Oakland! It's never boring. I'm sitting at Woody's Cafe & Laundromat, doing the OL update, surrounded by original articlework by DESI W.O.M.E  & Ras Terms and noting how the gas prices are going up as the weather warms.

The next generation of Oakland's social entrepreneurs got a boost this weekend: Seven youth teams won $1000 each as seed capital for their mission-driven ventures. This was the first Bay Area round of Youth Venture funding from Ashoka, a global association of the world’s leading social entrepreneurs

These prizes were awarded in a March 6 event where each team presented. Oakland Local was there, and interviewed several of the young entrepreneurs. Watch our video...

Oakland LGBT Roundtable meeting
Monday, March 8, 2010 at Oakland City Hall ,
1 Frank Ogawa Plaza, Hearing Room 4 (2nd floor), at 5:30pm.

Topics will include: 
- The Survey Committee will give an update about the status of the needs assessment survey.
- Oakland Pride committee will give an update on the developments of East Bay Pride.

Days after the March 4th education Day of Action, activists and concerned citizens around the city are having discussions about the value and impact of the protests, especially the movement onto the 980 Freeway that led to 150 arrests, many of young people.

Now in it's second year, Oakland's International Women's Day Festival will take place this Saturday - March 6, 2010 - in the Fruitvale Dimond District.  Organized by Bay Area women's activist Roke Noir, in collaboration with Code Pink, the event promises to be a day of celebration, recognition, and affirmation of Bay Area women.

 What are you doing this upcoming Saturday?  Do you want to be inspired?  Meet the next generation of changemakers?  Cultivate some hope for the future?

We at Oakland Local are curious about your ideas for the site.

We've created a handy new form to allow you to share your thoughts about story ideas and coverage areas.

Bookmark it and be sure to let us know when inspiration strikes you.

 What are you doing this upcoming Saturday?  Do you want to be inspired?  Meet the next generation of changemakers?  Cultivate some hope for the future?

The deadline for the Eva Lowe Fellowship for Social Justice is closing in.

Monday, March 8, is the last day to turn in Fellowship applications for the eight-week progressive program designed to help activists and organizers improve the lives of the working class Chinese immigrant community.

Nine-year-old Orion Skye Smit-Holm will be selling the first apples, cider and dried fruit ever offered at the Oakland Community Farmers Market this Saturday.

The queen-size event of the week (so not-so-much under-the-radar) that you should be plugging into is Thursday's Day of Action to Defend Public Education.  Oakland's main event in this action is the downtown rally from 12-4, with feed-in marches coming from Laney College, Berkeley (at Sproul Plaza entrance), and Fruitvale Bart.  For more data, see Irene Florez' round-up of Bay Area events.