The image stuck with me. According to the City of Alameda’s preliminary development concept for Alameda Point, our building will be demolished to make way for a new community. Buried beneath the new homes will be scraps of the murals we painted, the floors we mopped, and the plumbing we (frequently) unplugged. New homeowners may dig up chunks of our past, as they build their own futures.

Fortunately, there is more to discover about the legacy of Alternatives in Action. In 2006, AIA will celebrate some major milestones. Five years ago in February, HOME Sweet HOME opened its doors as a fully-licensed preschool and a model for intergenerational care. Begun by HOME Project youth as a drop-in after-school childcare center, HSH will have served over 54 families, “graduated” 15 children and trained over 150 youth interns by the time it reaches that 5-year mark.

The Bay Area School of Enterprise is also turning five. In May 2006, BASE will celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Alameda Board of Education’s unanimous decision to approve the first youth-initiated charter high school in the nation. There will be no better “birthday present” for BASE than renewal of the charter for another five years – a milestone we hope to reach by February.

Of course, neither HOME Sweet HOME nor BASE would exist if a small band of youth and adults hadn’t decided in the fall of 1996 to take action in their community by launching HOME Project. Thousands of youth in Alameda and Oakland have been changed by their involvement with HOME – changed into effective citizens who know what they think, feel and believe; changed into young adults who make a difference in their communities. While HOME alumni begin planning their 10th anniversary celebration, the rest of us can celebrate what they taught us about the power of youth.

Sometimes our past is written in stone – or heavy duty porcelain. But for AIA, it is also found in the hearts and minds of the thousands of children, youth and adults who have joined us on this journey.

Spotlight on Lights On After School Programs
By Jane Sperling Wise, HOME Project Director

For HOME Project member Kim England, it was a typical afternoon at Encinal High School. Except on this day in mid-October, Kim was speaking before an audience that included Superintendent of Schools Ardella Dailey, Alameda School Board President Mike McMahon and many other community leaders, youth and parents.

They all assembled to celebrate “Lights on After School Programs,” an event also held in hundreds of cities across the United States, to celebrate the need and importance of after school programs. Kim and other HOME Project youth and adults, along with representatives from School Based Health Centers (formerly Xanthos), Girls Inc. of the Island City, Alameda Point Collaborative, Encinal High School’s Jettsetters program, McCullum Youth Court, and the City’s Collaborative for Children, Youth and Families, collaborated to plan this showcase of Alameda’s opportunities for young people.

The “Lights on After School Programs” celebration began with a van tour highlighting youth in action at Girls Inc., Alameda Recreation and Parks Department and The Boys and Girls Club West End Teen Center and then culminated in an open house at Encinal High School. The open house showcased youth and adults from HOME and other participating organizations and engaged the community leaders, parents and youth in the community in information booths, raffles, and presentations by the programs. The Bay Area’s KMEL radio station energized the attendees, and HOME’s own youth Noel Yakubu and Yaphiet Arefaine entertained the audience with an inspirational rap.

HOME Project’s Kim England was very proud of the event and says, “I did a good job of MC-ing the event because everyone was enthusiastic. Many organizations showed up, I saw how youth have support in the community and we have a say in what happens”.

HOME Sweet HOME Launches Pilot at Woodstock

Alicia Elphick, HOME Sweet HOME youth intern and BASE student, chose a unique way to spend her summer. Instead of relaxing in the Bay Area sun and fog, Alicia, along with other youth interns, worked to spread the powerful model of HOME Sweet HOME to over 60 children at the Woodstock Child Development Center (WCDC). WCDC is a subsidized program for families in Alameda who are living below the poverty line.

HOME Sweet HOME’s Model of Intergenerational Care reflects the AIA principle of cascading leadership, where adult staff members coach teenage youth on how be mentor to younger children. This model was such a great success at HOME Sweet HOME that the WCDC wanted to put this idea into practice.

After participating in trainings on how to work with young children as well as attending a seminar addressing theories of child development, Alicia and the other youth interns were ready to work with the young children at WCDC. The interns played games and led engaging activities with the children and shared a comprehensive workbook about the model with the WCDC director.

Nick Challed, HOME Sweet HOME Director felt that the program was a great success because “The WCDC staff expressed great appreciation and acknowledgement of the youth interns and invited HSH to continue utilizing our model for intergenerational care at their site in the future.”. Plans are under way to launch another session in the spring. The hope is to give more youth the opportunity to make a difference at the WCDC by expanding to more classrooms and developing leadership roles for youth interns.

Alicia Elphick says that both the children and youth learned together. “I taught the alphabet to one little boy who was really interested” she said, “and he taught me that everyone learns differently and everyone comes from very different backgrounds”.

From the Studio Interview


HOME Project member Betty Situ interviews
Cecilia Martinez, co-founder of HOME Project’s Young Women’s Fitness Challenge at Encinal High School

How did you become involved with AIA?
I became involved in AIA ever since the seventh grade. HOME project was at Chipman, the middle school I was attending. I joined because a group of youth got together once a week and worked on a dance that we hosted later that year. After eighth grade, I fell in love with HOME Project, so I joined their Summer Leadership Project, where I helped found the Young Women's Fitness Challenge that started at Encinal High School last fall.

What drew you to the program?
The thing that attracted me most to the program was that youth really had a say in what they did. Everything, from the summer programs to the after school programs, had youth leadership roles. Whether leading a group activity or contributing ideas about a social action project, my friends and I had the ability to help the community. I knew the more time I spent with HOME, the more I would grow as a leader.

What have you enjoyed most about AIA programs?
At AIA, I really enjoyed working on Young Women’s Fitness Challenge because it was not only fun but helped me learn real life skills, like leadership and public speaking. I use all those skills everyday, whether I'm leading a group in a game or being a debate leader for class.

What have you learned from your experiences here?
I have learned so many skills, such how to plan a major event, get people to support my ideas, and raise money. Through the projects that I have done, I have discovered a passion for helping others and impacting the community in a positive way. This year, I hope to direct that passion into advocating for a long-term building for AIA and more youth and community space at Alameda Point.

BASE Youth Lead Way to Renewing Charter
By Page Tompkins, BASE Director

In the spring of 2001, a daring group of 10 youth worked with adult experts from Alternatives in Action to write and advocate for the first youth-initiated charter school in the country. At the time, the youth had powerful questions. How can we have a substantial voice in our education? How can our learning come from real and dramatic experience? How can we connect our school with the larger community? When the Alameda Unified School District (AUSD) Board of Education approved the charter by a five to zero vote, they gave the youth the opportunity to test those questions.

Five years later, a new team of young people are preparing to share the results of that experiment and ask for another 5 year contract with AUSD. They are members of “Enterprise: BASE,” which over the last 3 years has helped to vision, sustain, represent, and disseminate for BASE.

This year, Enterprise BASE youth have much to do. They are currently evaluating the last five years, re-visioning BASE’s direction over the next 5 years, collecting input from stakeholders, drafting in the legal language a charter petition, building support for the charter through political organizing, negotiating technical issues with AUSD, and preparing to officially present before the board.

Enterprise BASE member and BASE senior Josh Pasqualini has finds the work challenging but rewarding. “It is great following in the footsteps of the youth who wrote the first charter,” he says, “and knowing that the work done this year will make BASE’s future environment even more engaging and fulfilling.”