CURYJ Unveils Groundbreaking ‘Youth Power Zone’ for Justice-Impacted Young People in Oakland’s Fruitvale Village
On Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024 at 12:30pm, Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice (CURYJ) hosted the grand opening of the organization’s new Youth Power Zone in Oakland’s Fruitvale Village—a new development that will house the organization’s youth development leadership programs, a multicultural conference and event center, and a future rec center and cafe where justice-impacted youth can get hands-on workforce and entrepreneurial experience, among other amenities. Above the Youth Power Zone is 181 units of 100% affordable housing, administered by The Unity Council.
“Our Youth Power Zone isn’t just a new building, it’s a beacon of hope and transformation for the most vulnerable in our community,” said George Galvis, executive director of CURYJ. “By creating a space where justice-impacted youth can learn, lead, and grow, we’re not only investing in their futures but in the very fabric of our community. From job training to affordable housing, this project embodies our vision of replacing systems that perpetuate trauma with ones that foster healing and opportunity.”
CURYJ trains formerly incarcerated youth to lead and advocate for their communities through life coaching, professional development, political education and hands-on entrepreneurial and campaign experience.
Chris Iglesias, CEO of The Unity Council, which is administering the housing units above the Youth Power Zone said, “At the Unity Council, we are thrilled to welcome CURYJ to their new home in the Fruitvale neighborhood. Partnering with them through the Youth Power Zone at Fruitvale Station embodies our commitment to fostering empowerment and positive change for our youth. Together, we look forward to making a lasting impact on our community.”
In 2020, CURYJ launched its Youth Power Zone campaign to counteract policies like gang injunctions that disempower young people of color. This initiative builds on CURYJ’s founding mission to challenge unjust practices that allow police to harass young people and strip them of their civil liberties.
These zones are envisioned as comprehensive alternatives to traditional systems of policing and incarceration, uplifting and honoring all youth as sacred. They are spaces that promote power, belonging, and healing. The Youth Power Zone in Fruitvale will serve as a model for community-led healing justice that reduces youth incarceration in Alameda County with the ultimate vision of ending youth incarceration and expanding the approach across the state and the nation.
CURYJ has now acquired three sites around the Fruitvale BART station that comprise the Youth Power Zone: the soon-to-open CURYJ main office in the Casa Sueños new construction at the intersection of E. 12th Street & 35th Ave., the Bonanza building at Internationational and 36th Ave., and most recently the takeover of the Department of Violence Prevention site for violence interruption work in the Fruitvale Transit Village corridor.
Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice
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CURYJ has launched a capital campaign to raise $10 million over the next three years to build out the Oscar Grant Youth Empowerment Zone. So far, the organization has raised roughly $1.2 million.
It is looking for supporters to donate to funding building costs, scaling up operations, expanding staff, and having a stronger cash reserve. Investing in the Oscar Grant Youth Empowerment Zone presents a unique opportunity to work in solidarity with local communities and state organizations in order to ensure that the cultural heritage, activism, and diversity of Fruitvale are protected and preserved.
“CURYJ works on the issues that its members identify as important in their lives and centers the young people as activist change-makers. I support CURYJ because I see that this approach is the only way to make true change and grow community power,” says Quinn Delaney, a CURYJ supporter.
Thanks to Delaney’s generosity, all gifts will be matched up to $85,000.
www.curyj.org
(707) 477-5600
Director of Development: Jessica Miller
Mission
CURYJ was born when our co-founders set out to defeat the Fruitvale gang injunction, a pre-emptive “restraining order” that gave cops the right to harass young people of color and strip them of their civil liberties. In the years since defeating the injunction, CURYJ has worked nonstop in coalitions and partnerships to fight against policies that criminalize youth and to craft policy that invests in our communities.
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[As youth] we skipped school because we didn’t like it, we don’t like the system, then we go outside, we get tickets, citations, we go in and out of juvenile hall, it’s always that system. We can’t ever level up… OGYPZ will be a safe place where youth can go, they’ll be actually provided resources. For example, the OGYPZ will have a café that will be a place for youth to work, it will show youth how to run a business; it’s a start, it’s a café, but you have an idea of how to start a business.
Help Build the Community Infrastructure to End Youth Incarceration
Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice (CURYJ) is seeking $1 million to complete fundraising for the first phase of its Oscar Grant Youth Power Zone, which is slated to open in May 2024 at Fruitvale Station. The project will serve as a larger home base for CURYJ and the formerly incarcerated young people they serve, wrapping them with a continuum of care through a mix of in-house programming and strategic partnerships.
“It’s really just about having a place where they feel loved, supported, and safe,” says CURYJ Executive Director George Galvis. “It’s a home away from home.”
Key Supporters
Alcibie Alliance
Aleah Bacquie Vaughn
Andrus Family Fund
Dorsey Nunn
Galaxy Gives
Ken Oliver
Nick Tilsen
Quinn Delaney
Shawn Ginright
Shiree Teng
Sierra Health Foundation
Stephanie Autumn
The California Endowment
The San Francisco Foundation
TOMS
Zellerbach Family Foundation