from the dig.coop and the East Oakland Boxing Association:

East Oakland Youth Facility Completes Green Job Training Program & Unveils Model site 
for Water Efficiency, Harvesting and Re-Use  ---Join Us for a Graduation Ceremony, Open House, and Celebration with Complimentary Food and Music 

Saturday, November 21, 2009 * 10am - 3pm
816 98th Avenue, Oakland 94603

East Oakland Boxing Association, (EOBA) youth interns are pleased to showcase the new 21st century model for appropriate water management with the completion of a gray-water washbasin system, rainwater catchment tank and a rain-garden landscape renovation. This sustainable water efficiency system represents the inaugural green capital and green job project the Oakland Redevelopment Agency is supporting through the new Green Works Development (GWD) Program.

 In August, through an Oakland Redevelopment Agency grant, EOBA hired DIG Cooperative, an East Bay based ecological design/build firm to run the 3.5-month green job training program in which the youth interns learned and utilized essential skills such as plumbing, landscaping and Permaculture design principles. 

The significance?  An $800 average water bill within each 2-month cycle.

The outcome?  A comprehensive facility water audit and site remodel including: water conservation retrofit of sinks, showers and dual flush toilet kits, 18 thousand gallons of roof water annually captured in a cistern to irrigate crops with a controlled overflow to a bamboo pollution screen on the property edge of 98th avenue, a garden washbasin for fruit tree irrigation, and a series of rainwater Earthworks in the landscape with drought tolerant plants.

These systems combined will provide enough water to augment almost three quarters of the facility’s water needs. 

Aside from seeding job skills within the emerging green field of water efficiency, the completed Urban Water Stewardship, Harvesting and Reuse Pilot Program supports the irrigation needs for EOBAs upcoming "Urban Fresh Gardeners" edibles retail program.
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Graduation Ceremony & Speeches at 1pm *

Free public tours of the facility will be provided throughout the day

For further information, please contact Ingrid Severson at Ingrid@dig.coop or 510-459-0584