Make it stand out
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Oakland Tech Week Is Coming to East Oakland, Y'all.
AI as a Human Multiplier, Building the Rise East Youth Navigation App, With Youth in the Lead.
Join EOBA and CARLI for a Brunch and Learn about what changes when the people who will use a technology help lead its development from the beginning.
Members of the Rise East 40x40 Youth Advisory Council are helping guide the development of the Youth Navigation and Exposure App. During this panel discussion, youth leaders and the app developers will share how they are working together to turn lived experience into product requirements, features, trust standards, data decisions, and testing priorities.
Great products fail when builders misunderstand the people who will use them. This event offers technology professionals, funders, designers, engineers, researchers, nonprofit leaders, and community partners a live case study in user-led product development.
Attendees will hear how East Oakland youth are identifying access barriers, setting priorities, and deciding what will make the app useful, safe, relevant, and trustworthy. The conversation will examine how transportation challenges and fragmented information affect the user journey, how peer trust influences adoption, and how youth decision-making changes the development process.
Many young people trust information that has been shared and validated by other young people. Their peers understand their language, daily experiences, transportation concerns, safety needs, and the difference between a program that looks good online and one that truly welcomes them.
Bringing Oakland Tech Week to East Oakland recognizes the talent, creativity, knowledge, and leadership that already exist here. East Oakland deserves access to technology investment, career pathways, partnerships, and a meaningful role in determining what gets built. Our young people bring valuable knowledge to product development because they understand their community and the barriers families face.
The user has changed the game. We can no longer build for young people and ask for their opinions after the major decisions have been made. We have to build with them and give them real authority throughout the process.
Come for brunch, meet the youth and developers behind the project, and leave with a practical model for building technology with users.
Sunday, September 27, 2026.
11:00 AM to 1:00 PM.
East Oakland Boxing Association.
Free parking, brunch, and refreshments included.