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Advocates and Unhoused Residents Seek Community Help to Build Small Homes on MLK Weekend

Published

7 years ago

January 16, 2020

Chino (left) and The Village member Ayat Bryant-Jalal (right) are constructing a small home for an unhoused Oakland resident. They’re inviting other Oaklanders to participate in The Village’s Guerrilla Build: Reclaiming Dr. King’s Legacy of Radical Action event, which takes place from 10am to 5pm on Jan 18 and 19. Photo by Zack Haber.

The Village, a group that fights for unhoused resident rights, is asking for community support on Jan. 18 and 19, 2020, to help with their event Guerrilla Housing: Reclaiming Dr. King’s Legacy of Radical Action.

“Over time, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. has been watered down and made to seem as a safe and passive figure,” said Needa Bee of The Village, who’s helping to organize the event. “But what he was really doing was direct action. He was disrupting the system. (Guerrilla Housing) is part of the movement to reclaim his radical legacy.”

The group along unhoused residents it’s helping to collaborate with plan to build small houses for unhoused residents on a plot of land that runs along East 12th Street between 14th and 16th avenues. The Village is asking for community support from those with construction skills, especially those who can bring tools.

They’re also asking for anyone to come who can help with clean up and trash collection as well as those who can bring, prepare, or serve food.

“Volunteers building houses keeps us from doing crime; it keeps us healthy,” said Derrick Cain, who’s lived in Oakland for 21 years.

Cain lost his housing two years ago when a new landlord raised the rent on the home he’d lived in for 10 years from $900$ to $1400 overnight. Cain has a background in construction and plans to build a home for himself and help others to build homes as well. He currently sleeps outside and claims that, due to the lack of shelter, he usually is only able to sleep two days a week. He hopes the improved shelter will offer him more stability.

Brent Shipp also plans to help build homes on January 18 and 19 and currently lives on the plot of land in a small home he built. “It’s a big step forward going from a tent to a house,” said Shipp.

The City of Oakland destroyed self-made homes and/or evicted people who live in them along 81st to 85th avenues in Sept. 2019, and along High Street near Oakland’s Home Depot in Oct. 2019, by citing fire-code violations.

Some of the people displaced by the evictions or destructions were offered space in the city’s Community Cabin Sites, 10’x12’ sheds for up to six months. In Nov. 2019, one of the sheds at a Community Cabin site burnt to the ground.

Cain and Shipp both lived in a Community Cabin site after being evicted by the city but the program wasn’t sustainable for them. They both claim the city kicked them out of the Community Cabin program in less than a month for not spending enough time on the site.

Shipp greatly prefers his self-built home to the shed the city had provided because it’s twice as big, better insulated, and he can come and go as he pleases. He also complained that the Community Cabins had strict limits on when visitors could come and wouldn’t let him cook food, issues he doesn’t have to deal with in his own home.

“It’s just like a prison cell,” said Shipp, of the Community Cabins. “You’ve got a cot on one side and a cot on another side and a space in the middle to live in.”

Needa Bee claims the goal of the Guerrilla Housing effort is to make a more sustainable community and to offer more stability than the city’s programs can offer.

“You can’t put a time limit on what it takes for people to get stable,” said Bee, who criticized the six-month limit that the city places on their programs. “Some people have been out here 10, 20, or 30 years. There’s a whole re-programing into regular life and people need all the support they can get.”

The Village plans to help people stay in their self-made homes for as long as they need.

Zack Haber

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Prostate Cancer is Twice as Likely to Kill Black Men. Talking to Your Doctor Could Help Save Your Life

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — The American Cancer Society recommends that African American men speak with their doctor at age 45 about whether prostate cancer screening is right for them. Men at even higher risk should have that discussion at age 40, especially those with one or more close relatives who were diagnosed at an early age.

Published

2 days ago

September 10, 2026

Post News Group

Prostate Cancer is Twice as Likely to Kill Black Men. Talking to Your Doctor Could Help Save Your Life

American Cancer Society board member Dr. Robert Winn discusses risk factors for the disease and why too many Black men still aren’t getting screened

September is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, and as both a Black man and a cancer center director, I know many men in our community think it’s bad luck to talk about cancer. But I’m here to tell you it’s bad luck not to talk about it.

We, Black men in the U.S., are nearly 70% more likely than White men to be diagnosed with prostate cancer. We’re also twice as likely to die from the disease.

But I’m telling you, if you’re diagnosed early, you can still enjoy a long, happy life doing the things you love, whether that’s playing with grandkids or staying active in your community. That’s because although it can become a serious illness, most men diagnosed with prostate cancer won’t die from it.

In fact, more than 3.5 million U.S. men who’ve been diagnosed with prostate cancer are still alive today. And when it’s diagnosed early, you boost your odds of survival. It’s that simple.

