Berkeley Lab in the Community

This April, the Lab’s Government & Community Relations Office celebrated National Volunteer Week and Earth Day by participating in service activities across the Bay Area. Check out our service portal at service.lbl.gov to register for future events! 

Berkeley Lab’s African American Employee Resource Group (AAERG) and Community Relations Office teamed up to participate in the 2024 Black Joy Parade Celebration in the heart of Downtown Oakland.

Seven years ago, Elisha Greenwell and Amber Lester founded the Black Joy Parade after realizing the need for a celebration of Black culture and impact. They aimed to offer the Black community and its allies a live event that honored their impact on cultures past, present, and future. >> MORE

For the first time, Berkeley Lab’s Latin American and Native American (LANA) Employee Resource Group and Community Relations Office joined forces to participate in the Unity Council’s Día de los Muertos Festival.  The event, which has been held annually in Oakland’s Fruitvale neighborhood since 1996, draws thousands of visitors each year.  

Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is a cultural celebration of life and death. The holiday originated in Mexico, and was inscribed in 2008 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. Celebrations are found all over the world among families, friends, and communities to remember those who have passed away. The cultural tradition includes building ofrendas (offerings) to honor the deceased with photographs, paintings, food, colorful calaveras (skulls), calacas (skeletons), and marigolds. >>MORE

Berkeley Lab and Rebuilding Together East Bay-North volunteers spent a recent Saturday building a new fence for Youth Homes, a nonprofit that supports underserved youth and young adults in Contra Costa County. As a community, we were able to contribute to something meaningful. The privacy fence that was installed will help provide Youth Homes’ clients to process and heal from trauma and build supportive networks. 

The Lab’s Government and Community Relations office will host future service days with RTEBN; please check the Berkeley Lab Service Portal at service.lbl.gov for upcoming opportunities to serve our community. 

Berkeley Lab employees have been out and about this summer, tabling at community events including the Berkeley Juneteenth Festival and San Francisco Pride Celebration and Parade.    

Deputy Lab Director for Operations and Chief Operating Officer Michael Brandt recently participated in “Berkeley Today and Tomorrow,” an annual event hosted by the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce that brings businesses together to share success stories, advocate for the best of Berkeley, and connect community thought leaders together in one place.  

This year’s BTT topic was Resilience & Recovery: A Post-Pandemic Conversation with Berkeley Business Leaders.  Brandt - and his co-panelists from Bayer, the Berkeley Repertory Theatre, and Kitchen on Fire - shared with the audience best practices and lessons learned about how their institutions adapted to the pandemic, where they have found support, and how they can work together to come back stronger than ever in this new economic landscape.  The conversation, moderated by UC Berkeley’s Director of Local Government and Community Relations, followed a keynote by Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguín.  

In honor of national volunteer month, Berkeley Lab staff kicked off its first service day with the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano. Staff spent a recent Saturday morning at the Concord warehouse sorting through produce that will be distributed to families experiencing food insecurity in the area. The Lab’s Government and Community Relations office will host three more service days with FBCCS this year; please check the Berkeley Lab Service Portal at service.lbl.gov for those and other upcoming service opportunities.

Service days at FBCCS were inspired by the Lab’s winter 2021 food drive, which was held in response to the urgent needs caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Berkeley Lab employees rallied together and raised $44,635 to support the important work being done by FBCCS to help our neighbors in need.  If you would like to volunteer before our scheduled service days, please visit volunteer.foodbankccs.org to sign up and learn more.