Eat. Learn. Play. Announces Expanded Vision to Transform the School Experience for Oakland Students

By Chris Helfrich, CEO, Eat. Learn. Play.

When Eat. Learn. Play. launched in July 2019, we saw the immense need that existed in Oakland and set out to unlock the full potential of the kids in our community. As CEO of Eat. Learn. Play. and someone who helped build the foundation, it has been my honor to witness the growth of the organization and the impact we have made, alongside our partners and the community, throughout Oakland.

Over the past four years, we’ve seen tremendous outcomes across our three pillars: raising over $47 million to serve Oakland kids and families, including delivering more than 25 million meals, infusing $6 million+ into literacy programs and resources, revitalizing 11 school and community playspaces, and much more. 

Now more than ever, Stephen, Ayesha, and the entire Eat. Learn. Play. team remain committed to our mission of empowering possibilities for Oakland kids, through access to nutritious meals, quality reading resources, and opportunities to play and be active.

Big challenges require big ideas — and even bigger commitments. 

As we continue the progress we have made and commit to doing even more in Oakland, we are excited to announce a new movement to raise and invest $50 million in additional support and resources for Oakland students through the 2025-2026 academic year. We are focusing our efforts on providing support directly to Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) students in order to transform the school experience for a generation of children where they EAT, LEARN and PLAY each and every day.

“Now more than ever, Stephen, Ayesha, and the entire Eat. Learn. Play. team remain committed to our mission of empowering possibilities for Oakland kids, through access to nutritious meals, quality reading resources, and opportunities to play and be active.”

-Chris Helfrich, CEO, Eat. Learn. Play.

The refined focus for our strategy stems from our conversations and learnings with Eat. Learn. Play.’s Board of Directors, our incredible community partners and leaders, issue-area experts, focused research, and our first-hand experience witnessing the central role OUSD can play in delivering equitable opportunity across each of our pillars. This approach allows us to reach nearly 35,000 students with immediate and tangible results. We are committed to achieving this by activating all three of our pillars:

EAT

We’re setting out to help transform the school food system by making thoughtful and pointed investments over the next three years to ensure kids have access to the healthy, high-quality food they need to thrive. Working with our dedicated partners, we will assist OUSD with the goal of providing over 6 million healthy, scratch-cooked school meals to students every year, enhance elementary and middle school cafeterias, and continue doing what we can to keep students and their families fed on the weekends and during the summer, including through our mobile resource center, The Eat. Learn. Play. Bus. 

LEARN

We’ve been inspired to see the joy of reading spark the imaginations of Oakland students over the past four years. To continue our efforts helping to ensure all Oakland elementary school students have the support and resources needed to become proficient readers, we will work to provide access to individualized and structured tutoring for elementary students reading below grade level. In addition, we will continue distributing books through a variety of programs including the Eat. Learn. Play. Bus and Little Town Libraries, restocking school libraries, and hosting free school book fairs. 

PLAY

You may have already seen some of the schoolyards that Eat. Learn. Play. has been remodeling across the community. We’re committed to transforming 25 elementary schoolyards throughout Oakland to give students the amazing playspaces they deserve. These schoolyards include state-of-the-art multi-sport courts, mini soccer pitches, play structures designed by the kids that will use them, community gardens, outdoor classrooms, reading areas, murals and more. We’re also working with OUSD to revitalize elementary and middle school sports programs so all students can experience the joy and benefits of youth sports. 

While we’re proud of what we have accomplished thus far, our work is far from over. I’m excited about our new expanded approach and evolved partnership serving OUSD students, and am confident that if we work together, we can enact real change in Oakland. We at Eat. Learn. Play. remain inspired by the impact that happens when our village comes together and commits to creating lasting change for generations to come. We are forever grateful for the unwavering support of our community partners and supporters who are joining us in this movement.