Help Jazz Hudson Rebuild After Her Car Was Stolen and Stripped

This past weekend, after facilitating a community wellness event with the 40x40 Power Lab, Jazz Hudson went to the Malcolm X Jazz Festival to support her son as he performed with Young, Gifted & Black.

After an afternoon rooted in Black culture, liberation, community, and the enduring legacy of Malcolm X, Jazz and her 8-year-old son walked out to discover that her car was gone.

What should have been a beautiful day quickly became devastating.

Later, the vehicle was recovered in Deep East Oakland heavily stripped and damaged, turning what was already a heartbreaking situation into an even greater loss. Inside the vehicle were business supplies, wellness products, personal belongings, and tools connected to opportunities Jazz had been working hard toward after recently placing 3rd in the Co-Founders The Musical pitch competition.

For Jazz, this loss reaches far beyond replacing a vehicle.

Jazz is a mother of three, longtime Oakland community worker, poet, educator, artist, healer, and recent San Francisco State graduate who has spent more than 15 years pouring into youth, families, and Black communities across the Bay Area through poetry, storytelling, healing work, mentorship, and wellness education. Many know her through her poetry, her work with young people and community spaces, and through Goddess Butter Oakland.

As a mother, educator, artist, and current pre-health student continuing her journey toward becoming a doctor, Jazz has been working hard to create greater stability for her family and build a better future. Reliable transportation is a major part of keeping all of that moving.

Like many working families in the Bay Area, transportation is deeply tied to daily life, caregiving, work, education, and stability.

Because the vehicle was leased, insurance will primarily cover the assessed value of the car and obligations connected to the lease, but it does not fully restore the transportation, stability, or financial security lost through this incident. Jazz only had a few payments remaining and had hoped to eventually purchase the vehicle outright so she could avoid entering another long-term and expensive car payment cycle during an already difficult economic time.

While insurance is covering a portion of the rental vehicle itself, many additional costs are not fully covered, including rental insurance protection, taxes, transportation-related expenses, and other out-of-pocket costs that continue to add up during this process.

Beyond the financial impact, the experience itself has been emotionally exhausting and deeply violating for both Jazz and her family. Experiencing something so violating alongside her young son made the situation even more difficult emotionally.

If you know Jazz, then you know she’s usually the one pouring into everyone else.

Through poetry, healing work, education, mentorship, storytelling, and community care, she has spent years creating spaces rooted in truth, healing, culture, and empowerment throughout Oakland and the Bay Area.

Right now, Jazz and her family could really use that same love and support poured back into them.

We are hoping to raise $15,000 to help cover:

• Reliable replacement transportation

• Rental-related and out-of-pocket expenses not covered by insurance

• Replacing stolen business supplies, wellness products, and belongings

• Immediate financial relief while rebuilding

• Supporting Jazz and her family through this unexpected hardship

If you’re able to give, share, repost, or simply keep Jazz and her family lifted during this time, thank you. Truly.

Every bit of support helps bring them one step closer toward rebuilding stability, transportation, and peace of mind after this difficult experience.

Thank you for being part of the village.