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HOPE Collaborative was formed through an invitation from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation’s Food and Fitness Collaborative initiative in 2007.
Our work is shaped by the belief that community leadership and ownership are critical to the success of policy and systems change efforts. From 2007-2009, HOPE conducted a participatory planning process, engaging hundreds of Oakland residents in assessing their communities’ strengths and needs and developing a Community Action Plan (CAP) in the areas of:
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HOPE Collaborative brings together diverse stakeholders from many sectors, including:
We are convened by the Alameda County Public Health Department.
HOPE has had success in many streams of work since the collaborative formed in 2007. Here are some of our accomplishments to date:
- City and County agencies
- Community-based organizations
- Oakland residents
We are convened by the Alameda County Public Health Department.
HOPE has had success in many streams of work since the collaborative formed in 2007. Here are some of our accomplishments to date:
Food Systems
- Worked with City of Oakland to seed the Oakland Food Policy Council, which has now grown and recently passed progressive urban agriculture policies, make it easier for Oakland residents to grow and sell food.
- Launched a Healthy Corner Store Project, which supports 7 small stores in East and West Oakland to carry healthier foods.
- Developed a Food Justice Curriculum, which has been implemented in multiple community venues as a way to raise awareness about food issues and engage more Oakland residents in the food movement.
- Developed a business model called “Last Mile Foods” which will bring healthy, locally made foods to community sites.
Built Environment
- Spearheaded Healthy Development Guidelines, a policy tool which takes an upstream, public health approach to city planning and assists the City Planning Department in considering health impacts of proposed developments as they make planning decisions.
- Completed an Elmhurst Neighborhood Planning Process, focused on a historically disinvested community in East Oakland, which mapped resident priorities and resulted in the production of an Elmhurst Neighborhood Plan, which we are in the midst of implementing.
Community and Youth Engagement
- Established a Youth Action Board, which started with 5 members, and today has 18 active members who are leading innovative projects around school food, community food education, media story-telling project, and healthy corner store work.
- Engaged close to 1000 Oakland Unified School District students in taste testing activities to bring student voice into decisions around school meals, specifically around which menu items to feature as part of OUSD’s “California Thursdays” program, which features meals with ingredients sourced from California farms.
- Piloted a youth park stewardship program which created summer jobs for Oakland youth to transform underutilized land into active garden spaces.
- Led 3 intensive leadership training programs for Oakland residents to build advocacy, facilitation, communications, and other skills so they can be more effective community advocates.