About Youth Greening Oakland

After two smaller scale ventures, PUEBLO launched an expanded version of the Urban Youth Harvest program in 2009. Working with Cycles of Change, Oakland's youth biked their way to harvest excess produce from Oakland's back yards, providing this delicious and nutritious bounty to Oakland's low income seniors who lack access to healthy produce.

Employed through the Mayor's Summer Jobs Program, with added resources from President Obama's Recovery Act Stimulus Fund, these young people not only harvested fruit but also learned about health and nutrition, and the need for a sustainable food system. They learned to ride bikes safely and to repair bikes, and they received academic and career counseling. Their achievements were celebrated by the West Oakland community at a picnic on August 22 at Poplar Park.

We congratulate the thirty-one participants of Urban Youth Harvest 2009 and would like to acknowledge additional support from the Agape Foundation, the Rose Foundation, The Clif Bar Foundation, and the Kaiser Community Benefit Fund.

The Need for Fresh Produce

“Where people live affects their risk of obesity or diabetes, especially if their neighborhoods lack access to fresh fruits and vegetables, a new statewide report shows,” – Sara Steffans, STAFF, Oakland Tribune, April 29, 2008

More and more public health studies are linking poor nutrition to a host of diseases that compromise the lives of low-income families. Last year, Congresswoman Barbara Lee tried to survive on $21 worth of food stamps for a week and found that she could not afford to purchase fresh produce. In response to this widespread problem, PUEBLO has proposed an innovative program that provides fresh produce to low income Oakland residents, especially seniors.

Oakland’s Mediterranean climate allows for the growth of many nutritious fruits, vegetables and herbs. However, most of these are grown on residential properties and their output often far exceeds what that household can use. As a result, most of it goes to waste.

PUEBLO utilizes the Mayor’s Summer Jobs program to hire Oakland teens to harvest produce donated by Oakland residents, and deliver this fresh produce to seniors who are underserved and lack access to healthy food.

The Program

PUEBLO has partnered with several local non-profit organizations like People’s Grocery and Cycles of Change, as well as Alameda County and the City of Oakland to pioneer an innovative food policy reform initiative that utilizes the Mayor’s Summer Jobs Program to hire young people to harvest the summer fruit grown in Oakland and provide it to seniors who lack access to fresh produce. These youngsters will also attend workshops that teach the relationship to food and health and explore the disparities in health that relate to the political framework of society. Oakland teens will be ‘earning as they are learning.’

We have collaborated with Supervisor Nate Miley and officials from Alameda County’s Environmental Safety Division who are providing resources in the areas of health, agriculture and environmental safety to ensure that we are in compliance with all relevant regulations.

Partnering with Cyclists for Change, our harvesters will bike to our donors’ back yards and, using fruit pickers, will harvest oranges, apples, plums, lemons, grapefruits, peaches, pears, figs and other locally grown delicious and nutritious fruits. They will then deliver the harvest to nearby low-income senior residences and day facilities where low-income seniors receive a variety of services. They will be provided with diabetic recipes that call for those fruits, as well as the fruit, fresh off the vine or tree!

Major Benefits

• Teenagers learn about nutrition and health issues, creating viable career opportunities;


• Hundreds of pounds of produce are consumed by those in need, rather than being left to rot and waste;


• Low-income seniors are provided with fresh, nutritious, locally-grown fruits and diabetic recipes;


• Teenagers are employed in a meaningful job that benefits the community as a whole;


• Oakland has identified a secure, sustainable source of food that has a close to zero carbon foot print.

We Need Your Help

Through your generous donations Urban Youth Feast will be able to accomplish its goal. Contributors of $500.00 to $999.00 will be listed on all future materials, and on our website, as "donors" and contributors of $1,000.00 or more will be listed as "major contributors." Donations as little as $5.00 can be made on-line by clicking the donate link on this website.

Urban Youth Harvest In the News

• Backyard Bounty: Want Not Terrain Magazine Fall/Winter 2008


• Oakland's fruit doesn't fall far from the tree SF Gate August 30, 2008


• Sharing Fruit The Oakbook June 4, 2008

More Information

For more information about unequal access to healthy foods and other initiatives to address this problem, see:

• Sharing Fruit


• People's Grocery


• Cycles of Change


• National Connection for Local Public Health: Health Equity and Social Justice


• Unnatural Causes...is inequality making us sick? A seven-part documentary series exploring racial and socioeconomic inequalities in health.


• Policy Link Center for Health and Place


• Cities study dearth of healthy food


• Growing Green: People's Grocery


• Brahm Ahmadi Tackles Food Inequity and Brings Oakland People's Grocery


• East Bay a part of junk-food jungle: Neighborhood affects, diabetes, obesity rates, study shows; West Oakland most in need in Alameda County