In an effort to promote unity, respect, pride, fun and education amongst the LGBTQ community and its allies, Blackout, Oakland’s Black Pride, is happening this weekend, July 30 through Aug. 1.

Bridging the Gap - a series of free community building workshops - is scheduled to take place from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at Defremery Park recreation center on 16th Street and Adeline. Bridging the Gap is an effort to unite older and younger generations through discussion and socializing. Sessions will touch on topics such as identity and naming oneself, economic development and empowerment, alternatives to clubbing, ageism and mentoring. There will be a barbecue after the workshops, from 2 to 6 p.m.

The weekend will kick off on Friday with a welcome mixer, a yacht party and a pajama jam party. Kimball’s Nightclub is hosting an after party on Saturday night. The weekend closes on Sunday with a festival at Edoff Memorial Bandstand. Club Rimshot at the Bench and Bar and LightsOut at Historic Sweets Ballroom will follow.

To learn more about Blackout, visit www.oaklandblackout.com/Oaklandblack/Home.html.

Workshop Speaker Bios:

Krys Freeman is a writer, web 2.0 evangelist and critical thinker for social justice. She is originally from Flushing, New York. She moved to the West Coast in 2003 to attend Occidental College. In 2008, Krys began publishing a blog, bLaKtivist.com, while serving as a Media Fellow at the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. There she developed a background in social media, to ensure the positive visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. She has since worked to amplify LGBT voices and the voices of their straight allies, via media outlets like the New York Times and Essence magazine, as well as blogs and other viral media platforms.

In 2008, Freeman relocated to the Bay Area. She now divides her time between a web content management position, her post as a board member and co-chair for the first Butch Voices Conference and management of a social network she created on NING called "The Definition" - a virtual meeting space for transgender men and masculine-identified women. In the past few years, she has facilitated several conference sessions examining how social media can be used to generate positive visibility for queer people. This includes a recent trip to Los Angeles in October 2009 to share this knowledge at the 17th Annual Models of Pride for LGBTQQI youth.

Ja'Net Morris was born and raised in Oakland, California, and is a product of the Brookfield Village community. She is currently the Recreation Director of the Eureka Vally Recreation Center and has been a youth outreach coordinator for 30 years in the Bay Area. During Morris's career, she has created more than 20 programs for inner city youth and specializes in working with high risk/homeless/LGBTQ youth.

Morris is dedicated to her visions of "every child deserves a family." As a testament to her dedication to Bay Area children over the last 30 years, she has mentored more than three generations of children from Oakland to San Francisco and has personally raised eight homeless youth from the Tenderloin in her home. Pride for Ja'Net is her belief that "Our community's future is only as strong as its children."

Jay Maldonado is a transgender, bi-cultural, Latino transplant from the East Coast. A native of New Jersey, he started his career as fundraiser. After years of wine and cheese events, he was moved by the need to connect with clients. In August 2005, Maldonado began to work for a small community-based organization in Newark, New Jersey, where he found his calling managing programs for recently emigrated families. After four years directing family literacy programs in Newark, he decided it was time for a change of scenery and moved to San Francisco.

Since arriving to the Bay Area, Maldonado has coordinated summer reading, parenting and after school programs in the San Francisco's Mission District. He received his Master's in Public Administration and brings extensive experience in program development to his role as Director of Social Change at Lyric. He prides himself on creating culturally sensitive programs that aim to build confidence, responsibility and life skills in youth.

Joe Hawkins is co-chair of Oakland Pride 2010. He also is a noted Oakland community activist and community organizer. In 2009, he was selected to be a Community Grand Marshall for San Francisco Pride. Hawkins also was chosen as one of Click Magazine’s top 25 Elite Black gay men in America.

Hawkins has served as a CEO of the Bay Area's first nonprofit tech training program for youth of color and executive director and administrator for various nonprofit organizations, including the AIDS Project of the East Bay. He was a founding organizer of the East Bay AIDS Walk and was co-producer of the nation’s first and largest black LGBT Film Festival in Oakland. Hawkins also owns one of the nation’s first black gay lifestyle websites and currently produces the largest weekly GLBT Hip Hop/R&B events in the Pacific Northwest. He is also the producer of Palm Spring,  California's, first international, annual gay/bi men of color getaway event called Blatino Oasis.
 
Derrick Miller-Handley has been actively involved in the queer youth community since 1996, having been involved in work that includes school safety for queer youth and families, HIV prevention and the development of specialized skill-building programs for Bay Area youth. The belief that all communities must be granted the opportunity to thrive drives the passion and commitment of Miller-Handley's work. He also is a student, artist, designer and all-around eccentric, with an affection for the fabulous.

Dana Johnson is a youth counselor, providing services for all youth, ranging from the age of 8 to 19 years old. Currently, she works as a queer youth counselor for Project Eden, located in Hayward and a juvenile hall institution counselor for San Mateo County. She received a Master's in Social Work from Cal State East Bay, with an emphasis in children, youth and families, and a Bachelor's degree from San Francisco Sate University in Criminal Justice. She also assist with coordinating Project Eden's annual Gay Prom.

Johnson is an activist advocating for the equal rights of LGBTQQI inmates within juvenile facilities, as well as general LGBTQQI issues regarding youth and their safety with coming out. She is an inspired poet, activist and consultant, working around violence prevention with at-risk youth. I also facilitate prevention/intervention educational groups for at-risk adolescents and provide motivational speaking.

Gina Harper is an entrepreneur, author, speaker and Internet marketing guru who is recognized as one of the leading social media marketers and business women. Gina teaches aspiring entrepreneurs how to succeed in business. She helps them start their first business online and provides one-on-one instruction on how to better market their business.

And Harper shows no signs of slowing down. Her business portfolio includes health and wellness, new media and self-help products and services. She firmly believes that every one of us is blessed and highly favored, and can master success by being a good student and being coachable.