Uncategorized
School Buzz: “Stay Positive and Help Others,” says Zimbabwe Davies
Zimbabwe Davies is one focused individual who continues to spread positive energy along his journey.
As a foster youth, his aunt Desiree Jeffery took him under her wing and gave him the support he needed. Since then, Davies has been on an incredible journey.
He produced two fashion show fundraisers to benefit the Independent Living Skills Program (ILSP) that provides assistance to current and former foster youth. Both fundraisers combined raised $12,500 that went towards school and housing costs for foster youth in ILSP.
Davies also created creative writing workshops to help youth better express themselves.
Always surrounded by people that believed in him, Davies was never afraid to just be himself. This, he says, allowed him to play on his strengths, which helped him excel.
“I produced my first fashion show at 20 years old,” said Davies. “I received the Angel Award from actress Terri J. Vaughn and was presented by actress Nia Long. From that, I wrote and produced a documentary film called ‘Enter a Challenger, Exit a Champion.’”
As an MC for the Silence the Violence movement, I have spoken on numerous panels for foster youth, he said.
With all of his achievements, Davies devotes his time to give back to the community. He volunteers as a football coach at deFremery Park in West Oakland with kids ages 7-13 years old. He has learned that through the care that was given to him through his auntie Desiree.
“When I was having programs like ILSP, that support current and former foster youth, it really helped. Having mentors in place that are positive role models gave me the hope that I needed as I was navigating through life, by building healthy relationships with people,” said Davies.
Davies’ story is motivation to remain focused and keep moving on despite your circumstances.
“Having faith and belief is the key, along with having a positive attitude and being optimistic during challenging times,” he said.
Davies encourages others to, “Stay positive, help others, make time for others, write your thoughts down, execute your plan, and share it with the world so the world can be inspired.”
Uncategorized
Oakland Housing and Community Development Department Awards $80.5 Million to Affordable Housing Developments
Special to The Post
The City of Oakland’s Housing and Community Development Department (Oakland HCD) announced its awardees for the 2024-2025 New Construction of Multifamily Affordable Housing Notice of Funding Availability (New Construction NOFA) today Five permanently affordable housing developments received awards out of 24 applications received by the Department, with award amounts ranging from $7 million to $28 million.
In a statement released on Jan. 16, Oakland’s HCD stated, “Five New Construction Multifamily Affordable Housing Development projects awarded a total of $80.5 million to develop 583 affordable rental homes throughout Oakland. Awardees will leverage the City’s investments to apply for funding from the state and private entities.”
In December, the office of Rebecca Kaplan, interim District 2 City Councilmember, worked with HCD to allocate an additional $10 Million from Measure U to the funding pool. The legislation also readopted various capital improvement projects including street paving and upgrades to public facilities.
The following Oakland affordable housing developments have been awarded in the current round:
Mandela Station Affordable
- 238 Affordable Units including 60 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
- Award: $15 million + previously awarded $18 million
- Developer: Mandela Station LP (Pacific West Communities, Inc. and Strategic Urban Development Alliance, LLC)
- City Council District: 3
- Address: 1451 7th St.
Liberation Park Residences
- 118 Affordable Units including 30 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
- Award: $28 million
- Developer: Eden Housing and Black Cultural Zone
- City Council District: 6
- Address: 7101 Foothill Blvd.
34th & San Pablo
- 59 Affordable Units including 30 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
- Award: $7 million
- Developer: 34SP Development LP (EBALDC)
- City Council District: 3
- Address: 3419-3431 San Pablo Ave.
The Eliza
- 96 Affordable Units including 20 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
- Award: $20 million
- Developer: Mercy Housing California
- City Council District: 3
- Address: 2125 Telegraph Ave.
3135 San Pablo
- 72 Affordable Units including 36 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
- Award: $10.5 million
- Developer: SAHA and St. Mary’s Center
- City Council District: 3
- Address: 3515 San Pablo Ave.
The source of this story is the media reltations office of District 2 City Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan.
Alameda County
Oakland Acquisition Company’s Acquisition of County’s Interest in Coliseum Property on the Verge of Completion
The Board of Supervisors is committed to closing the deal expeditiously, and County staff have worked tirelessly to move the deal forward on mutually agreeable terms. The parties are down to the final details and, with the cooperation of OAC and Coliseum Way Partners, LLC, the Board will take a public vote at an upcoming meeting to seal this transaction.

Special to The Post
The County of Alameda announced this week that a deal allowing the Oakland Acquisition Company, LLC, (“OAC”) to acquire the County’s 50% undivided interest in the Oakland- Alameda County Coliseum complex is in the final stages of completion.
