COVID-19 RESPONSE EFFORTS

VIRTUAL YOUTH PROGRAMS With the health and safety of our students and community as our top priority, Oakland Leaf transitioned all our programming online in March to align with the local shelter-in-place order. We immediately began facilitating virtual programming, including restorative justice circles, daily one-on-one check-ins with youth, and video tutorials and webinars. We centered our program themes of social-emotional learning, critical thinking, creative expression, and leadership development, engaging students in fun and meaningful ways, while providing them with a sense of connection, community, and stability in a time of unprecedented social disconnection and uncertainty.

SUPPORT FOR FAMILIES Oakland Leaf staff also provided new types of support for our students’ families. We compiled and disseminated a comprehensive list of resources and we facilitated numerous group workshops and one-on-one meetings to help parents apply for unemployment, small business loans, and other resources.

FACE MASK DISTRIBUTION Reflecting long-standing systemic health and social inequities, Oakland Leaf neighborhoods have some of the highest rates of COVID-19 cases in all of Alameda County. Thanks to a generous in-kind donation from the Pacific Workers’ Compensation Law Center, we were able to distribute reusable cloth face masks to the East Oakland youth and families who need them most.

FOOD DISTRIBUTION Since the onset of COVID-19, food insecurity and hunger has dramatically increased in East Oakland. As part of our ongoing commitment to increase access to healthy food for our students and families, along with distributing organic produce from our school based gardens, we partnered with Semifreddi’s Bakery and have been consistently delivering 600+ loaves of bread a week directly to Oakland Leaf families.

Before the COVID crisis, East Oakland families were already struggling financially. Additionally we do not have access to affordable, fresh, and healthy food options in our neighborhoods. Oakland Leaf initiated our direct food distribution, in part, to substitute for our school-based food pantries and the healthy snacks and meals provided in our after-school programs.

We will continue our work delivering food to our youth and families as long as programs remain virtual.