Oakland-based case manager Sabrina Fuentes draws on personal experience to assist people navigating homelessness and addiction.
Tag: Amplify Oakland
‘Rent is getting more expensive’: An Oakland family’s quest for affordable housing
When Mirna Arana was evicted from her East Oakland apartment despite paying rent, the high cost of East Bay housing left her scrambling for solutions.
‘The Coliseum is our palace’: Lifelong Oakland A’s fan reflects on news of team’s departure
Jorge Leon has given his all to the A’s as the founder of a supporters group, the Oakland ‘68s. Now he’s struggling to come to terms with the team’s announced move to Las Vegas.
We want to hear more from Oaklanders, in their own words. Here’s how
Since 2020, our “Amplify Oakland” series has featured personal stories by community members navigating COVID, gun violence, homelessness, prison reentry, and more.
‘Everything piled up’: surviving COVID-19 and gun violence in East Oakland
Francisca Sánchez never imagined she’d hear gunshots after leaving Mexico, but that changed during the pandemic.
Curbsteading: One West Oakland resident’s reflections on living outdoors
Mavin Carter Griffin, founder of the Wood Street People’s Collective, says we’re thinking about “homelessness” in all the wrong ways.
‘The sweetest escape’: a love letter to Oakland’s libraries
Libraries are physically closed, but they continue to serve their neighborhoods. One East Oaklander shares her experience.
Why is gun violence spiking? An East Oakland native digs into his past and the city’s history to help explain
John Jones III—father, community advocate, childhood victim and past committer of violence—on why the surge is “not occurring in a vacuum.”
‘I could no longer avoid the problem’: how one Oaklander organized community cleanups
After seeing myself in the eyes of an unhoused boy, I decided to start cleaning up areas in West Oakland where unhoused people live. The work snowballed from there.
Work with us to ‘Amplify Oakland’ through first-person storytelling
In the coming months, we’ll be sharing the mic with more Oaklanders who have important stories about life in our city. This is how we’re planning to do it, and why.
‘We’re going out. Not because we want to, but because we need to.’
Latinos represent over half of known coronavirus cases in Alameda County. Oakland resident Orlando Ruiz shares his family’s story.
‘We were happy. But when the illness appeared, things got complicated.’
One member of East Oakland’s immigrant Mam community shares his story about surviving during the pandemic.