Empowering Our Community
Our approach
Oakland Black Pride seeks to focus on new solutions to shift the systems that make it difficult to service the needs of people within communities most directly impacted by systemic inequities with emphasis on low- and middle- income areas of Oakland, CA and the Regional Bay Area. Our programmatic focus – Springboard Program, QTBIPOC Monthly Social Circle and annual Black Pride Festival – we illuminate the paths and possibilities for Black, LGBTQ+ communities by offering a comprehensive learning environment, social and networking opportunities that incorporate our dedication to Design Thinking.
What is design thinking?
Design Thinking encourages the exploration of new alternatives, creating options that haven't existed before. This method is successful because it focuses on the needs of the user, in this case our community. It's about understanding context and culture of the stakeholders involved. This understanding is found using direct observation and qualitative data which produces narratives that people can really empathize with. Once the research is conducted, the problem solver is more apt to define what the REAL problem is. After diagnosing the true problem, we ideate and brainstorm new ideas without the constraints of existing solutions. Because design thinkers learn by doing, these radical ideas are then made into simple prototypes that test possible outcomes. Rapid prototyping speeds up the innovation process because we only learn about the quality of our ideas when we test them in the real world. The process of ideating, prototyping and testing is repeated early on so that mistakes are quick, cheap and ultimately lead to success. We incorporated the design thinking process, as it provides a method and a unified language for multidisciplinary collaboration leading to greater creativity and better solutions faster. Design thinking specifically focuses on the human centered side of creative problem solving, looking at all of creative problem solving through a human lens and leading with empathy.
Our Three Pillars
Springboard Program
The Oakland Black Pride Springboard Program is an incubator initiative, which promotes personal and professional growth using methods and resources curated exclusively for Black people who self-identify as LGBTQ+ by: supporting shared knowledge bases and experience exchange; offering strategic career/project planning and evaluation; providing mentorship and safe work & social space. Creating opportunities for capacity building, the program empowers the most vulnerable members of the queer community to take the lead in producing changes that affect them. The curriculum will include modules on self-esteem, assertiveness, building relationships, understanding and accepting my sexuality and/or gender, and sex and sexual health.
QTBIPOC Social Circle
The monthly Social Circle works to create a welcoming and affirming climate for the expanding BIPOC, LGBTQ+ community in Oakland and the Regional Bay Area. Oakland Black Pride hosts monthly engagements and events to ensure we have affirming space to build community, get to know each other, and find support through social interactions. Some of the events we will engage in: Transmasc and Nonbinary Social Hour; Community Wellness Circle, Soapbox Sessions; The Black Pride Party and a Skill Swap. The QTBIPOC Social Circle is where Black, queer persons can go to learn, love, laugh and find a sense of self.
Black Pride Festival
Pride month celebrates the moments in queer history that sparked activism and progress toward equality. Many of these defining moments were only made possible by Black and brown LGBTQ+ activists fighting for liberation. Their contribution has been whitewashed out of much of the history of the LGBTQ+ rights movement. The Black Pride festival, an annual production, is a way to reconcile the two identities of blackness and queerness, by providing programs and activities curated exclusively for communities that live at the intersection of racism, homophobia, transphobia and/or sexism. The festival creates a safe space to build community, find a sense of self and celebrate our culture and orientation without having to shape our existence.
Contribute to our cause today.
Your support and generosity will fund our Mission and enable us to meet our goals and improve conditions in the BIPOC, LGBTQIA+ communities of Oakland and the Regional Bay Area.
