My colleague, Dawn, and I met this fall with Susan Mernit, the CEO of Hack the Hood. Hack the Hood is right in our neighborhood at the Impact Hub in Oakland.  They are a recent winner of the Google Impact Challenge grant.  They train low-income youth of color with digital skills and send them out to build websites for local business, while getting mentoring and career education from high tech companies.  We love that the program has been transformative not only for young people, but also for the local business community in our neighborhood.  It’s grassroots and radical collaboration at its best.

PVF’s Senior Program Officer, Dawn Hawk, and Hack the Hood’s CEO, Susan Mernit share ideas at Blue Bottle Cafe in Oakland.