Destiny Arts Center – Destiny standing for De-Escalating Skills Training Inspiring Non-violence in Youth – is a nonprofit organization founded in 1988 that offers violence prevention and arts education through dance, theatre and martial arts. For the past five years, Destiny has been renting space from the North Oakland Community Charter School for its on-site programming, which increasingly conflicts with the school’s curriculum and allows for limited space for the administrative staff.
In 2009, Destiny began working with Community Vision’s Consulting Department to find a new facility that was financially feasible and could accommodate its programming needs. We conducted a financial assessment to determine their financial health and readiness to purchase a new facility. Through a facility strategic planning process, Destiny Arts refined its priorities for their new home.
The organization looked at over fifty different sites, but kept coming back to the building at 967 Stanford Avenue in Oakland. The building met their facility needs; a raw space with high ceilings, wide open space for dance studios, and is located in an area that will easily serve the high-risk youth their programs target. Unfortunately, the 9,500 square feet space was more than they could afford.
However, just as they were preparing to start a new search, the owner of the building decided to split the space up into two units, creating a 7,755 sq. ft. space that met both their financial and facility needs. The leftover 1,750 sq. ft. will be sold as a live/work space, a perfect structure for an area that has become a burgeoning artist’s haven. Now that Destiny Arts found the perfect space that matches their needs, the organization is now working with Community Vision on a loan to finance the acquisition and renovation of the building.
