• Overview
• Get Involved
• History
• Participants
• Projects

Overview

The mission of InfoOakland is to promote equity and empowerment of residents and organizations in low-income neighborhoods and communities of color in Oakland through increased access to good data, assistance in gathering and analyzing data, and collaboration in using data as a tool for organizing and positive social change.

InfoOakland, the Information Networking Forum of Oakland, is a collaborative effort to develop information resources for community revitalization in Oakland's low-income neighborhoods. Our goal is to democratize data, enabling citizens to access and use the information that underlies policy and decision-making. We strive to extend the power of digital technology to people who are least likely to already have it, including low-income residents, limited English speakers, youth, and people with disabilities.

Our projects seek to engender informed activism in Oakland's neighborhoods. Through our online resources, trainings, and direct data support we help committed people and organizations work more effectively for community improvement. As a collaborative, InfoOakland brings together nonprofit organizations public agencies, higher education institutions and other entities dedicated to our common mission.

Get Involved

Soon you will be able to sign up though this website to be a member of InfoOakland. As a member you will have special access to our online resources and always be in loop as we release new data, update the site, and hold free trainings throughout Oakland's communities.

We are always working to improve what we do. Please, give us feedback on this site. Send an email with your suggestions to feedback at InfoOakland.org

Host a Data for Change training in your neighborhood or at your organization. To learn more, see our trainings page or contact us. InfoOakland's contact information is at the bottom of this Web page.

History

InfoOakland grew out of two separate programs, each aimed at developing data and mapping resources for community development initiatives in separate Oakland neighborhoods. The Urban Strategies Council, through its role in the Annie E. Casey Foundation's Making Connections Initiative, was developing a community data warehouse for the Lower San Antonio neighborhood. The Institute for Urban and Regional Development (IURD), through its role as a technical assistance provider to the Hewlett Foundation's Comprehensive Community Development initiative, had begun developing a community mapping website for West Oakland. Both entities wanted to add citywide data to these resources. In early 2002, recognizing the economies of scale inherent in obtaining and managing data, they decided to join together to create a single citywide data warehouse and mapping resource.

Several organizations doing local work in Oakland shared an interest in the Oakland data warehouse project and provided crucial feedback regarding its content and usability. Prompted by the Movement Strategy Center, this group of organizations began working together with the original partners to ensure the quality and the sustainability of the project. They agreed early on to collaborate around the following goals:

• Ensure that the warehouse is created and built effectively for its target users, including those who do not typically access the internet for community information
• Provide training and other support to community organizations to ensure that they can use the resources
• Increase the pool of data available to all community improvement efforts in Oakland

They named their collaboration The Information Networking Forum Of Oakland, or InfoOakland for short.

Participants

The following organizations have been involved in the planning and program development of InfoOakland:

• Asian Pacific Environmental Network)
• Center for Justice Tolerance and Community (UCSC)
• Eastside Arts Alliance
• Eastmont Computing Center
• Institute for Urban and Regional Development (UCB)
• Just Cause Oakland
• Movement Strategy Center
• Pacific Institute
• PUEBLO (People United for a Better Oakland)
• San Antonio Community Development Corporation
• Tumi's Design
• Urban Explorer
• Urban Habitat
• Urban Strategies Council
• West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project
• Youth in Focus

The following funders have contributed to the development of InfoOakland over the past few years:

• The Annie E. Casey Foundation
• The Community Technology Foundation of California
• The Hewlett Foundation
• The San Francisco Foundation
• The Waitt Foundation

Projects

InfoOakland's projects include developing and maintaining the Oaktown Datahouse, increasing the pool of data available to Oakland organizations, and building the capacity of community organizations to use data and mapping for social change.

The Oaktown Datahouse Map Room is an interactive mapping program that allows the user to visualize data and create printable maps that can be used in presentations and reports. The Datahouse currently contains a number of citywide data, including Oakland demographics (from the 2000 US Census), political and administrative boundaries, environmental conditions, and health, educational and recreational resources.

Our capacity-building agenda is carried out through trainings on how to use the datahouse and how to use data in advocacy campaigns. In the future, we hope to assist Oakland community organizations access internet technologies and data through technology acquisition and development programs.