Shop with Whole Foods Market Oakland on April 6th, 2010 and 5% of the stores profit will be donated to the Oakland Digital Arts & Literacy Center (ODALC), a nonprofit organization founded with the purpose of training, mentoring, and inspiring Oakland’s underemployed youth to achieve higher career goals. Check out their amazing work at www.inspireoakland.com and www.odalc.org.

Thanks to the many dedicated volunteer work of high school students from Oakland (Tech Health Academy, Tech Key club, College Track, Oakland High, Skyline, Farwest) and even Lafayette (Acalanes High) and San Jose (Lynbrook and Newark High), the event was a success. And of course a big shot out to the big sponsors that made it happen (The City of Oakland, Whole Foods Market, Geico, Sports Basement, Oakland Raiders, Waste Management, Alameda County Medical Center, East Bay Front Runners & Walkers, Lake Merritt Joggers and Striders, and Lones+Wright Gis and Mapping, Avanti, East Bay Express, American Medical Response, KGO, Flyscooters, 96.5 Koit, CIM, Kaiser, See Jane Run, GreenLayer, Miller, Fox 2, Clif Bar, TV 36, Powerade, a Corrigan Sports Event, Sunshine Rafting).

A picture is worth a thousand words. And these say volumes about the beauty, energy and people behind OaklandSeen. And the power – candidates, elected officials and community leaders were out in full force at the OaklandSeen launch party. Who do you recognize from the crowd?

The East Bay Conservation Corps (EBCC) is a nonprofit organization based in Oakland with the mission to promote youth development and community service. Through service-learning, the EBCC engages young people in their educational and personal development while addressing real environmental and social issues.

I’m Ron Dellums, Mayor of Oakland, California. Why should Google select Oakland? Quite simply, because Oakland citizens get involved. Oakland is a dynamic city with unparalleled community involvement.

The Council needs to hear from us again! The community prevailed when we raised our voices against similar cuts in October 2008. WE CAN DO IT AGAIN! The Oakland City Council considers a 50% Cut to Oakland Arts at a special budget session on Thursday, April 1, 2010, 7pm. This is one move closer towards the elimination of the Cultural Funding Program, the long-established, competitive City program to provide arts and cultural services with attendance over 1.4 million.

Our Oakland : Eastside Stories is an integrated public art project by artist Rene Yung that will beautify the new East Oakland Community Library and create a new platform for community storytelling about East Oakland. The overall theme of the project is Mutuality + Transformation, meaning that as members of a community, each of us is interconnected and we have the power to individually and collectively take action to make positive changes in our communities.

OaklandSeen forges a pioneering new model for media and community engagement. Its information network highlights issues important to working people, people of color, young people. OaklandSeen links radio broadcasts, social networks, community news, blogs, and web resources to share a compelling mix of Oakland’s most credible and exciting voices — yours!

Solar Richmond develops green-collar jobs, clean energy, and economic opportunity through solar installation training and innovative job creation to empower emerging leaders of the green economy.

The Oakland Digital Arts and Literacy Center (ODALC) is partnering with Whole Foods Market and the City of Oakland to reach out and invite the local community to participate in a collaborative billboard design. The contest will effectively launch “Inspire Oakland,” a digital media project that encourages interest in graphic design and information technologies through creative expression. The ultimate goal of this project is to promote a positive image of Oakland that unites and inspires its diverse population,while encouraging young talent to jumpstart their digital media careers.