City Government

Council Awards $1.3 Million for LGBTQ Youth Services

Published

12 years ago

June 18, 2014

The Oakland City Council awarded $1.3 million in city grants to support LGBTQ youth Tuesday evening.

Approximately 540 LGBTQ young people per year are expected to benefit from the grants, which were awarded to five nonprofit organizations over a three-year grant cycle.

Council President Pro Tem Rebecca Kaplan (At Large) identified the funding last year when the Oakland Fund for Children and Youth (OFCY) Planning and Oversight Committee (POC) initially recommended a package of grant awards that did not adequately fund the needs of LGBTQ youth.

“It’s vital that we stand up for all young people in our community by providing the resources and support they need for success,” Kaplan said.

Kaplan discovered in 2013 that there were extra funds available for youth programs due to economic growth and asked city officials to allocate additional funds to OFCY that include providers of programs for LGBTQ youth.

In February, OFCY released a Request for Proposals – and the POC recommended five finalists at its May meeting.

Health Initiatives for Youth, La Clinica de la Raza, Destiny Arts Center, Save Our LGBTQYouth (a program of the AIDS Project of the East Bay and SMAAC Youth Center) and Youth UpRising were awarded grants at the council’s direction.

These pre-existing and new providers will provide access for LGBTQ youth across Oakland to support and services.

“We know kids in Oakland are dealing with so much,” said Cristy Johnston Limon, executive director of Destiny Arts Center, a nonprofit whose mission is to empower youth to find their voice through performing arts. “Together, we can provide powerful tools to address issues of bullying and violence and the day-to-day struggles of being a young person.”

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Up Next

Zendaya Cast to Play Aaliyah in Lifetime Biopic

Don't Miss

Internment Camp Survivor Spoke at Richmond School Renaming Meeting

Oakland Post

Click to comment

Activism

Oakland Post: Week of July 1 – 7, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of July 1 – 7, 2026

Published

4 days ago

July 5, 2026

Oakland Post

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Activism

Inaugural Juneteenth Awards Ceremony Celebrates the Fillmore’s Black History, Leadership and Resilience

Addressing more than 100 Black and Asian attendees, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie stated “San Francisco is reliant on the Black community, and we must invest in this community.”

Published

2 weeks ago

June 26, 2026

Oakland Post

District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, Rev. Dr. Amos Brown, Pastor Emeritus of Third Baptist Church, SF Mayor Daniel Lurie. Photo by Linda Parker Pennington.

By Linda Parker Pennington

The Fillmore Community Ambassadors held its first annual Juneteenth Wesley Johnson White Horse Awards ceremony on June 19 inside the newly reopened Fillmore Heritage Center.

The event featured awards for former San Francisco mayors London Breed and Willie Brown, along with Third Baptist Church Pastor Emeritus, Rev. Dr. Amos Brown.

The Koret Heritage lobby at the newly reopened center at 1330 Fillmore St. held a standing-room-only, culturally diverse and multi-generational audience while the art gallery featured photos of Fillmore community members in action, red Japanese lanterns, art and calligraphy, and Chinese artwork, giving the space a multicultural feel.

Addressing more than 100 Black and Asian attendees, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie stated “San Francisco is reliant on the Black community, and we must invest in this community.”

District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood acknowledged that “the Fillmore community has had a difficult history. Thanks to Rev. Amos Brown’s continuous focus on accountability and resistance, you hold us accountable and continue to inspire us.”

Mahmoud is referring to the Fillmore’s Japanese residents who were forced from their homes and sent to concentration camps during World War II. Black people occupied those homes until the return of their Japanese neighbors and then gave them back, while homes that had been unoccupied were lost. The presence of the Asian community on Juneteenth is a testament to that shared history.

In receiving his honor, Amos Brown elicited a powerful spontaneous call-and-response, where members of San Francisco’s many Black churches proudly shouted out the names: “Bethel AME! Providence Baptist! Jones Memorial! Glide!”

Awards program Master of Ceremonies Shawn Richards of Brothers Against Guns warmly introduced Breed, highlighting her many accomplishments, particularly on “March 16, 2020, when she became the first mayor to shut down a major U.S. city due to COVID-19, saving thousands of lives.”

The audience was captivated by Breed’s emotional speech touching on past traumas, present conditions, and future hopes for the neighborhood where she grew up.

She recalled another trauma of the neighborhood during the City’s redevelopment era in the 1960s, where Black residents were forced to move with a promise of being able to return that was largely unfulfilled.

“We remember when this land was just a field because they bulldozed hundreds of Victorian homes that Black people owned. They built the Fillmore Center, where most Black people can’t afford to live or start their own business. But we are still here.”