Kingmakers of Oakland 

Kingmakers of Oakland (KOO) was born out of the Oakland Unified School District’s Office of African American Male Achievement. KOO is a nonprofit organization, whose goal is to provide support and technical assistance to schools, districts and organizations interested in improving educational and life outcomes for Black male students.

Documentary from Up To Code Academy on Vimeo. 

One of the primary services of KOO is working with School Districts to identify a cross-functional, intergenerational learning cohort to address problems of practice facing Black male achievement referred to as the KOO Learning Collaborative (LC). Our theory of action is embodied by the metaphor “Healing the Fish while Treating the Toxic Ecosystem.” Our work is not about fixing Black males as they are not the problem. 

We fundamentally believe that all Black males are brilliant, beautiful and possess innate greatness. Our goal is to support district teams while leveraging their collective genius to identify the systems, structures, conditions and culture that when sustained will lead to improved educational and life outcomes for Black male students. KOO provides the LC teams with thought partnership, technical assistance and the necessary support systems, as each district works through their transformation process.