PROGRAMS

April Rebuilding Program
National Rebuilding Day: April 26, 2008

Each year, thousands of volunteers come together on the last weekend of April to help restore the homes of their low-income neighbors. These homes and community facilities have fallen into disrepair, and we work together to do repairs such as carpentry, plumbing, electrical, painting, window replacement, flooring, weather-stripping, debris removal, yard work and general clean-up, build new steps, patch cracks and holes, add fresh paint and landscape. The April Rebuilding Program grows each year, and we look forward to continue building and rebuilding throughout the city of Oakland.

In April 2007 RTO renovated 27 homes and 13 community facilities in Oakland, donating over $1,200,000 in project value.

Block Building Program
October 13 & 20, 2007

In September 2003 RTO launched its Block Building Program in partnership with the Bank of America Foundation. Each fall the organization mobilizes volunteers to rehabilitate the homes of several low-income elderly and disabled on a single block, and to perform block-wide improvements including debris removal and graffiti abatement. The 2003 program focused on 31st Street between West and Martin Luther King, and the 2004 program focused on Mead Avenue between San Pablo and Market, including the renovation of the adjacent Boys and Girls Club of Oakland. The 2005 program entailed the renovation of six homes and two community facilities (Hoover School and the YMCA) in the Brockhurst Street area of West Oakland. In 2006 the program moved to the Sobrante Park neighborhood in East Oakland where we renovated 9 homes and 2 community facilities with over 900 volunteers.

Safe-At-Home

In 2006 Rebuilding Together Oakland initiated it’s year round “Safe-At-Home” minor home modification program with a generous grant from the Y&H Soda Foundation.  This program targets seniors and disabled persons in need of minor home repairs such as grab bars and railings, required due to a debilitating illness or other life changing event.   These clients usually cannot wait until the April Rebuilding Program, and often they do not need the other major repairs of the once a year program.  Moreover, Safe-At-Home provides a year-round opportunity for a dedicated group of RTO volunteers.  For more information please see our brochure, press release and Safe-at-Home Homeowner and Caregiver applications.