WHAT WE DO
Communities like ours face the impacts of environmental injustice every day. As temperatures rise due to climate change, low-income and communities of color along the I-880 corridor in Oakland stand to be hit first and worst by more frequent and intense heat waves, poor air quality, and strong storms. Oakland Youth Advancing Climate Action (OYACA) engages Oakland youth through climate and community justice education in tandem with participatory research to assess the conditions of their homes, schools, parks and green spaces. OYACA partner organizations support youth leaders in advancing planning and policy solutions that strengthen community resilience to these local climate change impacts based on their experiences and their visions for a better future in their communities.
OYACA PROJECT GOALS:
1. Engage
Engage youth in YPAR activities to assess conditions of existing infrastructure at homes, schools, parks, recreation centers, and green spaces. This can include assessing heating, cooling & ventilation, air quality & ambient temperatures, green space, permeable surfaces & tree cover.
2. Develop
Engage participating youth in developing recommendations for policy actions & youth-led solutions, and sharing them with peers, community members, school administrators, agency staff, and other decision-makers.
3. Evaluate
Evaluate whether engaging youth in action research leads to increased awareness, confidence, and ability to advance personal and policy actions to improve resilience in their homes, schools, and community through focus groups with youth, pre- and post- participant feedback, project partner feedback, and in-program observation.
WHO WE ARE
OYACA is a Youth-led Participatory Action Research collaboration of local university and community partners funded by a California Climate Action Research grant from the University of California’s Office of the President and a Community Engaged S/Hero Award from the Strategic Growth Council. OYACA partners include:
- CSU East Bay,
- Frontline Catalysts,
- Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice (CURYJ),
- CREATE Praxis,
- Ceres Policy Research,
- San Francisco State University and
- East Bay Academy for Young Scientists (EBAYS) at UC Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science.
Key Project Milestones
THE OYACA TEAM
CERES POLICY INSTITUTE
Angela Irvine
Kerby Lynch
CSU – EAST BAY
CURYJ
George Galvis
Sergio Arroyo
Senai Gebretensae
Xochtil Larios
Frankie Ramos
J. Vasquez
CREATE PRAXIS
Catalina Garzon-Galvis
Jacy Bowles
EBAYS
Colleen Sutherland
Kevin Cuff
FRONTLINE CATALYSTS
Marcus Cinque Harris
Xochitl Cortez, Co-Principal Investigator
Karina Lopez
SFSU
Jason Ferreira
Gopal Dayaneni
GET INVOLVED
CURRENT + UPCOMING PROGRAMS
CONTACT US
- Tony Marks-Block, tony.marksblock@csueastbay.edu
- Catalina Garzon-Galvis, cgarzon.create@gmail.com
- Jacy Bowles,jbowles@curyj.org
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
GET INVOLVED
CURRENT + UPCOMING PROGRAMS
CONTACT US
- Tony Marks-Block, tony.marksblock@csueastbay.edu
- Catalina Garzon-Galvis, cgarzon.create@gmail.com
- Jacy Bowles,jbowles@curyj.org