Jefferson Awards: Woman Helps Oakland Natives Give Back
OAKLAND (CBS 5) -- When Oakland Native Nyeisha DeWitt wanted to do something to help young people achieve in her community, she didn't have to look far. She turned to those who also were raised in Oakland, inspiring them to give back to their hometown.
On a hot summer day in Oakland, dozens of volunteers are braving the sun to form an assembly line at a long table outside a former elementary school. They're there to make sure hundreds of kids get what they need on the first day of class, stuffing backpacks with binder paper, pencils, pens, glue sticks, erasers, and even calculators.
"Dictionaries go over there!" called DeWitt, directing the effort from the head of the table. Dewitt knows the huge importance of academic support.
"I know that it could be frustrating and daunting for young people and their parents to overcome some of the challenges that you experience in high school," she said.
DeWitt dropped out of school in the 10th grade. But when she was fired from a job for not having her high school diploma, she got serious. She earned her GED, and with the help of some people who believed in her, she graduated from UC Berkeley.
"Someone gave back to me when I was younger," she explained. "There was a wonderful woman who believed in me and saw that I was worthy of the opportunity to get such a wonderful education."
Today DeWitt has her Ph.D., but she's never forgotten where she started. That's why she created the organization "Oakland Natives Give Back."
For the fourth year in a row, the organization has sponsored a back to school rally at Oakland City Hall, handing out backpacks full of supplies and bus passes for transportation, and encouraging students to stay in school.
Volunteer Tamika Buckley said, "I think it's important to pour into kids what you expect to get out of them and this is a good start to show that we give back to our community. We care for them, so maybe they will want to achieve and do better."
Buckley grew up in Oakland and now lives in Texas. But she returns to volunteer with DeWitt and her organization, to make a difference.
"Once you graduate and go to college and overcome your own challenges, you can choose to be part of the problem or part of the solution, and I thinks it's wonderful," Buckley added.
DeWitt said volunteers return to Oakland from cities around northern California.
"People from this community, born here, really care," Dewitt said. "We do have what it takes in us to give back to our community."
This year Oakland Natives Gives Back distributed more than 1,000 backpacks. Working with the school district and the City of Oakland, they connect families to local resources while reconnecting volunteers with their hometown community.
"It's our duty, it should be our privilege, to serve the community and give back to the place where we were reared," DeWitt said.
So for inspiring others to look homeward in an effort to help Oakland's students succeed, this week's Jefferson Award in the Bay Area goes to Dr. Nyeisha DeWitt.
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