Meeting of the Oakland City Council
February 6, 2024
AGENDA REPORT
TO:
City Council FROM: Nikki Fortunato Bas
Council President
Councilmember, District 2
SUBJECT:
Trybe, Inc. License Agreement For Use
Of Clinton Square Park Community
Center For Collaborative Programming
DATE: January 24, 2024
RECOMMENDATION
The District 2 Council Office recommends City Council Adoption of An Ordinance (1) Authorizing The City Administrator To Negotiate And Execute A License Agreement With Trybe, Inc., A California Nonprofit Organization For Year-Round Community Programming On The Clinton Square Community Center For a 1-Year Term With Two 1-Year Options, At A Rate Of Zero Dollars ($0.00) Per Year; (2) Making Findings That The License For Below Fair Market Value Is In The Best Interest Of The City; And (3) Making Appropriate California Environmental Quality Act Findings.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The request is for the Oakland City Council to approve an ordinance that allows Trybe, Inc. to execute year-round programming on the Clinton Square Park Community Center (“Community Center”) for a below-market rate of $0.00 for a 1-year term with two 1-year options to extend until February 28, 2027. This ordinance will allow for programming on under-utilized Community Center and Park for multiple marginalized communities, and bring a net gain of programming and resources into an underinvested neighborhood. The purpose of this Ordinance is to create a safe, accessible, culturally-grounded community center and park, in partnership between the City and Community Based Organizations, and to pilot relationships, programming, and services for the longer-term in the Clinton Park/ Little Saigon neighborhood.
In particular, office and meeting space, classes and programming will serve elders and seniors; school-aged youth; immigrants, refugees, and other limited English proficient populations; local cultural centers and spiritual institutions; and local businesses and merchants. Programming will center on community priorities from a recent October 2023 survey, including music and dance performances, art classes, night markets, exercise/ martial arts classes; food distribution, language classes, health clinics and prevention education, youth programs; and Neighborhood
Honorable Mayor & City Council
Subject: Trybe, Inc. License Agreement For Use Of Clinton Square Community Center For Collaborative Programming
Date: January 24, 2024 Page 2
Meeting of the Oakland City Council
February 6, 2024
Council meetings. The collaborative is exploring additional programming, including job training, computer lab, meeting and office space for violence interrupters, and locating the police watch station at the Community Center.
BACKGROUND / LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
Recent History of Clinton Community Center
The Clinton Square Community Center at 655 International Boulevard is an approximately 12,000 square foot building containing two large multi-purpose rooms, two medium-sized classrooms, four small meeting rooms or large offices, three small offices or storage rooms, a prep/serving kitchen, a courtyard, and restrooms.
The Community Center was previously leased to the Vietnamese Community Center of the East Bay (VACCEB), a non-profit organization providing services to low-income clients and their families, focused on refugees and immigrants. VACCEB’s most recent license agreement expired on December 31, 2023, and the organization has since vacated the space. The Community Center had minimal programming during the pandemic and during multi-year renovations by Risk Management through the Office of Public Works. The renovations were related to an arson in February 2021 when more than a dozen small fires and one large fire were reported around the building, causing damage to 30% of the building. The Community Center remains largely without active in-person programming since food distribution funding and services tapered off in the spring of 2023– contributing further to a decline in community presence and activation.
Neighborhood background
Clinton Park sits within the Eastlake and Lower San Antonio neighborhoods of Oakland, bounded by 6th and 7th Avenues and East 12th and International Boulevards. Many Vietnamese and other small businesses (ex. grocery stores, car shops, restaurants) are concentrated in and around Clinton Park, leading to its moniker also as “Little Saigon.” The park and community center are within walking distance to dozens of businesses, three schools, Laney College, and Lake Merritt, and located along major bus routes (East 12th and International Boulevards) to downtown and other parts of Oakland.
The Clinton Park and Little Saigon community Oakland is experiencing an acute level of post- pandemic violence, crime, and economic instability. The pandemic exacerbated decades-long disinvestment, poverty, and crime in and around Clinton Park. Violent crime, prostitution, burglaries, and arson, along with growing encampments of unhoused residents, have led some residents and businesses to avoid the once vibrant park and neighborhood.
