YGB Returns to Oakland School for the Arts

After five years away from Oakland, Young Gifted and Black is excited to announce our return to Oakland School for the Arts in 2023. YGB rehearsals will happen on Mondays and Wednesdays from 4-6p under the direction of Ikera Davis, YGB Oakland Founder and current Director of YGB Berkeley. Other alumni from YGB Oakland will staff the program, providing a direct line from the past to the future of YGB in the city.

This of course means Young Gifted and Black is currently recruiting youth and families to join our effort to spread Black Love and Black pride throughout the Bay Area. We have 15 available spaces in the Oakland ensemble for young people ages 7 - 11 to learn, recite, and teach Black history. We also have some available spaces in our Berkeley program with our expansion into Oakland. Click here to join us.

Young Gifted and Black Launches YGB ONLINE

Like many programs that operate beyond school, YGB has had to shut down in the face of the Corona Virus. We had our last physical rehearsal for our program in Berkeley in early March and have since been sheltered in place, unable to continue to engage members of YGB or the larger community with our brand of Black pride. With support from the Akonadi Foundation, and encouragement from Berkeley Unified Schools District we have developed a series of lessons around the songs, poems and historic figures that YGB studies and presents to community. In this way, YGB Online is not only taking the place of our physical engagement, but also offers us broader opportunities to provide service for African and African American youth around the world.

Fortunately we had limited our engagements to the Kids of YGB after spending the last two years transitioning to and deepening our engagement with Berkeley Unified Schools District. We have closed down the Black Sheroes and Kings, all of whom now serve as the Alumni of YGB along with the former members of Black Gold. Currently our Berkeley program is led by our Associate Director Ikera Davis who was an original member of YGB Oakland, Black Gold and the Black Sheroes. She is joined by two assistants, Austin Marshall, also former YGB Oakland and Black Gold founding member, and Nyame Imani who is a recent alum of the Black Sheroes, and is a senior at Oakland School for the Arts. In the past we have had alumni serve as a support system for the kids, including YGB alum Zoe Krause, Alonzo Henderson, Kahlil Chatmon, Nia Lundkvist, and some others. All of these students are currently attending or recently graduated from College. Its amazing to think YGB has been in operation for that long.

Our initial launch of this Online platform will be exclusive for the youth of YGB, but we hope in time to be able to make these lessons available to a much broader audience, and provide further engagement opportunities for young people in Black History. These lessons are currently aimed at youth grades 2 - 7, however in time we plan to load lessons for High School as well. We will be adapting work we have been doing for the past 3 years around Mr. Davis Classroom into these lessons, and work to create a robust place for online Black History curriculum that is relevant, compelling and inspiring.

If you would like to help us in the creation and decimination of curriculum that uses Black History as a foundation, contact us at 123ygb@gmail.com. We plan to develop an online database of lesson plans for educators, parents and youth development professionals to share with the young people they work with. Though this project is being developed in response to COVID-19, we will continue its development long after this particular crisis is over.

YGB Honored as one of the YBCA100

On November 3rd, 2018, Young Gifted and Black will be honored at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts as one of the YBCA100.  Our work in community engaging young people and audiences throughout Northern California with Black History and pride is being recognized with this award.  We stand shoulder to shoulder with many other profound artists and change makers from all over the world including grammy winning pop star Janelle Monet, former US Secretary of State Madeline Albright, director and star of the hit film "Blindspotting" Rafael Casal, and a host of others. 

November 3rd is just the beginning of the celebration as all week the award winners will be highlighted and honored at a series of events at the historic San Francisco venue.  We are inviting all of our YGB families and members past, present and future to come celebrate this award with us.  We will have additional announcements about how we will do this and embrace all of those who helped YGB win this prestigious award.

