Frick

Frick is the neighborhood just to the southwest of Mills College. Despite this proximity however, it is not very popular with Mills students or instructors. You will not find a higher percentage of females or students in this area relative to the overall population. In fact, a look at the demographics reveals that the average female Frick resident is in her thirties and works in the service industry.

Although Mills students tend to live on campus and this certainly is a contributing factor to the lack of students living in the surrounding areas, the other reason is that the Frick neighborhood may simply feel a touch unsafe to students. Every year there is at least one murder in Frick. This is not high for Oakland, but a one in 3000 chance of being killed may sound a bit high for the average Mills student. (Of course, the chance of being killed in the neighborhood are actually not that high, unless you are male and involved in a gang, not really the typical Mills student description. If you look at the four murders that occurred in Frick between 2007 and 2009, all the victims were male—mostly in their twenties--and all were seemingly gang-related.)

Despite the gang problems, Frick does have a solid working class community. Homes here are largely from before the World War II era, but they are relatively well-cared for. These are largely California bungalows with bushy topiary arranged on the front lawn. Very pleasant on most streets actually.

Another positive aspect of the community is the local charter school, Unity High. Unity High has an excellent record of taking its low income students (90% of which are Hispanic and 80% qualify for free lunch), and preparing them for college. 9 of 10 students graduate (far higher than the Oakland average) and 2/3 of which successfully enter college (both high for Oakland). It is not a perfect school, receiving below average scores on nationwide standardized tests, but given the poverty and multi-lingual barriers the school faces, even these seemingly mediocre scores should be viewed as an accomplishment. Many other schools in the area don’t manage these strains half as well.