Community Groups Collaborate to Reactivate Community Center & Park As a result of these multiple challenges, community members, organizations, local religious institutions, and merchants who depend on community involvement and economic activity in the neighborhood are coming together, led by the Lead Agency, Trybe Inc., in partnership with the Honorable Mayor & City Council
Subject: Trybe, Inc. License Agreement For Use Of Clinton Square Community Center For Collaborative Programming
Date: January 24, 2024 Page 3
Meeting of the Oakland City Council
February 6, 2024
City of Oakland (namely the District 2 staff, Office of Public Works, Office of Parks, Recreation, and Youth Development, and the Neighborhood Services Division), to revitalize the Clinton Community Center and surrounding park.
With support from the District 2 Council Office and Trybe, Inc. as the Lead Agency, eight organizations initially formed a collaboration to support re-activation of the Clinton Community Center and Park: ARTogether, Asian Health Services, Center for Empowering Immigrants and Refugees, East Bay Refugee and Immigrant Forum, Oakland Asian Cultural Center, Oakland Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce, Trybe, Inc., and the Tzu Chi Buddhist Foundation.
Collectively, the eight organizations reach tens of thousands of residents and community- members each month through food distribution, language classes, cultural and arts programming including festivals, music, and dance, life enrichment, youth summer camps and groups, social services, health clinics, merchant support, and more. Many of the Lead Agency and community partners’ existing programs are in line with the community’s stated priorities from the survey and can be moved to the Community Center as part of the re-activation plan.
Background on Lead Agency and Roles
Trybe Inc. will serve in the following three roles on-site: 1) Lead Agency, including serving as the licensee with the City of Oakland for use of the space and hence responsible for the management and administration of the Community Center during the license period; 2) Site coordinator, including managing scheduling and programming, calendaring, and rentals of the facility, and 3) Park and Community Ambassadors, which provide a daily presence, engagement, maintenance, and beautification in and around the Park.
The Lead Agency will work in collaboration and partnership with the community partners to activate and program the Community Center for the 1-year interim period. Trybe Inc. is a nonprofit organization that proposes to work with the community partners and other institutions to activate the Clinton Community Center through year-round collaborative programming.
Trybe Inc. has served the nearby San Antonio and surrounding neighborhoods for 15 years, and brought much of their model for community ambassadors and engagement to the Clinton Park/ Little Saigon neighborhood over the past three years, with a consistent presence over the past 4 months. Some of Trybe’s major community-based activities in San Antonio and Clinton/ Little Saigon include: coordinating and executing food giveaways (the equivalent of 5.4 million meal equivalents as a single organization); resource navigation fairs (where they’ve distributed more than $23 million in food and other resources), community actions, events and meetings, averaging 40 per year; executing necessary programming for infants, youth, families, and seniors in the San Antonio and surrounding areas that addresses health disparities, financial preparedness, job training, youth development, homelessness, and other issues; and, Trybe Inc. delivers 1,000,000 activities of service and serves upwards of 21,000 individuals annually, at least 40% of whom are in the 94606 area code.
Honorable Mayor & City Council
Subject: Trybe, Inc. License Agreement For Use Of Clinton Square Community Center For Collaborative Programming
Date: January 24, 2024 Page 4
Meeting of the Oakland City Council
February 6, 2024
Trybe, Inc. has extensive experience working with the City of Oakland and currently holds two license agreements with the City, including activation of the San Antonio Tennis Courts for Town Nights and use of the property owned by Caltrans and leased to the City at 6th and Madison for outdoor space.
License Agreement Recommendation
Trybe Inc. and the community partners’ request for a License Agreement at $0.00 is centered on the goal of re-activating and reinvigorating the Clinton Community Center and Park for community-prioritized and focused uses. The collaborative envisions a safe, accessible, inclusive, thriving, culturally vibrant community center and park in the middle of Little Saigon.
Given the current status of the community center and park, the District 2 office recommends a 1- year interim community use for a 1-year term with two 1-year options. In those initial 12 months, we anticipate the City of Oakland implementing an RFQ for a longer-term, 3-5 year lease for the Clinton Community Center.
