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| 10/26/2009
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Economic Development: Leveraged the expertise of the Homeownership Center staff in combating the foreclosure crisis affecting our communities and assisted people at risk of losing their home by offering sound, unbiased information and free consultation services. Through our comprehensive set of services, including Spanish-English bilingual foreclosure prevention workshops and one to one mortgage delinquency counseling, in FY 2009 the HOC staff educated, counseled, and reached out to 689 families at risk of losing their homes to foreclosure. We also graduated 426 individuals from the Homeownership Center’s bi-monthly HUD-approved Homebuyer Education workshops, ensuring that future generations of homeowners are able to make informed decisions about their most important investment. In total, in FY 2009, the HOC conducted a total of 2,418 “service events” – the total combined number of individual counseling sessions, fast track homebuyer education sessions, financial fitness classes, full length Home Buyer Education workshops, post-purchase (non-default) workshops and foreclosure prevention workshops.
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| 10/26/2009
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Economic Development:
Continued success at the Fruitvale Public Market, a small business retail incubator that began operations in September of 2007 and had its grand opening in January of 2008. The Public Market offers storefront space, startup consultation and ongoing technical assistance. The 11 enterprises currently maintained at the Public Market provide 39 jobs to the community (21 part-time, 18 full-time, a net gain of 10 jobs over 2008). The Public Market was the recipient of Local Initiative Support Corporation’s (LISC) Spirit of Revitalization Award in the Area of Development in April 2008.
Improved the Fruitvale Commercial District community by reporting and cleaning over 1,003 incidents of graffiti, 90 incidents of illegal dumping, and reporting over 118 incidents of blight. We have also successfully coordinated over 264 volunteers for neighborhood cleanups.
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| 10/26/2009
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Social Development:
Expanded the pool of qualified bilingual/bicultural healthcare workers by partnering with community colleges and healthcare employers to develop programs to train medical assistants, dental assistants and medical interpreters. Program graduates have been placed in jobs in community health clinics located in four San Francisco Bay Area counties, as well as numerous other hospital and medical facilities. Within the 18 month period, we graduated 4 Medical Assistant cohorts for a total of 75 people, one Dental Assistant cohort with 10 people, and 2 Medical Interpreter cohorts for a total of 40 people.
Expanded the services of our One Stop Career Center, which provides workforce development services in seven languages to approximately 1,900 job seekers per year. Began offering Customer Service and Job Readiness workshops (in partnership with Oakland Adult School and one of our Head Start locations), which prepare job-seekers with soft skills such as resume-building, job application completion, and interview preparation.
Entered into a unique joint-use agreement with Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) that allows use of the recreational spaces at Cesar Chavez Educational Center in return for after-school programming coordinated by the Unity Council. This agreement facilitated and gave rise to the Oakland Schoolyards Initiative (OSI).
Expanded our Neighborhood Sports Initiative, which coordinates sports leagues and activities for 712 youth in a 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. After School Program, Mondays through Saturdays at the CCEC. Coordinated partnerships with local schools to implement a Fruitvale Youth Basketball League as well as a Girls’ Sports Program, both of which provide local youth with recreational opportunities while promoting a culture of academic and social success.
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| 10/26/2009
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Social Development:
Expanded the pool of qualified bilingual/bicultural healthcare workers by partnering with community colleges and healthcare employers to develop programs to train medical assistants, dental assistants and medical interpreters. Program graduates have been placed in jobs in community health clinics located in four San Francisco Bay Area counties, as well as numerous other hospital and medical facilities. Within the 18 month period, we graduated 4 Medical Assistant cohorts for a total of 75 people, one Dental Assistant cohort with 10 people, and 2 Medical Interpreter cohorts for a total of 40 people.
Expanded the services of our One Stop Career Center, which provides workforce development services in seven languages to approximately 1,900 job seekers per year. Began offering Customer Service and Job Readiness workshops (in partnership with Oakland Adult School and one of our Head Start locations), which prepare job-seekers with soft skills such as resume-building, job application completion, and interview preparation.
Entered into a unique joint-use agreement with Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) that allows use of the recreational spaces at Cesar Chavez Educational Center in return for after-school programming coordinated by the Unity Council. This agreement facilitated and gave rise to the Oakland Schoolyards Initiative (OSI).
Expanded our Neighborhood Sports Initiative, which coordinates sports leagues and activities for 712 youth in a 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. After School Program, Mondays through Saturdays at the CCEC. Coordinated partnerships with local schools to implement a Fruitvale Youth Basketball League as well as a Girls’ Sports Program, both of which provide local youth with recreational opportunities while promoting a culture of academic and social success.
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| 10/26/2009
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Social Development:
Implemented a summer Youth Tutoring and Enrichment Program at the Fruitvale Masonic temple which served 130 low-income youth. Programming consisted of ESL and academic tutoring and a variety of free, volunteer-run classes on subjects including martial arts, dance, music, and ESL classes for parents.
Members of our AmeriCorps program, which provides leadership development and service learning opportunities to approximately 18 community residents annually, participated in the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program. 15 of our members, ten of whom were certified in basic tax law, assisted 921 low-income clients complete their tax returns in 2009, making for a 4.42% increase over the previous tax year. The Federal Refunds Issued totaled $914,045; while Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) Refund totaled $254,730. This makes for a grand total of $1,168,775 returned to our community.
Launched a study funded by the California Endowment into health disparities affecting men and boys of color. The Latino Men and Boys project, part of the California Endowment’s statewide Building Healthy Communities Initiative, will investigate the root causes of health issues affecting males in our communities and recommend specific policy and program proposals to help combat them.
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| 10/26/2009
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Neighborhood Development:
Moved forward planning on Phase II of the Fruitvale Village, a project that will break ground in mid- to late- 2010, and create 275 units of high-density residential housing (including 92 units of affordable rental housing, or 33%) around a mass transit center.
Renovation is now underway at the Masonic Temple, with minimal youth programming underway. Full programming will resume at the completion of the renovation, slated for December 1, 2009.
Created more open, useable recreational space in the community by leveraging Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) and foundation funding for our Open Schoolyards Initiative, which redesigned and renovated two schoolyards in the Fruitvale and San Antonio neighborhoods. Planning is currently underway for several future schoolyard renovation projects.
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