Student-Led Workshop At EBALDC’s Lion Creek Crossings Envisions Environmental Justice
The Healthy Havenscourt Collaborative is forming a dynamic collaboration among neighborhood youth organizations in East Oakland. In the fall of 2022, students came together to plan and lead a community Resilience Hub workshop at the East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation’s Lion Creek Crossings (LCC) affordable housing development – a location in the Havenscourt neighborhood that is an established gathering place and resource distribution center.
Their goal: to establish their roles in guiding their community to take the necessary steps to become a Resilience Hub – one that is prepared to cope with current challenges brought on by COVID and inflation, and future challenges brought about by climate change, environmental disasters, and the next public health emergency, among others.
Photo credit: Annie Ledbury
The student leaders (which included those who participate in LCC’s College & Career Readiness Program) developed the workshop structure and determined which parts of the workshop they would like to facilitate.
Several months later on a rainy day in early December, 30 youth from East Oakland gathered at LCC to build their collaborative vision of a community Resilience Hub. Students from LCC, Rose Foundation’s New Voices are Rising Fellowship, Castlemont High School’s Sustainable Urban Design Academy, and Local Clean Energy Alliance worked together on their vision. They emphasized maintaining a healthy community by incorporating art and books, outdoor sports areas, and mental health resources, in addition to sustainable energy sources like solar panels and vital resources such as food and toiletries distribution.
“This is what’s so unique about EBALDC,” said Raine Robichaud, Project Coordinator of Creative Community Development. “Not a lot of organizations do this kind of work – foster creative collaborations that bring neighborhood organizations together to build healthy communities – what we at EBALDC call our Healthy Neighborhoods Approach.”
Photo credit: Jill Ratner
Youth leaders facilitated three unique design processes and a climate resilience discussion. It was a fulfilling day of creatively envisioning future-oriented goals and recognizing elements of climate resilience already in place at Lion Creek Crossings. Through the processes of making art, sharing, and expressing themselves together, they were able to connect with their vision and bring about more imaginative thinking.
Activities included: a tour of Lion Creek Crossings and elements of a Resilience Hub already present in the community; a Bubble Diagram activity focusing on future physical changes to increase climate resilience at the housing complex; and a collaborative collage activity addressing the larger social factors that affect climate change. The participants also addressed the effects of climate change from different perspectives – the emotional impact on a personal level; direct effects on a neighborhood, and then beyond on city and state levels. In addition, the Local Clean Energy Alliance explained how statewide policies can affect climate change and ways the students could get involved through advocacy.
Photo credit: Lily Jacobson
The takeaway of the workshop was that climate resilience goes hand in hand with community connections and resources. “Creative activities engage participants in a way that allows other sides of themselves to emerge. It facilitates connection and brings people together,” said Raine. “The workshop made our young collaborators interested in continuing to do resilience work and hosting events like this one in the future. Youth also appreciated growing their public speaking and facilitation skills and boosting confidence in leading future events like these.”
Be on the lookout for a showcase of our Healthy Havenscourt students’ work coming up this May at the Moving for Peace Black Party in partnership with Black Cultural Zone, Better Neighborhood Same Neighbors, and Destiny Arts Center.