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Youth in Action:Our Summer of Impact
Ocelotl’s Community Corp Interns bring their Power into Purpose to Heal and Hold their Communities…
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Through the donations provided this past year Ocelotl was able to provide six young people with 100 hour internships as part of our Community Corp program to serve their community and learn about themselves. We are grateful to our partners, OUSD’s ECCCO program and the Huey P. Newton Foundation who matched our funding to be able to sponsor all of these students with meaningful work and meaningful outcomes. MEET OUR COMMUNITY CORP INTERNS!
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Ocelotl Community Corp: Storefront Intern- Daishell Martin, Class of 2026 Senior at Skyline High School.Dashiell created a joyful, safe, and supportive space in the Ocelotl Storefront while learning about customer service, the art and items we make as tools we use for our work in the community. He was an integral part of the preparation (and implementation) of the three-day training the Ocelotl team led for the Unity Council youth development staff in July. Dashiell was new to us and is now a near and dear part of the Ocelotl family. |
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Ocelotl Community Corp: Black Panther Museum Intern - Naemi Bokrezion Class of 2026 Senior at Oakland Tech.Naemi SPECIFICALLY chose Ocelotl as her internship over the summer in order to intern at the Black Panther Party Museum and to learn more about Black Community Organizing. She was able to greet and meet the public; check in guests, answer questions, ask questions, develop relationships and deepen understanding of the legacy of the Black Panthers in Oakland and beyond. Her high point was getting to meet Fredrika Newton as well as form a bond with her peers as a part of Community Corp. She is no longer new to this community and has worked hard to create a space for herself where Oakland feels like her home. |
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Ocelotl Community Corp: Website Intern- Itzel Peńa Class of 2026 Senior at Madison Park AcademyItzel jumped right in and worked on the July Ocelotl Newsletter, which inspired a former MPA educator to send us a SIGNIFICANT donation that will allow young people to lead and share their expertise with paid work opportunities. THANK YOU! She then supported updating the Ocelotl Website: Editing existing pages and creating new ones, as well as working to help plan and prep for our offering with the Unity Council training. As a former Language Navigator, Itzel never stops looking for ways to be of service, support her peers, and build community. |
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Ocelotl Community Corp: Spanish Translation for Black Panther Party Museum- Valeria Cajero Huidor Class of 2026 Senior at Madison Park AcademyOcelotl and the Huey P. Newton Foundation collaborated to make the work of Erika Huggins and the model of community schools’ exhibit accessible to Spanish-speaking community members. Our hope is to influence funders and supporters to continue this effort to create more language accessibility with the support of Oakland students. But it was Valeria, who brought this idea into a reality, and translated the Each One Teach One Exhibit into Spanish text AND creating audio files with herself and her peers reading the text. She was diligent, focused, organized and kept the adults on task. She is a force, and her Power into Purpose is no joke. Big shouts out to BPP Museum staff, Lylah and Jude for their love and care as well as Chris Chiang Fiorentini, Media Art & Design Instructor at Madison Park Academy, who responds to students during the summer and helps them find the solutions they need. Yup! |
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Ocelotl Community Corp: Black Panther Museum Intern- Wisdom Udeafor, Sophomore at Laney CollegeAfter attending a panel discussion at the BPP Museum, Wisdom let us know he wanted to spend the summer at the Museum. Huey P. Newton Foundation Executive Director, Xavier Buck agreed match Ocelotl’s funding and support Wisdom’s summer internship. This is Wisdom’s THIRD summer with Community Corp, first supporting the San Leandro CreekTrail Project, then to working with SoulFlow Yoga and now with the Black Panther Museum before he starts his Sophomore year of college. Wisdom IS Power into Purpose. Exploring opportunities and building his expertise and skill. Wisdom has been invited back to the BPP Museum as part time staff. |
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Ocelotl Community Corp: Storefront Intern Lead- Kimberly Zavala Cruz San Jose State University FreshmanKimberly followed in the footsteps of her older peers at Ocelotl to ask for and step into her leadership. She created an orientation and weekly trainings for the Community Corp Interns as well as coordinating the weekly paperwork; timesheets; resume-building; planning/facilitating Thursday team walking trips/learning experiences DownTown. She advised the coordination of schedules and, most of all brought joy to the work, elevating the vibes of the storefront space on 15th Street. This has been Kimberly’s second summer with Ocelotl, after serving as Mentor and then working through the last school year as a Language Navigator. She starts her Freshman year at SJSU AND she’ll stay on with us as an Admin Advisor and Event Coordinator. |
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Power into Purpose is not just our tagline, it’s how we roll….AND look no further for Proof….
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Oakland youth and their families deserve to learn the legacy of the Panthers’ powerful work and find the inspiration to BUILD and GROW together what we want and what we believe. To launch this collaboration with the HPN Foundation and the Black Panther Party Museum on Chairman Fred Hampton’s birthday feels like an auspicious blessing for the opportunity to honor his legacy of building Power through Purpose-full and intentional coalition building. With young people leading our way, we are building and strengthening our community, increasing understanding of our diverse population, and aligning our Purpose. #5. WE WANT DECENT EDUCATION FOR OUR PEOPLE THAT EXPOSES THE TRUE NATURE OF THIS DECADENT AMERICAN SOCIETY. WE WANT EDUCATION THAT TEACHES US OUR TRUE HISTORY AND OUR ROLE IN THE PRESENT-DAY SOCIETY.
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Download YOUR free copy of the Black Panther’s 10 Point Program in English and Spanish
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Building a Culture of Youth EmpowermentThe Training for the Unity Council
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With our now well-developed relationship with support the team of Youth Mentors, Trainers, and Work Force Advocates of the Unity Council, we created a training for them that would give them what they needed. A space to be together, to get replenished, build skill, hear from and learn from young people and feel safe to engage with the Transformative Social-Emotional curriculum that Ocelotl uses with all the youth we work with. Most importantly, we infused our time over three days with space to make something…Ojo de Dios, Kumihimos braids, story-telling, and reflection to make meaning of our work and connections and build our Power into Purpose. We make medicine. Let us know how we might support your work with young people and build power WITH the youth you serve.
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The Unity Council Youth Achievement and Career Services teams do amazing school-based work supporting their students in multiple schools (and in the community) throughout Oakland. Ocelotl provided them a way to reframe, contextualize, consult, and most importantly to come together and get replenished for the year ahead. The Ocelotl Community Corp team led them through conversations and connection while crafting and making. Learning about Adolescent Brain Development, Trauma, Racial Identity development AND space to reflect, process, laugh and let go. |
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Ocelotl Program Alums Saul Sanchez Soto and Danny Angeles Meza (incoming freshman at CalState East Bay), along with former Mentee and a co-creator of our Mentoring Model’s mission and design, José Flores joined the Community Corp crew to help prep and plan for the Unity Council’s training. |
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WE ARE HERE for GOOD. To build community through action, understanding, practice, humility, and rigor. We are courageous enough to step back so youth lead and we can teach this. We can help your teams learn to learn from each other and the youth you serve. We are willing to have the hard conversations AND to make space for joy and connection. Email Robin at robin@ocelotlyouth.org to learn more about what this looks like. |
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!!Praise and Appreciation!!To the Ocelotl Youth. To our Neighbors, Partners, Collaborators, the Artists and Farmers and Teachers and Community Members. Thank to those who support our work, give us time, energy and resources, share knowledge and provide the encouragement to keep going. Sending you LOVE and GRATITUDE. Please reach out if you want to learn more about what we do and how you can be involve to support. And we LOVE and appreciate the financial support that allows us to keep paying young people for their time and EXPERTISE. |
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