YGB Transitions to Berkeley

In 2010 YGB was a program of the Oakland Unified School District known as the Oakland Ensemble built in collaboration with the annual OUSD MLK Oratorical Festival.  After one year we became Young Gifted and Black, moving out of OUSD and being housed and supported at the Merritt College Office of African American Studies.  We spent 2 years at Merritt engaging with the rich history of the college and their Black Panther legacy.  It was during this time that the OUSD Office of African American Male Achievement was formed, and served as a key partner to YGB at its inception.   This partnership with AAMA provided the security for our move from Merritt to Oakland School for the Arts and helped maintain our connection with Oakland Unified.  With the support of the administration at OSA, we were given free space and encouraged to recruit youth from outside and inside the school to participate in our work.  This relationship was beneficial both for YGB and for the school, as now many of our members attend or have attended OSA.   With a shift in the administration and their budget priorities, it was made clear that in order to stay at OSA we would have to raise money for the school.  Anyone who has paid attention to the work we do and how we spend the money we raise, could see that this arrangement would not be sustainable for us.   This year we are transitioning out of OSA and remain very appreciative of their generosity over the years in support of our work.  We are thankful to have had this time in collaboration and to close this chapter on our legacy.

For the 2018 - 2019 school year we have been invited to be a part of the 50th Anniversary of Black Studies in the Berkeley Unified Schools District.  We will be holding our rehearsals at Washington Elementary School and Berkeley High School respectively.   We are very excited about engaging YGB in Berkeley, and providing even greater access to the organization for the youth and families of Berkeley Unified Schools District.  We anticipate this transition to be smooth as we have already had many youth from Berkeley as members of YGB including the former Youth Director Ikera Davis and several other YGB founders who attended Berkeley High School. 

YGB will remain open and available for youth and families from Oakland and throughout the Bay Area to join and participate.  We will continue to be present for AAMA and other organizations in Oakland who have maintained a partnership with us and our work.  We will be performing at the Life is Living Festival in West Oakland, and continue our long standing relationships with Sole Space, OMCA, Youth Speaks and other organizations, businesses and agencies that work in Oakland.  This year we plan to make a concerted effort to increase our engagements in Berkeley and are honored to be invited to be housed at another historic foundational department of African American Studies.  We will be a big part of the 50th Anniversary celebrations, and help take this Berkeley story everywhere we go during this next school year.  We are excited to raise awareness in Berkeley of our work, and to provide pathways for youth and families to get involved in YGB.  

For information about how to become a part of YGB please explore this website.  If you have youth that want to join, hit the "JOIN" button and fill out the form. If you want YGB to present at your event hit the "BOOK YGB"  button and fill out the form.  We want to remain available for our community to provide a boost of pride and determination for everyone we engage.  

YGB is currently accepting new members at all levels.  If interested please press the join button and fill out the form.  We are excited to begin a new chapter in the story of Young Gifted and Black.

$93 for YGB A Fundraiser

Young Gifted and Black of Oakland has launched a month long on line fundraising campaign to raise money for their work of bringing black history and pride to the world.   This years campaign is called $93 for YGB to honor the 93rd birthday of Malcolm X.  We are sure the work we do to promote and teach black history, and to stand in solidarity with seekers of justice is consistent with the legacy of our great ancestor.  Armed with his words and the words of his elders, contemporaries and followers, YGB spreads our love for ourselves and pride in where we come from, to institutions throughout the Bay Area.  

In our 8 years of operation we have never received any grants.  Our income to make our rehearsals and performances happen comes from our generous community of supporters including parents of the youth, institutions that book us to present, and the money we raise from individuals who believe in what we do.

This Fundraising campaign is supported by the parents of YGB, Edutainment For Equity, and co sponsored by Red Bay Coffee, who has agreed to provide a bag of coffee for everyone who donates $93 to our campaign.  We are encouraging those who really want to support in a larger way to become Fan Fundraisers on our rally.org/younggiftedandblack platform and help us raise resources to support our work.  Your participation will ensure that this campaign is a success, and that we can start the year strong in the fall.

Young Gifted and Black is run exclusively by volunteers.  As another group of our founding members transitions into college, we are focused on sustaining the program by building on the legacy they are leaving for another generation of Oakland youth.  Your contributions and consistent effort to keep these young people engaged does wonders for their lives and for the lives of those they encounter.  Thank you for your years of support.  Please donate to the $93 for YGB campaign.