The Board of Supervisors is committed to closing the deal expeditiously, and County staff have worked tirelessly to move the deal forward on mutually agreeable terms. The parties are down to the final details and, with the cooperation of OAC and Coliseum Way Partners, LLC, the Board will take a public vote at an upcoming meeting to seal this transaction.
Oakland has already finalized a purchase and sale agreement with OAC for its interest in the property. OAC’s acquisition of the County’s property interest will achieve two longstanding goals of the County:
- The Oakland-Alameda Coliseum complex will finally be under the control of a sole owner with capacity to make unilateral decisions regarding the property; and
- The County will be out of the sports and entertainment business, free to focus and rededicate resources to its core safety net
In an October 2024 press release from the City of Oakland, the former Oakland mayor described the sale of its 50% interest in the property as an “historic achievement” stating that the transaction will “continue to pay dividends for generations to come.”
The Board of Supervisors is pleased to facilitate single-entity ownership of this property uniquely centered in a corridor of East Oakland that has amazing potential.
“The County is committed to bringing its negotiations with OAC to a close,” said Board President David Haubert.
Arts and Culture
Rise East Project: Part 3
Between 1990 and 2020, Oakland lost nearly half of its Black population due to economic and social forces. East Oakland, once a middle-class community, is now home to mostly Black families living in poverty.

The Black Cultural Zone’s Pivotal Role in Rebuilding Oakland’s Black Community
By Tanya Dennis
Between 1990 and 2020, Oakland lost nearly half of its Black population due to economic and social forces. East Oakland, once a middle-class community, is now home to mostly Black families living in poverty.
In 2021, 314 Oakland residents died from COVID-19. More than 100 of them, or about 33.8%, were Black, a high rate of death as Blacks constitute only 22.8% of Oakland’s population.
This troubling fact did not go unnoticed by City and County agencies, and the public-at-large, ultimately leading to the development of several community organizations determined to combat what many deemed an existential threat to Oakland’s African American residents.
Eastside Arts Alliance had already proposed that a Black Cultural Zone be established in Deep East Oakland in 2010, but 2020’s COVID-19 pandemic galvanized the community.
Demanding Black legacy preservation, the Black Cultural Zone (BCZ) called for East Oakland to be made an “unapologetically Black” business, commercial, economic development community.
Established initially as a welcoming space for Black art and culture, BCZ emerged into a a community development collective, and acquired the Eastmont police substation in Eastmont Town Center from the City of Oakland in 2020.
Once there, BCZ immediately began combating the COVID-19 pandemic with drive-thru PPE distribution and food giveaways. BCZ’s Akoma Market program allowed businesses to sell their products and wares safely in a COVID-compliant space during the COVID-19 shutdown.
Currently, Akoma Market is operated twice a month at 73rd and Foothill Boulevard and Akoma vendors ‘pop up’ throughout the state at festivals and community-centered events like health fairs.
“Before BCZ existed, East Oakland was a very depressing place to live,” said Ari Curry, BCZ’s chief experience officer and a resident of East Oakland. “There was a sense of hopelessness and not being seen. BCZ allows us to be seen by bringing in the best of our culture and positive change into some of our most depressed areas.”
The culture zone innovates, incubates, informs, and elevates the Black community and centers it in arts and culture, Curry went on.
“With the mission to center ourselves unapologetically in arts, culture, and economics, BCZ allows us to design, resource, and build on collective power within our community for transformation,” Curry concluded.
As a part of Oakland Thrives, another community collective, BCZ began working to secure $100 million to develop a ‘40 by 40’ block area that runs from Seminary Avenue to the Oakland-San Leandro border and from MacArthur Boulevard to the Bay.
The project would come to be known as Rise East.
Carolyn Johnson, CEO of BCZ says, “Our mission is to build a vibrant legacy where we thrive economically, anchored in Black art and commerce. The power to do this is being realized with the Rise East Project.
“With collective power, we are pushing for good health and self-determination, which is true freedom,” Johnson says. “BCZ’s purpose is to innovate, to change something already established; to incubate, optimizing growth and development, and boost businesses’ economic growth with our programs; we inform as we serve as a trusted source of information for resources to help people; and most important, we elevate, promoting and boosting Black folks up higher with the services we deliver with excellence.
“Rise East powers our work in economics, Black health, education, and power building. Rise East is the way to get people to focus on what BCZ has been doing. The funding for the 40 by 40 Rise East project is funding the Black Culture Zone,” Johnson said.
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