Angela Dalton (@angeladalton_author )is a Bay Area children’s author and devoted supporter of Chapter 510. For four years, she mentored fourth and fifth-grade aspiring writers. Her time with our Chapter 510 youth authors inspired her picture book SHOW THE WORLD! — a love letter to the undeniable creativity of Bay Area youth.📚✨
Right now, we live in a time when book bans and existential threats are erasing communities of color and their varied narratives of identity. Now more than ever, every kid needs a place where their voices are heard and celebrated. 💫
This is where you can help. 🤝🏽
By supporting Chapter 510, you are helping to:
📖Connect youth to the power of their stories.
✒️Support the development of programs grounded in creativity, which, in turn, helps kids develop the motivation to write.
🌱Create a new generation of future art activists, community leaders, and maybe even a few award-winning authors.
No donation is too small.
🔗 Visit the link in our bio to support young authors today.
Chapter 510 presents — I HEAR YOU — the newest season of the SOUNDSPACE podcast, now live on Spotify and Apple Podcasts!
During a period of crisis in this country, these episodes answer a timely question: When mental health and wellness are buzzwords, what are actual tools to navigate an overwhelming world?
Through this podcast, you’ll join Oakland teens as they explore the significance of mental health and wellness through their own personal reflection, interviews, and voices from their communities.
I HEAR YOU offers an honest and courageous window into the experiences of high school youth, as they share how mental health and wellness show up in their lives, and the insights they want to offer the world.
A special thanks to @hopelab_org for their support of SOUNDSPACE, which is also working to ground our students' work in their research and resources around equity-centered solutions that improve the health and well-being of Black, Brown, and Queer young people.
We would also like to thank our funders OFCY (Oakland Fund for Children and Youth), Miranda Lux Foundation, Port of Oakland, and Kaiser Permanente for supporting this year’s podcast.
Oakland is a Reading Town! 📖✨
Take a look back at the joy, energy, and student pride from the 2026 OUSD Elementary Lit Fest.
Our young authors and readers showed us what literacy looks like in action, and our community showed up to celebrate them.
Drop a 📚 in the comments if you’re proud to be part of a community that reads!
#OUSD #OaklandReads #Chapter510 #EatLearnPlay #StudentLearning #BayAreaEducation
🚀✨ Big news, fellow book lovers! To Boldly Go: How Nichelle Nichols and Star Trek Helped Advance Civil Rights is now available in the Sistah Scifi Book Vending Machine at @Chapter510 in Oakland.
This means you can grab a copy anytime and dive into the story of Lieutenant Uhura, Nichelle Nichols’ incredible impact on pop culture, civil rights, and space communication—all through a kid-friendly lens. 🌌🖖
Support Black speculative fiction and snag your copy today! Every purchase helps Sistah Scifi continue to amplify voices that deserve to be seen, read, and celebrated.
#ToBoldlyGo #SistahScifiBookVendingMachine #NichelleNichols #ChildrensBooks #STEMforKids #RepresentationMatters #BlackSciFi
HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY! 💐✨
ABUELITA IN THE GALAXY 🌙, written by young author Andrea Garcia Gonzalez in our newest book WHEN THE STARS BLOOM IN OAKLAND , is a beautiful celebration of the maternal figures that fill our worlds with love and warmth as vast as the galaxy 🌠
It’s the final month of the semester, which means our Westlake Middle Schoolers are finalizing their stories and collaborating on publication details 📚✨
Students were especially excited to brainstorm and vote on a title .🗳️ Folks also had the opportunity to take their author headshots 📸
Even under budget cuts, Oakland Unified Schools continue to deepen their relationship with Chapter 510 – because the approach works to help young people write skillfully and with joy.
We are thrilled that NICE LIFE, MORE BECOMING an anthology of poems and flash memoirs by Westlake Middle Schoolers will be here soon! 🌍🎉
WE'RE THRILLED TO BE PART OF BAY AREA BOOK FESTIVAL (@baybookfest ) THIS YEAR!
On Saturday, May 30, join us just outside the Berkeley Public Library for YouthLit Day where we’re creating a “living room” of youth-centered activities in partnership with Storyland Collective (@storyland.collective ) and the Social Justice Children’s Book Fair (@sjchildrensbookholidayfair ). 🛋️🎨
Families can drop in anytime from 10:30 AM–3:00 PM for hands-on creative activities for all ages, plus prizes (who doesn’t love prizes), including tickets to an upcoming @oaklandroots game! ⚽🎟️Don't forget to also check out the panels and activities inside the library —which is free for the public!
Also, on Saturday from 12:30pm–1:00pm, student authors from our latest publication, WHEN THE STARS BLOOM IN OAKLAND will read and sign copies of the book.
On Sunday, May 31, for the main festival in Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park is where you’ll find us near the Youth Stages with books for sale, creative activities, and more!
Come celebrate these incredible young poets and spend the weekend surrounded by stories, imagination, and community. 📚✨
We have a few days to hit our matching challenge goal with the Quest Foundation. We only need $30K to get there!
Every dollar you donate right now will be matched, doubling your support for Oakland youth and our transformative programs – but only if we reach our goal.
This grant will provide opportunities for nearly 600 youth to engage in creative writing projects in a safe, affirming space that fosters community and a deep sense of belonging. It will also support our program staff and teaching artists working directly with youth.
Whether you’ve donated recently or are considering your first gift, a contribution of any size today can help us unlock this match.
Visit the link in our bio to donate today.
We are in the final stretch of producing I HEAR YOU, our latest season of SOUNDSPACE, a podcast by Oakland Teens!
Our I HEAR YOU podcasters reached an exciting milestone in their projects—recording and completing the narration for their episodes! 🎙️🙌 You could feel and see the confidence and joy radiating as they exited the studio. 🌟
Our teen podcasters have spent the year pouring into their projects, and it’s been incredible to watch their stories come to life. We’re excited to bring these powerful voices to the world very soon 🌍💛
This weekend, The International Library of Young Authors celebrated the release of their latest book HOW CAN WE MAKE THIS WORLD WORTH KNOWING? — a collection of poems from young authors around the world, including Chapter 510 poets.
Chapter 510 alum and author Jalen Tapia hopped on the mic to read his poem “Harlem” from WHAT IF AN ARTIST RULED THE WORLD – a piece written almost ten years ago! It was a thrill to hear Jalen’s poem and to see it have a new life in print.
We've published over 100 youth-penned books and supported over 6,500 young authors in Oakland. We’re thrilled to see their work recognized and celebrated alongside voices from around the world.
OUSD LITFEST WAS A SMASH! ✨
We loved celebrating the release of WHEN THE STARS BLOOM with our Oakland community. This anthology holds what the young people in our city are thinking about and imagining. 📖🌙
Thank you to everyone who stopped by, picked up a copy of the book, showed love to our young poets on the mic, and uplifted the powerful writing of Oakland youth. Special thanks to Mayor @barbaraleeforca for joining us and her support of young Oakland writers!
Oakland is not only a city rich in creative history but one that continues to uplift young people to read and write with confidence and joy. Our young people are the authors of their future and continue to carry that legacy forward every single day. 🌟
@ousdnews@oaklitcoalition
BACK TO THE MOON! 🚀🌕
CHANGING MOON, written by Chapter 510 youth poet Iliana Tapia in our newest anthology WHEN THE STARS BLOOM IN OAKLAND, reminds us that change is constant and that the power of transformation is reflected right above us in the night sky.
Congratulations to @nasa Artemis crew on this incredible feat! Their journey is a reminder that exploration is ever-evolving, just like the moon itself 🌙✨
