//No city has any strength if the young people aren’t engaged. If you can build in front of them, for them, and also have them part of the process, then they can take ownership of what they have.// Keith “K-Dub” Williams
Skateboarding in Oakland is a short documentary that talks about how a skatepark can be a force for positive change. Recognizing the role skateboarding could play in improving choices local kids make, high school teacher, and Oakland resident, Keith “K-Dub” Williams began work on turning an unused space in West Oakland’s DeFremery Park, which locals refer to as just ’Town Park’, into a skatepark. That same year, 2007, an initiative with a similar idea has started off when Australian skateboarder Oliver Percovich began dedicating himself to the creation of Skateistan, a small non-profit skate school in Afghanistan. From a 'Sport for Development' project, Skateistan developed into international NGO that uses //skateboarding as a tool for empowering youth, to create new opportunities and the potential for change.// The organization is non-political, independent, and inclusive of all ethnicities, religions and social backgrounds. It focuses especially on girls and working children, provides access to education, works on developing leadership opportunities, building friendship, trust, and social capital. //Skateistan believes that when youth come together to skateboard and play, they forge bonds that transcend social barriers. Furthermore, through creative education classes the youth are enabled to explore issues that are important to them.// By now it has expanded to Cambodia and South Africa..
[ Sources: Huck Magazine, Skateistan ]