Oakland Technology & Education Center (DBA AfroComicCon)

Results: We have impacted thousands of students, families, community members, local artists, creators, and non-profit partners, through our educational programs and events. Some of our sponsor/partners are Pixar, The Oakland A's, The Kapor Center, The East Bay Foundation, The Akonadi Foundation, The Black Joy Parade, The Oakland Literacy Coalition, Chapter 510 the Department of Make Believe, SAE Expression's College, Mills College, The San Francisco Academy of Art, among others. We have created networking opportunities, career development, inspirational representation, launch pads for artistic careers and tech careers, as well as volunteer engagement with our community, National and International participation and engagement with the AfroComicCon platform. Our film festival became an international film festival in 2020.

Target demographics: Children and adults of color in underserved nieghborhoods

Direct beneficiaries per year: 5,000 community members and people around the world with our Virtual programming

Geographic areas served: Oakland and the greater Bay Area

Programs: Digital Underground Storytelling for Youth (DUSTY) and AfroComicCon a yearly event for POC and Women in the Arts, Media, Tech, and Entertainment. Typically, comic books and their conventions throughout America are not reflective of people of color, nor do they facilitate critical thinking skills, much less diversity and equity awareness. We have social justice and change baked into our basis and structure. Afro-futurism is our theme for a reason. Our projects offer an alternative to the images that are shown every day in the media. For the youth & adults in attendance, we provide workshops on how to cultivate and create artistic reflection of their own attributes: physically, culturally and spiritually. We provide panel discussions on storytelling and writing workshops. The event and programs are designed to bring about the healing, the power of redemptive love of one’s value and self-worth. Workshops and panel discussions around other subjects such as Gaming, film/animation, movement/dance/martial arts, and content creation are needed in an industry that has less than 1% of minority representation. AFCC provides a safe place for nerds of color to be free to be themselves and to be okay with being smart, as well as knowledgeable about their passions: Anime, Cosplay, Cartoons, Comic Books, Graphic Novels, Gaming and dressing up as characters from TV and film. The AFCC event and linked programs significantly impact the local community, by promoting equitable access and participation in the many professional and creative tracks that our mission encompasses. The Superhero Project interviews Adults, kids and teens residents of Oakland attending the annual event serious about their superhero alter egos – and what would they do with their Superhero power to make a change in Oakland California. What powers would they want to bring about change in the city they live in and what type of powers would they like to have, what they look like and how they make the US, the world, and the City of Oakland a better place.