Zendaya is giving back to her hometown Oakland.

Zendaya And Google.Org Celebrate Announcement Of $650K Grant To Oakland School

In 2015, Roses in Concrete Community School opened in East Oakland, California. With a name inspired by a book of poetry written by Tupac Shakur, the school aims to create a model for urban education that prioritizes the needs of youth and families in the community it serves. It’s founder, Dr. Jeff Duncan-Andrade, believes education is the way to help young people understand that they can transform not only their community but the world. By creating the conditions for our youngest change-makers to flourish, this education model can be a pathway to building healthy and sustainable communities across the U.S.

In the school’s first year, Google.org provided $750,000 to help launch its unique vision. And last Friday at Google’s San Francisco community space, teachers, students, artists, education advocates, Googlers and Oakland-native actress Zendaya celebrated the announcement of our additional $650,000 grant to help the school build a first-of-its-kind computer science (CS) curriculum, which will serve as a model for other schools across the U.S. The curriculum will be culturally and community relevant, building on Duncan-Andrade’s philosophy that education shouldn’t push students out of communities, but should instead help students transform them.

Research shows that Black and Latino students are interested in learning CS, but are underrepresented in the field due to limited access to learning opportunities, coupled with the lack of relatable role models. Through this new program, Roses in Concrete helps students see the connection between CS and their communities, and hopes to equip them with the skills they need to solve real problems, starting in their own neighborhood.

 

 

 

Friday night’s celebration was not without the presence of the Shakur family. In addition to an art installation of Oakland’s pride and joy wearing a Colin Kaepernick jersey, Tupac’s sister, Sekyiwa Shakur, movingly presented the school with a $10,000 check from the Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation. “What’s really interesting about the school is that the Shakur family was involved in the opening of it,” Steele said. “And so before Tupac’s mother passed, she was there at the opening of the school and met the students. But it’s really unique that it’s so rooted in Oakland, and the Shakurs have been involved in this school, that’s a really unique thing.”

After cheering loudly for his daughter, Jada, who performed a traditional African dance, a parent in the crowd at the Google Community Space whispered, “Imagine every kid being like this when they were this young?” Thankfully, the Roses school is collecting data that can be shared with other institutions looking to make that dream a reality. The goal is not to create clone schools, but for educators to adapt the program to fit their community’s cultural needs. As more schools follow suit, hopelessness will be attacked from every angle.

 

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