Oakland REACH is an educational organization that advocates for improving the literacy and math skills for underserved communities in Oakland, California by providing educational services in Oakland public schools such as tutors for students and training for teachers. The group also provides start-up training for school districts and cities across the country as of 2026. ¹ Donors to Oakland REACH have included MacKenzie Scott, the Walton Family Foundation, and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. ^{2  3  4}

Background

Oakland REACH is an educational organization in Oakland, California that advocates for improving the literacy and math skills for underserved communities in Oakland, California. It also promotes efforts that “disrupt systematic education inequities in Oakland public schools.” ^{5  6}

The group was initially founded in 2016 by Lakisha Young to serve as a policy advocacy group to advance educational opportunities for low-income children from “underserved communities” in the Oakland area. Its initial program was a “10-week fellowship where parents learned about the history of education and systemic racism and were trained in education advocacy” in Black and Hispanic communities. ⁷

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the group created the Hub, a virtual platform that provided educational resources and instruction for students as well as resources for parents and caregivers. ^{8  9} As of February 2026, Oakland REACH reports to have 135 tutors in 38 schools, involving over 4,000 students in the Oakland area. ^{10  11  12}

Activities

Oakland REACH uses a “Liberator Model program” to develop tutors, or “liberators,” in the Oakland school system. Those labeled as “liberators” primarily include “Black and Latino parents, caregivers, grandparents, aunties, and uncles” of underserved children within the Oakland school district. They are trained in literacy, leadership development, and “culture building” during a multi-week paid fellowship after which they work directly with students as paid tutors to provide academic support. ¹³

The program initially focused on literacy, but in 2024 it expanded to include courses in mathematics as well. ¹⁴ The literacy tutors continued to focus on students in kindergarten through third grade, while math tutors would with students from third through fifth grade. ¹²

Oakland REACH’s “REACH Way Institute” advocates for promoting the “Liberator Model” to school districts and cities across the country. ¹⁰ In 2023, the Oakland REACH developed a two-day session for community leaders in other cities to learn how to set up the Liberator Model in their own school systems. REACH claimed to follow up with implementation support to any organizations who commits to creating the Liberator Model in their communities. ^{15 16}

In January 2025, school districts in Denver, Colorado implemented a similar “Liberator Model.” Other cities that implemented this model in 2025 included San Diego, California; Bronx, New York; and Fairview, Oregon. ¹⁷

In 2025, Oakland REACH launched REACH Parent District, a literacy program that includes an AI-powered virtual tutoring tool along with a family success coach available nationally in English and in Spanish. ^{18  19}

Funding

In 2022, MacKenzie Scott, the billionaire ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, donated $3 million to Oakland REACH through her Yield Giving charity organization. ^{20 2}

As of 2026, Walton Family Foundation had gifted over $1.3 million to Oakland REACH since 2019. ³ At that time, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative had gifted over $2 million since 2020. ⁴

Other donors to the Oakland REACH include the Center for Education Reform, America Achieves, the Greenlining Institute, the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, the City Fund, New Profit, the NewSchools Venture Fund, the San Francisco Foundation, the Tides Foundation, and the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, as well as several donor-advised funds including the GS Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund For Wealth Management, Donor Advised Charitable Giving, and Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund. ²¹

Leadership

Lakisha Young is the founder and CEO of Oakland REACH. Prior to founding the organization, Young worked in leadership positions with the KIPP Foundation as well as KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program) Bay Area Schools. She earned a bachelor’s degree in English from California State University and completed a master’s degree in educational/Instructional Technology from Pepperdine University in 2001. ^{22 23}

1. The Oakland REACH homepage. Accessed February 16, 2026. https://www.oaklandreach.org/
2. “Gifts.” Yield Giving. Accessed February 15, 2026. https://yieldgiving.com/gifts/?sorting=az
3. “The Oakland REACH.” Walton Family Foundation – Grants. Accessed February 15, 2026. https://www.waltonfamilyfoundation.org/grants-database?q=the+oakland+reach&s=1
4. “Grants.” Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. Accessed February 15, 2026. https://chanzuckerberg.com/grants-ventures/grants/
5. LinkedIn – The Oakland REACH. Accessed February 14, 2026. https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-oakland-reach/about/
6. “Powerful leaders. Powerful families. Powerful students.” The Oakland Reach – Donate. Accessed February 14, 2026. https://donate.oaklandreach.org/give/389463/#!/donation/checkout
7. Eupha Jeanne Daramola. “The Oakland REACH.” CRPE Reinventing Public Education. Accessed February 15, 2026. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED622441.pdf
8. “Powerful.” The Oakland REACH. Accessed February 14, 2026. https://www.oaklandreach.org/
9. “The Oakland REACH.” Cause IQ. Accessed February 15, 2026. https://www.causeiq.com/organizations/oakland-reach,831289590/
10. The Oakland REACH homepage. Accessed February 14, 2026. https://www.oaklandreach.org/
11. Linda Jacobson. “Oakland Study Finds Parents as Effective as Teachers in Tutoring Young Readers.” The 74. December 6, 2023. Accessed February 15, 2026. https://www.the74million.org/article/oakland-study-finds-parents-as-effective-as-teachers-in-tutoring-young-readers/
12. Kate Rix. “Tutoring Program in Oakland, Calif. Recruits Parents and Neighbors to Teach Math.” The 74. January 8, 2025. Accessed February 15, 2026. https://www.yahoo.com/news/tutoring-program-oakland-calif-recruits-173000457.html
13. “Meet our Liberators…” The Oakland REACH. Accessed February 15, 2026. https://www.oaklandreach.org/liberator-model
14. Jo Napolitano. “After Literacy Wins, Oakland REACH’s Parent ‘Liberators’ Take on Math Tutoring.” The 74. April 17, 2024. Accessed February 15, 2026. https://www.the74million.org/article/after-literacy-wins-oakland-reachs-parent-liberators-take-on-math-tutoring/
15. “REACH Way Institute.” The Oakland REACH. Accessed February 15, 2026. https://www.oaklandreach.org/rwi
16. “Leader-to-Leader Collaboration: Real Talk, Real Results.” CRPE Reinventing Public Education. February 2024. Accessed February 16, 2026. https://crpe.org/leader-to-leader-collaboration-real-talk-real-results/
17. Facebook – The Oakland REACH. Posted November 17, 2025. Accessed February 16, 2026. https://www.facebook.com/theoaklandreach/
18. Facebook – The Oakland REACH. Posted October 1, 2025. Accessed February 16, 2026. https://www.facebook.com/theoaklandreach/
19. “The REACH Parent District.” The Oakland REACH. Accessed February 16, 2026. https://www.oaklandreach.org/parentdistrict
20. “Helping Any of Us Can Help Us All.” Yield Giving – Essays. March 23, 2022. Accessed February 15, 2026. https://yieldgiving.com/essays/helping-any-of-us-can-help-us-all
21. ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer search “83-1289590.” Accessed February 14, 2026. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/full_text_search?q=83-1289590
22. LinkedIn – Lakisha Young. Accessed February 15, 2026. https://www.linkedin.com/in/lakishayoung/
23. KIPP Bay Area brochure. KIPP Bay Area. Accessed February 15, 2026. https://www.kippbayarea.org/wp-content/uploads/kbas_brochure09.pdf