When we in the media tell the story of East Oakland, we often weave a narrative of crime, violence and despair. And while significant challenges exist within this community, often untold or underreported are the stories of vibrancy, resilience, activism, diversity and pride.

In late July, the newest Oakland Voices cohort began and, over the next nine months, these 12 East Oakland residents will be trained as community correspondents and write stories they feel need to be told.

All the stories will appear on the www.oaklandvoices.us website and some will appear in this newspaper.

The goal of the program is to empower residents to be the storytellers of their neighborhoods and to build a relationship between the community and this newspaper.

Former Oakland Tribune columnist Brenda Payton enters her second year as our Oakland Voices coordinator, providing guidance and the benefit of her more than three decades of journalism experience.

Oakland Voices began in 2010 and now enters its fourth cohort. The program is run in partnership with the Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, an Oakland-based national nonprofit dedicated to diversifying America’s newsrooms, and is funded in large part by The California Endowment, a nonpartisan health care foundation. Voices has been replicated in Jackson, Mississippi, and has another cohort underway in Sacramento. If you have story ideas or want more information, please contact oaklandvoices5@gmail.com. You can also follow Voices at Twitter.com/oaklandvoices.

2015 Oakland Voices correspondents

Marilu Aguilar

Aguilar received a B.A. in ethnic studies from UC Berkeley in 2014. She was an intern for the U.S. Supreme Court during the fall of 2013. She found herself in East Oakland through a series of events that affirmed her passion for social justice and community service.

Randy Filio

After high school, Filio bought his own 35 mm camera and some lenses and started taking pictures, trying to find a style for his photography. In Oakland, he started studying photography at Laney College, where he is a student. Photography is his passion and he hopes to make it his career.

Saleem Gilmore

Gilmore is an Oakland native. In the early 1990s, he became a classroom teacher, focusing on working with African-American boys. He also works with community-based organizations. He is the father of a 21-year-old son and a 17-year-old daughter he describes as dynamic and coming into their own.

Carlos Gonzalez

Gonzalez describes himself as “Oakland-ish as can be.” He is a native with fond childhood memories of swimming at Alameda beach, winning spelling bees and playing dodge ball. He attended a Catholic school where he was taught by charismatic nuns and hippies who drove yellow Datsuns.

Rosalinda Hernandez

Hernandez is an Oakland native. She graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, with a bachelor’s degree in political science in 2003. Her passion for education and Oakland inspired her to focus her senior project on the state takeover of the Oakland Unified School District in 2003.

Angela Huapaya

Huapaya is the first generation of her family born in the Bay Area. Her mother is Native American from Oregon and her father is from Peru. She survived a tough childhood growing up on the streets of Fruitvale and the Mission. She loves to teach others how to stand up and take care of themselves.

Bill Joyce

Joyce was greatly influenced by the severe disability of his younger sister before federal protections of people with disabilities. As a special-education teacher, he had a particular empathy for his students. As a Peace Corps volunteer in Nepal, he learned that material items are not essential to a life well lived.

Area Ledet

Ledet is an Oakland native and considers herself bicultural, growing up in a predominately African-American neighborhood in East Oakland and attending school in an area with people of a different cultural background. She earned a B.A. in communication studies from San Francisco State.

Aqueila Lewis

Lewis knew she wanted to be a writer at 5. She is the co-host and executive producer of “All the Rest of Us,” an art-centered radio show that airs Sundays at 3-4 p.m. on 89.3 FM KPFB. She is creating children’s books focused on issues of social justice and community.

Angela Scott

Scott grew up in Sobrante Park. She is a student at Mills College, where she is majoring in ethnic studies with a minor in women﻿’s leadership. She is an avid reader and lover of all things poetic. She enjoys music of all kinds, art, great food and travel, across the country and abroad.

Mustafa Solomon

Solomon has been a professional photographer for more than 30 years. He is also a videographer, a lover of jazz, sports and fashion. He is a community activist and a member of many organizations, such as Causa Justa/Just Cause, Black Lives Matter and the East Oakland Building Healthy Communities initiative.

Sabah Williams

Williams is a mixed-race woman who grew up in a Native American community in Oakland, attending may Native American ceremonies, gatherings and cultural events. She hopes to learn more about her African-American family. She has worked in the executive offices of Men’s Wearhouse for 13 years.