Another year of an Amazing TOWN NIGHTS. Community being able to come together and be able to get free prizes, food, and play carnival games. This beautiful event took part in Arroyo Viejo Park in Oakland. Our next two events are this Friday, June 30 and July 14. We hope to see you there!

We had over 355 people in attendance. We gave out 300 burritos. Our burritos ran out in 75 minutes. We are thankful for all the blessings we had through this event and want to say thank you to all the community that came out to TOWN NIGHTS.

Thank you to everyone that took part in the event and everyone that stayed after the event to help clean up. A huge thank you to Lila Duran for coordinating this event. Overall thank you to all our volunteers, staff, East Oakland Collective, Amigo Ayuda A Tu Amigo, Department of Violence Prevention, La Familia, and everyone who took part in making this event a success.

A few words that was shared from people's experiences from TOWN NIGHTS are:
Dr.Cesar Cruz: "It was really amazing to see people of all ages enjoying themselves. So empowering to see African Americans, Latinos and neighbors from East Oakland having a great time, together, we only had 300 meals and we gave those out in an hour. Close to 500 people came out and just had a good time together, that is a huge deal for us in our community. What a blessing!"

Lila Duran: "It was a stressful day, with everything happening behind the scenes. But seeing the kids smile and having a good time made it all worth it. Appreciate the LOVE the community showed Homies Empowerment, and each other."

Pictures taken by Lizette Perez

What an amazing Homies dinner! We had the most amazing, inspiring and phenomenal guests and panelists at the HOMIES Dinner last night focusing on how we can be the best ally and support Black Women and Black Girls against all forms of oppression including knowledge and awareness about trafficking black bodies! We are truly grateful for their presence, knowledge and wisdom!

A special thanks to our amazing panelists including Sister Barbara Howard (our moderator), Selena Wilson, Nola Brantley, Alice Karim, Mahlia Jones, Tarika Lewis, Khilynn Fowler and Council member Treva Reid! So much powerful women sharing and teaching us how to be in solidarity. We appreciated their offerings and it was a blessing to be present. 

Thank you sister Barbara Howard for hosting on your bday and for being willing to be vulnerable. Thank you Mahlia for speaking your truth and doing so in such a powerful way. Thank you to Jazzy and Rubi for helping set up the space in such a beautiful way. Thank you Jay and Diego for troubleshooting tech and creating this surround sound experience. Thank you Yolanda and Lila for going to pick up the food. Thank you Selena for going all over town to get a personal cake made. Thank you to Angelica, Lila, Don Adan, Jazzy and anyone else who served the people food. Thank you Selena G and Egypt for tabling. Thank you Rose for being so adaptive with dreams Arts & staying with three of the youth. Thank you Cristobal for being willing to do anything including throwing out the trash, thank you to everyone who threw out trash. Thank you Viviana & Rev for helping to hold space. Thank you Santa for coming and even coming with your family. Thank you Jay & Ava for filming. Thank you to Dr. Cruz for bringing the delicious plant based barbecue too! 

​There's more, thank u ALL. - Dr. Cesar Cruz