City Government

Youth Summit Calls on Employers to Invest in Boys and Men of Color

Published

10 years ago

July 22, 2016

The Invest in Youth Summit, sponsored by My Brother’s Keeper Alliance and other organizations, was held Thursday at the Oakland Convention Center, convening hundreds of boys and men of color between the ages of 18 and 29 for a day of opportunity and engagement.

The summit provided attendees a chance to interview with over 600 employers and participate in interactive, career-building workshops around topics including social media responsibility, entrepreneurship, and mentorship.

Also available were community resources such as health services, legal support, financial advising, and re-entry support were available.

Oakland participant Briana Franklin, 23, said, “This summit is really awesome and inspiring. Its good to see so many businesses and organizations reaching out to the community.”

Volunteer Yahru Baruti, a social worker from Alameda County Health Department, showed young men how to properly tie a necktie. He said he felt assisting at the summit was an extension of his work at the Juvenile Justice Center.

Oakland resident Aquan Markee, 22, came seeking a career in the aerospace industry: He was excited to make contacts and have five interviews.

Co-hosting the summit were the California Endowment, California Executives’ Alliance, City of Oakland, Ford Foundation, James Irvine Foundation and W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

Career Summit partners included Bay Area Council, LeadersUp, PolicyLink and Urban Strategies Council. Participating cities included East Palo Alto, Oakland, Richmond and San Francisco.

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Related Topics:Boys and Men of Color East Palo Alto Invest in Youth Summit jobs My Brother's Keeper Oakland Richmond San Francisco Youth

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Oakland Post: Week of July 1 – 7, 2026

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

Published

20 hours ago

July 5, 2026

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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

1 week 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.”