Oakland Digital (www.odalc.org), a 501(c)(3) non-profit that educates and inspires low-income communities through technology, brought the Hammer down on Oakland, wrapping a successful year with educational classes and capping it off with its second annual Inspiration Awards, honoring MC Hammer, singer/artist Goapele and technology leader Alex Bernstein of North Social.

Through Inspiration Awards 2011, Oakland Digital recognizes and honors prominent local Bay Area pioneers who have made substantial contributions to the community at large through their innovation and dedication in their chosen fields of: 1) business, 2) artistic creativity, and 3) technology.

It was a night of culmination for Oakland Digital Arts & Literacy Center (ODALC). After more than a year of striving to establish itself in a time of economic downturn, the local technology nonprofit succeeded in hosting its first annual Inspiration Awards, which celebrated the City of Oakland and honored three influential people for their significant contributions to the community…

Oakland Digital Arts & Literacy Center, or ODALC, cordially invites you to participate in Inspiration Awards 2010. This year’s awards banquet is scheduled to take place at Oakland’s historic Preservation Park, Wednesday, November 10th from 6pm-9pm. The event is expected to host approximately 120 prominent individuals from the Bay Area’s philanthropic and technology communities.

In its 125-year history, Preservation Park has experienced life cycle changes common to many urban areas. The community started out in the 1870’s as an upscale residential neighborhood made up of elaborate Victorian homes. By the 1970’s, however, many of the large homes had been subdivided into rooming houses and the neighborhood had deteriorated into what planners at the time considered “redevelopment” material. All but five of the structures on the two-block site were demolished. The construction of a new freeway adjacent to Preservation Park also threatened to destroy a significant percentage of the neighborhood’s historic Victorian homes. To preserve these historic assets, the City of Oakland created a public/private partnership to relocate the endangered buildings and to renovate the regrouped residential structures for a new life as a business neighborhood.