community workshops:

West Oakland: Saturday, May 2 2-4pm
East Oakland: Thursday May 7 5:30-7:30pm

You’ll have the chance to review flooding maps, meet with Port of Oakland staff and community partners to share about your relationship to the shoreline, and learn more about the solutions we’re investigating.

RSVP to help us ensure the Oakland shoreline remains safe and accessible for years to come! https://www.oaacadapt.org/events

We had an amazing turnout for our community workday at the Castlemont Farm and Garden! 🌱 A huge thank you to all the volunteers who helped us clear out hemlock and plant new seeds. It was inspiring to see everyone, especially the students, so engaged and passionate about the farm.

We couldn’t do this without our incredible sponsors: Civic Design Studio, Elevate Oakland, and the Rose Foundation’s New Voices are Rising program. Thank you for your vital support!

Want to get involved? Join us for our next community workday, sponsored by Sankofa, on Sunday, May 17th. We can’t wait to see you there

Join us at Castlemont Farm this weekend to get your hands dirty, support our amazing students, and help build a future where they can thrive.

Event Details:
🗓️ Date: Saturday, April 18, 2026
⏰ Time: 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM
📍 Location: Castlemont Farm, 8601 MacArthur Blvd, Oakland, CA 94605 (Pull into the driveway to the left of the main building and drive to the back of the campus)

We’ll spend the day weeding, mulching, transplanting, seeding, and working on the chicken run. You can also catch water quality monitoring demos hosted by New Voices Are Rising.

Please wear clothes and shoes you don’t mind getting dirty. Remember to bring water and a pair of gloves if you have them.

Come ready to lend a hand and connect with our growing community. Let’s make a difference together. We can’t wait to see you there!

Oakland Kids First is excited to announce that we are seeking a video production agency to create a short documentary-style film celebrating our 30th anniversary. We're looking for a creative partner to help us tell the powerful story of our organization and its 30 years of impact on Oakland's youth.

We are inviting proposals from Oakland/Bay Area-based agencies with expertise in documentary-style and non-profit storytelling. The deadline for proposal submission is Friday, April 17, 2026.

For full details on the project scope, budget, timeline, and submission requirements, please see the Request for Proposal here: https://bit.ly/4dahW7s

Please share with your networks. We look forward to receiving your proposal and exploring a potential partnership to bring the Oakland Kids First story to life.

Help inform Oakland Kids First’s future organizing campaigns by sharing what issues matter the most to you! If you are an Oakland kid between the ages of 13 and 24, please take our Youth Justice Priorities Survey today!

We have collected almost 900 surveys over the past month and have a goal of collecting 2,000 by the end of March. Whether you are in middle school, high school, community college, university, working, or somewhere in between, we want to hear from you! Your expertise and feedback are critical to making our communities safe, just, and equitable.

If you work with or know Oakland youth between the ages of 13–24, please share the survey with them. Access the Youth Justice Priorities Survey on our website (oaklandkidsfirst.org) or through the link in our bio.