CTE TAY Hub: A Place for TAY To Achieve Their Dreams

For the past ten years, the building at 1025 2nd Avenue in downtown Oakland, Calif has been condemned. The decrepit structure, owned by Oakland Unified School District (OUSD), currently is a blight on the landscape, not to mention a waste of valuable space primely located between Laney College and continuation high school Dewey Academy. 

While historically there have been proposals for luxury market rate condominiums, a leadership center for adults, and other ideas proposed for the site, the Career Technical Education Transition-Aged Youth (CTE TAY) Hub Coalition, in partnership with funders and leaders from the Oakland Unified School District, City of Oakland, Alameda County, the State of California, and the federal government, has a more innovative and impactful vision for this location.

The CTE TAY Hub would create a paradigm shift by providing a safe location for TAY to receive the support they need to successfully transition to adulthood.

On May 18, 2026, the CTE TAY Hub Coalition hosted a press conference alongside community leaders and project advocates, showcasing the wide-ranging support for the Hub. Collectively, they were advocating for dedicated funding through SB 492, the Youth Housing Bond Act of 2026, to address the urgent housing needs of young adults ages 18-24. 

CTE TAY Hub Coalition youth leader Nick Gonzalez kicked off the event with a rousing indictment demonstrating the need for the Hub. 

“In Oakland alone, roughly 800 young people each year graduate high school and do not enter a four-year college, two-year program, or career technical education,” Gonzalez said. “They are not failures. They are untethered. The CTE TAY Hub is designed to connect them to opportunity and transform possibility into destinations.” 

The Hub, envisioned by the young people it is designed to support, would provide housing for TAY in need of a safe place to live. It would be a campus style environment for TAY who are not heading to four year universities, not ready for community college, and not yet connected to career pathways. 

Yet, the hub would be so much more than just a residential space. As Gonzalez noted, the Hub would be “a place where housing, education, mentorship and personal development [are] not scattered across bus lines and waiting rooms, but rooted together.” 

Here, young adults could find a sense of community and form friendships as well as obtain resources to help overcome barriers to stability and opportunity. Through partnerships with adjacent Dewey Academy and Laney College, TAY at the Hub would obtain career technical education skills and other support to help them find jobs to support themselves and/or further pursue academic education..

Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee is a big fan of the Hub’s vision to support TAY.

“When it comes to transitional age-youth, prevention is everything. Young people aging out of systems are among the highest risk population,” Lee said. “They're on the edge, and too often, we let them fall…These are young people with dreams, with potential, and with every right to have a stable place to call home. The CTE TAY hub is exactly the kind of bold community driven investment that Oakland needs. It's not just housing; it's housing paired with career training, education and wraparound support.”

The overwhelming support from city leaders provides hope of turning this vision into reality. The next step is demolishing the existing building and getting the resources and necessary approvals to build the Hub. 

California State Senator Jesse Arreguín sees the upcoming $10 billion dollar affordable housing bond that will be on the ballot in November as a viable source of funding.  He and others are advocating for a $1 billion dollar carve out for TAY in that bond, which aligns with the vision for SB 492.

Senator Arreguín implored community members to support this ballot measure.

“We absolutely need to have the resources to support a transformative project like the TAY CTE Hub here in the city of Oakland,” Arreguín said. “So we're here today to say, we need to make sure that young people are prioritized, not just in this housing bond, but every single day in the state of California, and we're here to make sure that when this thing goes on the ballot that one, we have money for projects like this, and two, we all need to hit the streets and make sure it passes this November, and make sure we work with our community partners to make sure that this vision of the CTE Hub project is realized here in Oakland.”

Other community leaders expressing support for the housing bond and the Hub include Alameda County Supervisor Nikki Fortunato Bas (who helped secure $350,000 to support the strategic planning process for the Hub when she was on City Council), City Council member Charlene Wang (who represents the district where the Hub will be located), OUSD Superintendent Dr. Denise Saddler, Congresswoman Lateefah Simon, Alameda County School Superintendent Alysse Castro, and OUSD School Board President Jennifer Brouhard. 

Superintendent Saddler noted the power of this broad coalition.

“This initiative represents the very best of collaboration. It demonstrates what is possible when the state, county, city, community organizations, and OUSD come together around a common purpose,” Saddler said. She also acknowledged the critical role of the youth leaders. “Your voice, courage and lived experiences are not only informing this project, they are transforming it. You are helping Oakland imagine something better and more just for the next generation.”

Gonzalez noted that the CTE TAY Hub is not just a program. “It is a promise that we will meet young people before they bleed... that we will build foundations, not emergency rooms... that we will give youth a place to stand while they learn how to soar.”

For the past five years, the multi-disciplinary, intergenerational CTE TAY Hub Coalition, which refers to themselves as “The Avengers”, has spent a considerable amount of time planning and designing the Hub. The OUSD school board has approved the demolition of the vacant buildings at 1025 2nd Avenue. In its ashes, all of its supporters hope that the CTE TAY Hub will rise.