CityCamp Oakland 2025: Residents Gather to Discuss Oakland's Future
On September 20, 2025, 70 Oakland residents gathered at Oakland City Hall for CityCamp Oakland 2025—an unconference where participants set the agenda, pitched ideas, and collaborated on solutions to Oakland’s most pressing civic challenges.
This is the 7th CityCamp Oakland and the first since COVID. The last event was in 2018 and the first ever was in 2012. This year, OpenOakland organized CityCamp along with 8 other events happening in September including: NYC, SF, Atlanta, and Portland.
Opening Remarks
The day began with a welcome from Steve (Spike) Spiker, Chief Impact Officer at FIRST 5 Alameda County and Founder of OpenOakland, followed by a keynote from Daniel Hamilton, Oakland’s Chief Resilience Officer. Spike helped ground us in the issues we’re facing as a nation and as a City. Daniel re-framed resilience not just as disaster prep and response, but building on the great assets we have as a community (check out the slide deck for more on that!)
The Unconference Process
Unlike traditional conferences, CityCamp operates as an “unconference”—participants pitched session ideas, voted on their favorites, and self-organized into four concurrent tracks throughout the day. The format empowers attendees to lead conversations on topics they’re passionate about, ensuring the agenda reflects what attendees actually care about.
Sessions
After pitches and voting, these sessions were selected by attendees.
| Session | Hearing Rm 1 | Hearing Rm 2 | Hearing Rm 3 | Hearing Rm 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oakland Charter Reform | Building Civic Projects Faster | Virtual Education System for STEM | Disaster Planning |
| 2 | Food Insecurity in Oakland (sponsored by Safeway) | People’s Budget / Combine Data Resources | Gamifying the City | Restoration of Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts |
| 3 | Transparency of How Budget is Spent to Meet Goals | Abandoned Car Cleanup | Transit Data (AC Transit) | ICE Rapid Response |
| 4 | OPD / ICE Policy | Walk Oakland - Make it More Safe and Welcoming | Workshops for Healing for Seniors (Lincoln) |
Session names with links have detailed notes available A folder of all materials is available in Google Drive
Key Themes
Throughout the day, several themes emerged across sessions:
- Transparency and Accountability: Multiple sessions focused on making city processes and spending more visible to residents
- Community Sanctuary: From disaster planning to ICE response to pedestrian safety, attendees engaged deeply with different dimensions of community wellbeing
- Infrastructure and Services: Transit data, abandoned car cleanup, and civic tech infrastructure were popular topics
- Resource Access: Food insecurity and connecting residents to existing resources generated significant interest
What’s Next?
CityCamp Oakland demonstrated the power of bringing residents together to tackle civic challenges collaboratively. The conversations started on September 20th are just the beginning.
Get Involved with OpenOakland
Attend Our Monthly Meetups
Join us on the first Tuesday of each month at Oakland City Hall. Our next meetup is [October 7, 2025]. Join our Meetup group to stay updated.
Support an OpenOakland Project
We’re currently recruiting researchers and interface designers for a community asset mapping project with EVOAK!, part of CalTrans Vision 980: reimagining the I-980 freeway. Attend our meetup and join our Slack workspace to learn about project opportunities.
Donate
CityCamp Oakland was made possible by volunteers and community support. Help us continue this work by donating to OpenOakland. Thanks to over 20 individuals that donated to cover costs!
Thank You
A huge thank you to the City of Oakland’s CIty Hall for hosting us and all individual donors—and to our incredible volunteers: Pablo, Mike, Toni, John, Eliza, Paula, Seemant. Your time and energy made this event possible.
Most importantly, thank you to the 70 attendees who showed up ready to engage, collaborate, and take action for Oakland. This is just the beginning.
Want to learn more about OpenOakland? We connect public agencies and nonprofits with skilled tech volunteers to increase their community impact through technology—at no cost. Learn more at openoakland.org