organization — dedicated to educating, feeding, and providing a safe space for children since June 2020 — the Oakland, CA-based bus can host up to 35 children at a time and features three flat-screen TVs and an impressive sound system.
"This idea came basically from me wanting to find a way to eradicate food deserts within the Oakland area," Ayesha told, with Steph adding that the city has become like their adopted home."At first, the idea was around, 'How can we find locations where people can come and pick up fresh produce and other things for their families?' Logistically, especially with COVID, that idea started to seem far-fetched.
"If we can all join together and try to fix the issue together and turn these numbers around, then I think we're doing something right." Another driving force behind the creation of the bus were the discouraging statistics reading levels among Black and Latinx students in the Oakland Unified School District, many of who are far below their expected grade level."That, to me, is unacceptable," thesaid."It's not the teacher's fault. It's not the parents' fault. It's a community issue. Let's get together, give this model a try and see if we can create some excitement around reading.
Created with the intention of helping children all throughout the community, the bus won't have a fixed location."It may show up anywhere, take on a life of its own and has the capabilities to host an event anywhere," Steph said."Hopefully, what we are doing is an amazing case study of the power of a cohesive team of talented people that have hearts of gold that can do amazing things . . .