Generally, prostate cancer is most likely to develop after age 50, but when it develops in Black men, they tend to be younger. That means we need to be on the ball about understanding our personal risk. The risk factors include a family history of prostate cancer and certain genetic health risks that come from a parent.

When it comes to family medical history, we need to get a lot better at talking. For me, it turned out I had uncles who’d died from prostate and other cancers, but I didn’t always know that, so I couldn’t use that information to help me make smarter screening choices.

The American Cancer Society recommends that African American men speak with their doctor at age 45 about whether prostate cancer screening is right for them. Men at even higher risk should have that discussion at age 40, especially those with one or more close relatives who were diagnosed at an early age.

Look, I get that no one looks forward to a screening, but it typically starts with just a simple blood test, called a prostate-specific antigen, or PSA.

Even if you end up needing a digital rectal exam, it takes less than a minute and could save your life. So, what I say to people is, what’s the price of your life? Isn’t it worth a minute of being uncomfortable?

Brothers, this is essential for you to know: just because you’re feeling good doesn’t mean you don’t have early-stage prostate cancer. By the time you start to actually experience symptoms, the disease could be at an advanced stage and might be harder to treat.”

Prostate cancer is significantly impacting our fathers, our brothers, and our sons. That’s why the American Cancer Society is working with health systems and professionals in your community to help remove barriers in the fight against the disease.

We can help you find low-cost or free screening locations. And for men who need cancer treatment, the American Cancer Society can reduce the financial burden of traveling to medical appointments by providing free rides and, if you live far away from where you receive treatment, a free place to stay.

When it comes to prostate cancer screening, one size doesn’t fit all. So, it’s important for all men – and especially Black men – to talk to their doctor about what’s best for them based on their age, risk, and health history. Please make that appointment, because we don’t want you to risk missing out on the best years of your life.

For more information, call the American Cancer Society’s 24/7 helpline at 1-800-227-2345 or visit cancer.org.

Dr. Robert Winn is a nationally recognized physician-scientist and researcher. He currently serves as cancer center director at Temple Health’s Fox Chase Cancer Center. Since 2021, he has served on the board of directors for the American Cancer Society, a leading cancer-fighting organization with a vision to end cancer as we know it, for everyone.

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Oakland Post: Week of September 2 – 8, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of September 2 – 8, 2026

Published

4 days ago

September 7, 2026

Oakland Post

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

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Longtime BWOPA Member Brendalyn Goodall Appointed to California Workforce Development Board

Gov. Gavin Newsom has appointed longtime Black Women Organized for Political Action (BWOPA) member Brendalynn Goodall to the California Workforce Development Board. Goodall, an Oakland resident with decades of experience in public service, has held leadership positions focused on

Published

2 weeks ago

August 30, 2026

Post News Group

Post Co-Publisher Gay Plair Cobb with Brendalynn Goodall. Courtesy photo.

By California Black Media

Gov. Gavin Newsom has appointed longtime Black Women Organized for Political Action (BWOPA) member Brendalynn Goodall to the California Workforce Development Board.

Goodall, an Oakland resident with decades of experience in public service, has held leadership positions focused on employment, aging services and assistance for underserved communities.

“Brendalynn will be a great addition to this Board,” said Gay Plair Cobb, who served as former state Assemblyman Sandre Swanson’s alternate to the California Workforce Development Board (CWDB).

“She understands that California’s non-profit organizations serve persons who have the most significant barriers to their labor market success and that the Board should help these groups navigate the complicated requirements of state funding.

“In other words, she will be a strong advocate for our most marginalized populations. Her voice is needed now, more than ever.”

CWDB works with the governor to shape workforce policies, programs and investments designed to strengthen the state’s economy. It collaborates with employers, workers, labor organizations, educational institutions, community groups and California’s 45 local workforce development boards to expand access to quality jobs and respond to regional employment needs.

According to the board, its work includes coordinating state programs and guiding investments in workforce training and development.

BWOPA California celebrated the appointment, describing Goodall as a dedicated advocate for workers, families and older adults.

“Her appointment reflects a lifetime of leadership, service, and unwavering commitment to strengthening California’s workforce and expanding opportunity for all,” the organization stated in a press release.

Goodall served as summer jobs program coordinator in the Oakland Mayor’s Office from 2012 to 2014. In that position, she helped connect young people with employment opportunities and job experience.

Before joining the Mayor’s Office, Goodall was division manager for Aging and Adult Services in the City of Oakland Human Services Department from 2002 to 2011. She previously served as senior services supervisor and program director for the city’s Department of Aging, Health and Human Services from 1990 to 2002.

Goodall is also a member of the California Commission on Aging, which advises the governor and state officials on policies and programs affecting older Californians.