PROGRAMMING:
The range of programs planned by the Lead Agency and community partners for the 1-year interim use are in alignment with the priorities outlined in a community survey conducted between August to October, 2023, and included 229 community surveys in English, Chinese, and Vietnamese. These community priorities for the center were: music and dance classes and performances, art classes, night markets, exercise/ martial arts classes; food distribution, language classes, health clinics and prevention services, and youth programs. Additionally, the Lead Agency and community partners are exploring and planning for additional programs including murals and youth art groups, community education/ life enrichment and cultural workshops, after-school programming, youth health education, meeting space for violence interrupters and the city’s Neighborhood Councils, storage for Adopt-A-Spot and other neighborhood cleanup, an OPD watch station, and more.
ANALYSIS AND POLICY ALTERNATIVES
Public parks are a central resource for Oakland residents that need activation, maintenance, and attention. Working with community organizations that offer free, high quality resources and opportunities to Oakland residents by utilizing and activating under resourced City spaces, the City can better understand, allocate resources to, and address the needs of surrounding communities.
FISCAL IMPACT
This lease agreement brings a multitude of positive impacts into the Clinton Park/ Little Saigon and surrounding neighborhoods at little to no additional cost to the City or its residents. Trybe, Inc. is already contributing in-kind community and park ambassadors who partner with the City Honorable Mayor & City Council
Subject: Trybe, Inc. License Agreement For Use Of Clinton Square Community Center For Collaborative Programming
Date: January 24, 2024 Page 5
Meeting of the Oakland City Council
February 6, 2024
of Oakland and community partners to conduct regular park cleanup and engagement with unhoused residents and businesses. We estimate the in-kind value of the Trybe, Inc. and the above programs and services to the community would cost the City at least approximately $500,000 per year to provide on its own.
The City has and continues to offer use of property to community serving organizations to provide services for below-market rates. Other comparable, below-market rate lease/license agreements for in-kind services of community-serving uses of City property, including at some parks, include:
● East Oakland Boxing Association at 816 98th Ave ($0/month) ● Fam 1st Family Foundation at West Oakland Youth Center ($0/month) ● Black Cultural Zone Akoma Market at 73rd & Foothill ($500/month) ● Homies Empowerment Freedom Farm at 10451 MacArthur ($500/month) ● Oakland School For The Arts at 1911 Telegraph ($500/month) ● Family Bridges at Old Lincoln Park ($0/month)
● Trybe, Inc. at San Antonio Park Tennis Courts ($0/month)
Considering that Trybe, Inc. and the community partners provide upwards of 1 million activities of service to over 10,000 residents in the Clinton Park/ Little Saigon and surrounding areas, the net gain for the in-kind benefit to the City outweighs the fair market rental value of the Community Center.
PUBLIC OUTREACH / INTEREST
Building on previous efforts of multiple organizations, the District 2 City Council Office and the Oakland Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce embarked on a nearly half-year process starting in late July 2023 to engage organizations and community-members to re-identify priorities and propose organizational structure for increased community use of the Clinton Community Center.
Organizations joined an initial meeting in late July to inform a community survey to gather information about priority uses for the Clinton Community Center and Park. From mid-August to October 2, 2023, community partners and the District 2 office collected 229 community surveys through online google forms, and were made available in English, Chinese, Vietnamese and Spanish. Outreach on the surveys included QR codes and links posted to social media, newsletters, in-person outreach at festivals, programs, food distribution, and to clients, members, and organizational networks of the community partners.
Eight organizations began meeting in late July to review results of a community survey, contribute to programming and a proposal to the City of Oakland, form an interim Community Steering Committee, engage the broader community, and submit a proposal to the City of Oakland for a 1-year interim use of the Clinton Square Community Center.
Honorable Mayor & City Council
Subject: Trybe, Inc. License Agreement For Use Of Clinton Square Community Center For Collaborative Programming
Date: January 24, 2024 Page 6
Meeting of the Oakland City Council
February 6, 2024
As the Lead Agency, Trybe, Inc. has a history of working collaboratively on activating parks, including partnering with Friends of San Antonio Park and multiple organizations to build up resources and services coming to that park. This expansion of Trybe, Inc.’s services and community resources to the Clinton Square Community Center is a natural evolution of that organizing and commitment to the Clinton Park neighborhood.
COORDINATION
Council President Bas’s Office has worked with Trybe, Inc. and various community organizations, Oakland Parks, Recreation, and Youth Development; the Real Estate Division, the Office of the City Administrator, and the Office of the City Attorney on this legislation.
