CHAPTER 510’S 2021-2022 IMPACT REPORT
a letter from our board chairs
Dear Oakland Allies,
As co-chairs of the Board of Directors, we are pleased to share Chapter 510’s
2021-22 Impact Report with you. This past year has been momentous for the organization: we opened a stunning new writing center in downtown Oakland. Our center is providing a post-shutdown space for youth to reconnect, create, and write with confidence and joy.
The new center comes after parents, teachers, youth and adults—all of us who love storytelling—dreamed up the idea of an interactive, bright, inspiring place for Oakland youth. Architects at Gensler Oakland worked with us pro bono to create an inspired design. Talented artists, fabricators, builders, (and pneumatic tube vendors) brought color, life, plants, interactivity, and beauty to this new space. The words of youth poets adorn our windows and walls. Our young novelists’ books are here, for sale, on our bookshelves.
We’re thrilled, too, that we have a new podcasting studio. A cohort of teen storytellers came weekly to interview local legends, collect oral histories, and reimagine what more is possible at this historic location in Swan’s Market in Old Oakland.
Hundreds of other young people are joining us at the beginning of something powerful. We hope this season you will find a way to get involved, too, and make the space for more youth creativity.
Mike Armstrong & Patti Birbiglia
Co-Chairs, Chapter 510
