When my shovel hit something hard, I thought it was just another rock. The 25 youth and adult volunteers at our fall Community Build came across plenty of those during our morning of planting native shrubs and grasses in the yard at 2750 Todd Street. Undeterred, I stuck the blade under the exposed edge, applied some leverage, and slowly pushed the stone out of the sandy soil. It landed at the bottom of the hole – a shiny, white, rounded corner of heavy duty porcelain. From a foot below the level of the building’s foundation, I had unearthed a chunk of toilet.

The image stuck with me. According to the City of Alameda’s preliminary development concept for Alameda Point, our building will be demolished to make way for a new community. Buried beneath the new homes will be scraps of the murals we painted, the floors we mopped, and the plumbing we (frequently) unplugged. New homeowners may dig up chunks of our past, as they build their own futures.

Fortunately, there is more to discover about the legacy of Alternatives in Action. In 2006, AIA will celebrate some major milestones. Five years ago in February, HOME Sweet HOME opened its doors as a fully-licensed preschool and a model for intergenerational care. Begun by HOME Project youth as a drop-in after-school childcare center, HSH will have served over 54 families, “graduated” 15 children and trained over 150 youth interns by the time it reaches that 5-year mark.

The Bay Area School of Enterprise is also turning five. In May 2006, BASE will celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Alameda Board of Education’s unanimous decision to approve the first youth-initiated charter high school in the nation. There will be no better “birthday present” for BASE than renewal of the charter for another five years – a milestone we hope to reach by February.

Of course, neither HOME Sweet HOME nor BASE would exist if a small band of youth and adults hadn’t decided in the fall of 1996 to take action in their community by launching HOME Project. Thousands of youth in Alameda and Oakland have been changed by their involvement with HOME – changed into effective citizens who know what they think, feel and believe; changed into young adults who make a difference in their communities. While HOME alumni begin planning their 10th anniversary celebration, the rest of us can celebrate what they taught us about the power of youth.

Sometimes our past is written in stone – or heavy duty porcelain. But for AIA, it is also found in the hearts and minds of the thousands of children, youth and adults who have joined us on this journey.