PAST PERFORMANCE, EVALUATION AND FOLLOW-UP (If Applicable)
As the Lead Agency, Trybe, Inc. has a 15-year long history of leading community-based programming and initiatives, including:
- Increasing the health and safety of youth in the community by helping Bella Vista Elementary advocate for a new playground instead of using a city owned playground.
- Responding to crime and violence through community building by utilizing programs like peace walks, community ambassador groups, and hosting large community events such as the Eastlake Connection Night– where service providers came to engage with over 500 families creating opportunity and access for low and moderate income families.
- Continuing to serve and impact more than 1,000 youth through internship programs, pre- workforce development, youth nights, and college trips to San Diego and Santa Cruz.
- Activating and beautifying blighted public neighborhood space by applying for and being awarded a City of Oakland District 2 grant to hire artists to work with the community to paint a mural.
- Establishing a youth and family resource center where various early childhood playgroups are hosted: Early literacy, Bi-Lingual, LGBTQ family groups, and preschool readiness. The Trybe Center has become a hub of community activity with youth groups, after-school tutoring, women's drumming group, girls groups, fathers support groups, and community celebrations.
Additionally, collectively, the eight community partner organizations, in addition to Trybe, Inc., represent decades of experience, activities, outreach, and services in the arts, health education, social service connection, merchant and small business support, cultural and spiritual programming, and resources for immigrants and refugees.
Honorable Mayor & City Council
Subject: Trybe, Inc. License Agreement For Use Of Clinton Square Community Center For Collaborative Programming
Date: January 24, 2024 Page 7
Meeting of the Oakland City Council
February 6, 2024
SUSTAINABLE OPPORTUNITIES
Economic: Re-activating the Clinton Community Center is a part of revitalizing the Little Saigon commercial and residential corridor of Oakland, which has been plagued by decades of disinvestment, made all the more extreme by the pandemic. Several businesses have closed since the pandemic, leaving vacant storefronts, and those that remain are vulnerable to burglaries, vandalism, robbery, and the spill-over effects of violent crime related to sex trafficking and illegal gambling dens nearby. The services and programs the Lead Agency and community partners seek to bring back to Clinton Community Center will focus on serving both low-income residents, and bringing people back to eat, shop, and play in the neighborhood, further promoting positive economic activity.
Environmental: Community Ambassadors through the Lead Agency Trybe, Inc. conduct multi- week cleanups, keeping the park clean and engaging with the unhoused residents. Community partner members Oakland Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce and the Tzu-Chi Buddhist Foundation also conduct monthly Adopt-A-Spot cleanups in partnership with the City of Oakland. Lead Agency Trybe, Inc. holds programming around environmental justice issues in the community. Furthermore, activating the Clinton Community Center will allow residents who live within walking distance or a bus-ride away to easily get to the center for services and programming.
Race & Equity: Lead Agency Trybe, Inc. and the community partner organizations serve a range of populations, including recent immigrants and refugees from Asia, Africa, Latin America, South America, and Arab countries, many of whom are low-income, or part of another marginalized community. Trybe, Inc. and many of the community partners also have a history and deep relationships working in multi-racial communities, bringing together Black, Asian, Indigenous, and Latinx communities through programs and services. This adds direct and accessible resources to residents and community-members in their neighborhood.
ACTION REQUESTED OF THE CITY COUNCIL
The District 2 Council Office recommends City Council Adoption of An Ordinance (1) Authorizing The City Administrator To Negotiate And Execute A License Agreement With Trybe, Inc., A California Nonprofit Organization For Year-Round Community Programming On The Clinton Square Community Center For a 1-Year Term With Two 1-Year Options, At A Rate Of Zero Dollars ($0.00) Per Year; (2) Making Findings That The License For Below Fair Market Value Is In The Best Interest Of The City; And (3) Making Appropriate California Environmental Quality Act Findings.
Honorable Mayor & City Council
Subject: Trybe, Inc. License Agreement For Use Of Clinton Square Community Center For Collaborative Programming
Date: January 24, 2024 Page 8
Meeting of the Oakland City Council
February 6, 2024
For questions regarding this report, please contact Amaya Lin, Senior Policy Advisor, at (510) 238-7022.
Respectfully submitted,
Nikki Fortunato Bas
Council President, District 2
Prepared by: District 2 Office
Amaya Jennifer Lin, Senior Policy Advisor
Attachments:
- Presentation