Oakland schools start Monday, Aug. 30 - where will your kids be when the last afternoon bell rings?

Julia Fong Ma, coordinator for after school programs for Oakland Unified School District, confirmed 83 schools have free after school programs this year. Participating schools are listed at the end of this article.

All offer academics, arts and recreational activity. Programs operate whenever school is in session for Oakland students, from the end of the school day to 6 p.m. All programs are funded by After School Education and Safety-Proposition 49 and 21st Century Community Learning Center government grants. Many are co-funded by the Oakland Fund for Children and Youth.

OUSD also partners with the following community organizations:

Alternatives in Action
Aspiranet
Bay Area Community Resources
Eagle Village Community Center
East Bay Asian Youth Center
East Bay Agency for Children
Girls Inc.
Higher Ground
Learning for Life
Murphy & Associates
Oakland Asian Students Educational Services
Oakland LEAF
PMA Consulting
Safe Passages
Spanish Speaking Citizens Foundation
Ujimaa Foundation
Urban Services YMCA
Youth Together

For information on enrolling and registering, Ma advised calling the school directly since policy can differ at each one. Some maintain a waiting list until families that meet site-defined criteria and need are enrolled first; then the program is open to any student of the school.

Despite continually decreasing school funding, there are educational and engaging courses to enrich the school experience for kids and to help out families.

Mirella Rangel, executive director of Oakland Leaf, said her organization provides free arts and accelerated education beyond what the schools can provide in these lean times at Ascend, Urban Promise and Arise schools.

Ascend Sunset Warriors is for all Ascend students and takes place every day at the school. Students learn youth empowerment, social justice, arts and urban ecology. Students referred by teachers or principals receive tutoring with structured lesson plans.

Urban Promise Academy students can attend Urban Arts at the school and take arts, hip-hop, kickboxing, video production and sports. Struggling students receive tutoring through Project Phoenix.

Youth Roots is available to all Oakland high school students; class capacity is about 25. Hopefuls must fill out applications, which are reviewed by youth interns and adult volunteers. The group meets at Arise High School about three days a week. Students learn how to express themselves through spoken word, music, journalism, social media, graphics, film and production.

Students also help maintain the community gardens at Ascend. Rangel said when students work side-by-side with parent and community volunteers, multicultural food growing information is exchanged while fulfilling one of human’s most basic and universal needs - growing food.

Youth Roots perform "Oakland State of Mind"

For more information about these programs, email Oakland Leaf at oaklandleaf@gmail.com.

~~~~~~

West Oakland Youth Standing Empowered - sponsored by Mandela Marketplace - is a program that shapes youth into community leaders.

Executive Director Dana Harvey said it’s open to all high school students, but focuses on West Oakland youth. Students must apply for the free program; it accommodates about 12 students who work six to 10 hours a week and are paid. Harvey said the students identify issues they want to work on for the year.

This year, the group project is “Healthy Neighborhood Store Alliance.” The students will help corner stores in West Oakland connect to locally sourced produce, small farmers and distributors to receive and sell fresh produce. The youth do outreach within the community to encourage people to shop corner stores for healthy food.

Email Quinton Sankofa, programs coordinator at qsankofa@mandelamarketplace.org or call (510) 433-0993 for application information.

~~~~~~

The Friends of Peralta Hacienda Historical Park after school program is “Project SOS: Sharing Oakland’s Stories,” a semester-long course in filmmaking, available to all Oakland high school students. Class capacity is about 20 and costs $100 for the semester. Some scholarships are available.

According to Ben Glickstein, who coordinates volunteer programs and outreach, students meet once a week at the facility center in the park. Participants learn to use camcorders, portable flip cameras and even cell phones to record their daily lives during the week, then process the various types of footage and edit them into short narrative films. Glickstein said this helps students understand they are part of history and reinforces the group’s vision: every human being makes history.

Email angel@peraltahacienda.org to learn more about this and other programs. 
For registration and scholarship information email ben@peraltahacienda.org or call (510) 532-9142.

~~~~~~

Schools providing free after school programs:

Elementary Schools

ACORN Woodland
Allendale
ASCEND
Bella Vista
Bridges Academy at Melrose
Brookfield
Burckhalter
Carl B. Munck
Cleveland
Community United
East Oakland Pride
Emerson
EnCompass Academy
Esperanza
Franklin
Fruitvale
Futures
Garfield
Glenview
Global Family
Grass Valley
Greenleaf
Hoover
Horace Mann
Howard
International Community School
Korematsu Discovery Academy
La Escuelita
Lafayette
Lakeview
Laurel
Lazear
Learning Without Limits
Lincoln
Manzanita Community
Manzanita SEED
Markham
Marshall
Martin Luther King Jr.
Maxwell Park
New Highland Academy
Parker
Peralta
Piedmont Avenue
PLACE at Prescott
REACH Academy
RISE
Sankofa Academy
Santa Fe
Sequoia
Sobrante Park
Think College Now

Middle Schools

Alliance Academy
Barack Obama Academy
Bret Harte
Claremont
Coliseum College Prep Academy
Edna Brewer
Elmhurst Community Prep
Frick
Madison
Melrose Leadership Academy
Roosevelt
ROOTS
United For Success
Urban Promise Academy
West Oakland
Westlake

High Schools

McClymonds
College Prep and Architecture at Fremont
Coliseum College Prep Academy
Dewey Academy
Far West
LIFE Academy
Mandela at Fremont
Media Academy at Fremont
Met West High
Oakland High
Oakland Technical
Ralph J. Bunche Academy
Rudsdale Continuation
Skyline
Street Academy
Youth Empowerment School

Call each school’s main office for specific enrollment information.