C.O.R.E. (Community Organizing and Radical Empowerment) is part of the Stand for Something (S4S) program, through which we work to engage young people ages 14 to 25 who face multiple barriers to success, teaching them cultural and self-awareness and activism while providing a meaningful role in community problem solving. The two strands of S4S are C.O.R.E. (Community Organizing and Radical Empowerment) and R.E.A.D.Y. (Real Employment Access for Determined Youth).

C.O.R.E. is a year-long intensive academy that trains youth in grassroots community organizing skills, taking them through each step from research, to campaign planning and execution, to evaluation. C.O.R.E. youth embark on winnable campaigns that function to improve local conditions, while they develop as leaders who possess the skills to create social change in their communities.

C.O.R.E. has been active in the movement to create teh West Oakland Teen Center (WOTC). In 2003, Oakland City Councilmember Nancy Nadel convened students, youth and community members to discuss the possibility of having a teen center in West Oakland in the Hoover-Foster area. Attendants overwhelmingly agreed that a teen Center in West Oakland was needed. In 2007, Councilmember Nadel purchased a building, located at 3233 Market St., the future home of the West Oakland Teen Center (name may be changed).

In 2008, she joined with Leadership Excellence's C.O.R.E. program to begin the planning stages of the Center. 4 C.O.R.E. interns sought to create a research project to identify the program and operational needs for the Center. The project has done that by surveying West Oakland youth, engaging in community outreach and organizing, and working with community members and organizations through an Advisory and several work committees: the program workgroup, the architecture workgroup and the organizational design group. In addition the interns wanted guidance and community support to pull off this ambitious planning process! Therefore, an Advisory Committee (AC) was created. The purpose of the Advisory Committee is to offer guidance, skills, vision, a new eye, resources, and commitment to building the Teen Center. Interns also wanted people who have a sense of humor.

WOTC Advisory Comittee members come from all walks of life-they are teachers, elected officials, parents, artists, long time residents and community workers, architects, inventors, and more! The AC is also made up of 10 youth! The AC has met three times since the beginning of the year, and have discussed outreach, surveys, workgroups, fundraising, and bringing together youth from all over West Oakland.

Accomplishments

After an elaborate process of community mapping the program workgroup has generated a list of recommended program areas to be housed in the center, as well as program areas that would require a referral. The community mapping process began by mapping out programs in West Oakland. This took a great deal of time and patience as the workgroup worked closely with one another to identify already existing programs and services provided in the area. This was of ultimate importance since the Center aims at providing services lacking in the area and not replicating existing ones.

The workgroup continued the community mapping process by using an existing program directory provided by the City of Oakland to identify the program areas already provided in West Oakland along with those lacking in the community. The directory included neighboring cities from San Francisco to Albany, which served as a good reference for comparison. The youth were able to see the extent of programs and services in other cities in order to gain a better idea of what was missing in West Oakland. The workgroup worked closely with the data results they collected from the Youth in West Oakland in order to match the needs of the community to the proposed program areas.

The workgroup focused on selecting program areas rather than identifying specific organizations that provide the services since recommendations of that degree would require a greater amount of evaluation and research of each organization. The quality of the programs is of upmost importance; therefore an additional phase will be recommended for this type of evaluation.

The following are some of the findings and recommendations made in regards to program areas by the workgroup:

* To include a Personal Development Program with a focus on counseling, leadership development, mentoring, and support groups.

* To include a Multi-Arts Program with a focus on media arts, visual arts, performing arts, and graphic arts (computer lab).

* To include an Education Program with a focus on college preparation, academic advising, tutoring, and a study hall.

* To include a Career Development and Employment Program with a focus on career counseling, self sustainability of the Center, and entrepreneurship.

* Referral services include health services, sports and recreation The architecture workgroup worked with Mr. Harry Overstreet, noted Oakland architect to design the floor plan and layout of the Center to include a computer lab and a kitchen area.

Lastly, the organizational design committee worked diligently to create a mission statement, written by youth. Look for our research findings to be debuted in a report and presented to City Council on September 27th, 2009 at 6:00 at a City Council meeting!