Join the UC Oakland Partnership and support Oakland and UC students
March 10, 2014 •
Get your Oakland T-shirt from Tracy FitzGerald (right) who, with Matt Leet, models the two styles available as part of the UC Oakland Partnership. All proceeds from T-shirt sales will support the Oakland Scholarship.
If you haven’t gotten your Oakland Grown gift card yet, why not get one today?
President Napolitano recently announced the UC Oakland Partnership, a new outreach project to strengthen ties between OP and the local community and fund the UCOP Oakland Scholarship.
It’s serious and fun at the same time. You help support local independent businesses in downtown Oakland and simultaneously kick in some funds to boost Oakland high school seniors who plan to attend a UC campus. You’ll also have opportunities to join community and volunteer activities like the Oakland Running Festival.
The partnership has three objectives: to support Oakland, to engage OP staff with the community, and to fund the new UCOP Oakland Scholarship. Here’s how it works:
OP has teamed up with the Oakland Sustainable Business Alliance to create UC’s own Oakland Grown gift card, which you can use for purchases at participating Oakland independent businesses.
The card is free (get yours from Tracy FitzGerald); then you load it with funds to use at participating vendors (like Oaklandish and Caffe 817). Every purchase with the card accrues reward points that can be redeemed for a variety of local goods and services. Better yet, a percentage of all gift card purchases is channeled to the scholarship fund.
On top of proceeds from the gift cards, the scholarship will be funded by staff-generated events and sales as well as UCOP matching funds. That’s where the T-shirts come in; there are two styles ($20 each), and you can get yours from Tracy FitzGerald. T-shirt sales and cards have already generated about $1600 for the scholarship.
Here’s how you can get involved:
- Get, register and use your UC Oakland Grown gift card; contact Tracy FitzGerald at Tracy.FitzGerald@ucop.edu.
- Tell your favorite local businesses about the Oakland Grown gift card and encourage them to join the list of participating businesses.
- Get your own Oakland T-shirt ($20 each), also by contacting Tracy FitzGerald.
- Look for news in the coming weeks about more community activities and opportunities to volunteer.
I think this is tremendous, but I don’t understand why the public cannot buy UCOP Oakland cards to support the scholarship program, too.