Welcome to Oakland Kids First!

Oakland Kids First amplifies youth voice, leadership, and power to create engaging and equitable public schools where all students learn and achieve. Founded by a community coalition in 1996, OKF has supported youth organizing and campaign work for over twenty years and is proud to stand with youth organizers and adult allies invested in justice for Oakland students. We believe students are the experts of their own experience and therefore equipped to evaluate, innovate and govern the institutions that are supposed to serve them. 

The mission of Oakland Kids First (OKF) is to increase youth voice, leadership, and power and create engaging and equitable public schools where all students learn and achieve. Founded in 1996 by a multi-racial coalition of youth serving agencies, Oakland Kids First provides hundreds of youth with the skills and opportunities to advance safe and caring school cultures, lift their needs and priorities, and improve equity and academic outcomes for low-income youth of color – through youth leadership development, peer counseling, and youth organizing and advocacy.