From the Globe Education Desk

School will soon be out for summer, leaving many parents wondering where to send their children to camp or other summer programs.
    Oakland Councilwoman Desley Brooks has organized the fourth annual School’s Out Family and Children’s Resource Fair, which will bring together nearly 100 nonprofit and governmental programs and resources to assist parents with their children’s summer program planning. Parents will also have the unique opportunity to enroll their children in programs on-the-spot.
    The event will be held on Friday, April 7 from noon until 6 p.m. at the Eastmont Town Center (Ground Floor), located at 73rd and Bancroft avenues in Oakland. The event is free and open to children of all ages.
   “April is just a couple of months before school is out for the summer. Timing is everything and School’s Out provides a wonderful opportunity for parents to get their children squared away for the summer,” said Brooks.
   “Knowledge of, and access to, quality after-school programs can play a pivotal role in the lives of youth today,” she said. “Through this resource fair I hope to increase the number of children and young adults enrolled in positive activities, and to engage our community in youth programming opportunities through information, education and collaboration.”
    For the second year in a row Brooks is partnering with the Alameda County Social Services Children and Family Services Division. Through this partnership a section of the fair will be dedicated to information about foster care, kinship care, adoption and other social services issues.
    Past School’s Out program partners include Leadership Excellence; DUSTY Digital Story Telling; Head Start; Destiny Arts; Even Start; Boys & Girls Club of America; the Oakland Police Athletic League; Museum of Children’s Art; Oakland Aquatic Center; Chabot Space and Science Center; Youth Uprising; the YMCA of the East Bay; Oakland Unified School District; and Girls’, Inc.
    For more information contact Brooks at (510) 238-7006 or email dbrooks@oaklandnet.com.
    Vendor applications are also being accepted and are available on Brooks’Web site at www.oaklandnet.com.
    Spaces are limited.