James B. Hyman, Ph.D.

City of Oakland, CA Agrees to Pilot the Community Service Gateway Project

The City of Oakland, in Alameda County California, is one of many American cities with high rates of incarceration. In 2002, Alameda County held 5,047 persons in prisons and 3,844 in jails. 1,000 of San Quentin's 5,700 prisoners were from Alameda County and most were believed to be from Oakland. Oakland is a high incarceration city in a high incarceration state. In 2001, the State of California housed the second largest prison population (163,965 prisoners) in the U.S. — an astonishing 12.2 percent (or 1 in 8) of the entire nation's prison population. Ten of the state's 58 counties, including Alameda, accounted for 75% of the state's prison population.

Since November 2007, with support from the San Francisco Foundation, Dr. James B. Hyman has consulted with Oakland City and Alameda County officials to explore their interest in piloting the Community Service Gateway Project (CSGP). CSGP is based on Dr. Hyman's research on black men chronicled in his 2006 report to the Dellums Commission on Minority Males entitled, Men and Communities: African-American Males and the Well-Being of Children, Families and Neighborhoods. CSGP is an initiative designed to work with minority males pairing ex-offenders and high risk young adults in community service projects that are intended to:

  • build job-related skills,
  • instill a sense of community,
  • restore pro-social values, and
  • act as a gateway to other developmental opportunities in education and employment.

The project in Oakland will be a partnership of four city departments: Office of the Mayor, Department of Human Services, Oakland Police Department, Parks and Recreation, and the Alameda Department of Public Health. The Urban Strategies Council — an Oakland-based community building, support and advocacy organization founded in 1987 — will manage and operate the project. PolicyLink — an Oakland-based, national research and action institute, advancing economic and social equity by "Lifting Up What Works" — will examine and archive the project's policy implications.

Dr. Hyman is working with these partners to complete the planning and fundraising in order to launch CSGP in June, 2009.