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Living Manuals

Living Manuals Weekend Workshops

At Living Manuals, our monthly in-person workshops offer High School age participants the opportunity to engage in an intergenerational curriculum that is designed to be a memorable and transformative. The learning happens at EOYDC, in the heart of Oakland. These young participants are able to absorb the knowledge and make it a part of themselves. They work hard, learn fast, and make substantial progress in just four days. The Living Manuals workshops provide a powerful learning experience for young people, helping them understand and appreciate their heritage, and empowering them to defend themselves, their families, and their community. The program is free. Participants are chosen through an application process. Participants of our Living Manuals workshops become eligible to apply to the Black August Summer Institute.

The Full Story

Living Manuals is an accomplished collective of Black professionals passionately devoted to imparting cultural knowledge, understanding and critical life skills to the next generation. Our upcoming 2023 offering will be the second annual Black August Summer Institute, held during the first week of August on the rich revolutionary soil of the SF Bay Area. We’ll also be launching a pilot program of the Black August Summer Institute in Los Angeles, the second week of August. The Black August Summer Institute features a curriculum that focuses on International Revolutionary Black History, Self Defense, Yoga, Permaculture, Financial Literacy, and Basic First Aid - all essential knowledge for navigating the complexities of modern life.

Through our engaging, real-world courses, we endeavor to satisfy the hunger for knowledge in the hearts and minds of our youth. Our team members are accomplished experts who are well respected in their fields of knowledge. We have combined our extensive collective experience and produced a teaching culture and methodology that is practical, relevant, empowering and straightforward, that fosters comprehension and retention in the bodies and minds of our students.

At our team at Living Manuals, we believe that knowledge when put into practice is not only power, but the key to unlocking personal and societal progress. With this in mind, we strive to impart skills that are not just useful, but necessary. Our slogan - "Sharing skills that matter" - encapsulates our commitment to the empowerment of Black Youth.

We are proud to be a part of a movement that is striving to create a brighter future for generations to come, one skill at a time.

Program Objectives:

Develop identity through a knowledge of self, history, and community.
Develop Meditative & Reflective Problem Solving Skills
Develop Mastery of Your Body & Emotions Through Self-Defense Skills
Promote Cultural Pride
Learning Community & Cultural Traditions
Building Healthy & Safe Communities

Participant Outcomes:

100 % Participation
Individual breakthroughs in self-esteem and self-confidence
Development of life skills
Stimulating/enhancing positive peer interactions
Learning Black History

Program National Impact:

Advancement of culturally relevant curriculum and schools
Combatting the Preschool to Prison pipeline
Promotion of Black Literacy and Education
Creating Community Awareness and Connections beyond our local geographic boundaries
Instilling Community & Cultural Pride

Black August Summer Institute 2023 Recap

Our team at FSMEI wants to thank everyone who helped make this year’s Black August Summer Institute another success. 11 young brothers benefited from this transformation learning experience and it wouldn’t have been possible without the support of our folks, Racial Justice Now, Brotherly Love, Soulflower Farm, Plant Based Fitness, Hella Nuts, Soul on a Roll AM1 Creates and all the parents and families who supported our program. You can support programming like the Black August Summer Institute or any of our other program offerings by donating to Freedom Soul Media, the nonprofit arm of FSMEI.

Meet the Team

Tyson Amir

International Revolutionary Black History

Coach Canon

Self Defense & Yoga

Interested in applying?

Ashley White

Financial Literacy for Teens

Athena Gonzales

BSN RN

Basic First Aid