Northwest Branch YMCA

When Josh Rose came to Oakland in 1939, the Northwest YMCA was located inside a storefront on San Pablo Ave. It was his job to help raise funds to build a proper facility for the growing Hoover-Durant community. With much support from the community, $60,000 was raised, and the new Northwest YMCA, featuring a gymnasium, kitchen, and various meeting spaces, opened in 1946. Hear from Josh Rose's daughter how the Northwest YMCA became a hub of community organizing and an incubator of rising Black leadership.