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Oakland Workforce Development Roundtable

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When the words “Black Panther” are used, in recent memory, many people connect this with the recent blockbuster movie that was set in the fictional African nation of Wakanda and how it became the most technologically advanced nation in the world through the discovery of a rare element known as “vibranium.”

 

Black Panther, also Marvel Comic’s first Black superhero, was first introduced in July 1966, months before the Black Panther political party was founded in Oakland. The movie’s central conflict, among the main characters, revolves around the debate of whether Wakandan knowledge should be used to better the lives of people struggling with racism and systematic poverty or to be kept to those privileged with access to “vibranium” and its benefits.

It was very fitting last week when eleven community and business leaders, by invitation only, gathered within the “Black Panther” conference room in The Post News Group’s head office, for a roundtable discussion to tackle the struggles of minority contracting in construction, workforce development and affordable housing.

oWOW Development, Post News Group and Uche Uwahemu, a member of the Richmond workforce development board, organized the event. Participants included Brian Clark, CEO & founder of HDP Health, Dr. Jowel Laguerre, Peralta College Chancellor, Maya Theur, LBG Development, Ronnie Turner, Turner Development Resource Group, Zachary Murray, Oakland Land Trust, Melvin Cowan, Building Opportunity for Self-Sufficiency, R. Maurice Arnold, Robert Arnold & Company, Zeenat Patrawalla, Google Brain, and Mirwais Ahmed, American Renewable Energy.

The conversation was enlightening, purpose-driven, passionate, and many times, intense. After a brief introduction and issue statement from the organizers, Oakland Post publisher, Paul Cobb was very direct in challenging the tech industries to do better as “they are responsible for the rise in the Bay Area housing market.”

On the one hand, the tech industries create opportunity for employment and attract talent and job seekers to the Bay Area. On the other hand, they do not build housing for their employees. “These high-earning employees go out and over-bid and drive the housing market up,” he said. Many participants agreed that the issue is more complex and should be tackled with a more robust involvement from the business community and political arena.

oWOW Co-founder Danny Haber stated that he wants to lead the way in mentoring minorities interested in development and construction. Mr. Haber believes that by providing minorities mentoring, they would get to understand the intricacies of these businesses.

Dr. Laguerre said training our workforce to meet the need and challenges of the 21st century job market is a big challenge, and Peralta community colleges are emphasizing skilled labor training to meet these needs. However, funding a class of 25 students for two years cost about $150,000, and this gets unsustainable quickly. Thus, partnering with the business community and the government to get the funding necessary is critical to the success of these programs.

Key takeaways included:

  • Rebuilding infrastructure
  • Partnership with industries
  • Internship opportunities for students
  • Improving awareness in community of current vocational  opportunities
  • Renewable energy workforce training
  • Pairing available money with existing training organizations.

There is a huge need for ongoing round table discussions, with a variety of stakeholders, to identify working solutions that can be used to better the lives of people struggling to survive in the 21st century.

 

The organizers intend to continue monthly round table discussions, sharing knowledge and experience, to solve some of the Bay Area’s largest problems within minority contracting in construction, workforce development and affordable housing

 

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Alameda County

Board of Supervisors Accepts Certification of Signatures, Will Schedule Recall Election May 14

The Alameda Board of Supervisors unanimously accepted the certification of the results of the valid signatures submitted for the recall of District Attorney Pamela Price on Tuesday evening. The Board will set the election date at a special meeting on May 14. Before the meeting, recall proponents and opponents held separate press conferences to plead their cases to the Board and residents of Alameda County.

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District Attorney Pamela Price ‘Protect the Win’ supporters held signs outside of the County Administration Office to ask the Board of Supervisors to not schedule a special recall election. Photo by Magaly Muñoz.
District Attorney Pamela Price ‘Protect the Win’ supporters held signs outside of the County Administration Office to ask the Board of Supervisors to not schedule a special recall election. Photo by Magaly Muñoz.

By Magaly Muñoz

The Alameda Board of Supervisors unanimously accepted the certification of the results of the valid signatures submitted for the recall of District Attorney Pamela Price on Tuesday evening. The Board will set the election date at a special meeting on May 14.

Before the meeting, recall proponents and opponents held separate press conferences to plead their cases to the Board and residents of Alameda County.

Price, who up until this point has made little public comment about the recall, held her press conference in Jack London to announce that the California Fair Political Practices Commission has opened an investigation into the finances of the Save Alameda For Everyone (SAFE) recall campaign.

The political action committee (PAC), Reviving the Bay Area, has been the largest contributor to the SAFE organization and has allegedly donated over half a million dollars to the recall efforts.

“Between September 2023 and November 2023, [Revive the Bay Area] donated approximately $578,000 to SAFE without complying with the laws that govern all political committees in California,” Price said.

Price accused the recall campaigns of using irregular signature-gathering processes, such as paying gatherers per signature, and using misleading information to get people to sign their petitions.

SAFE held their own press conference outside of the Alameda County Administration Building at 1221 Oak St. in Oakland, once again calling for the Board to certify their signatures and set a date for the recall election.

Their press conference turned contentious quickly as Price’s “Protect the Win” supporters attempted to yell over the SAFE staff and volunteers. “Stop scapegoating Price” and “Recall Price” chants went on for several moments at a time during this event.

Families of victims urged the Board to think of their loved ones whose lives are worth much more than the millions of dollars that many opponents of the recall say is too much to spend on a special election.

The Registrar of Voters (ROV) estimates the special election could cost anywhere from $15 to $20 million, an amount that is not in their budget.

The Board was presented with several options on when and how to conduct the recall election. They have to set a date no less than 88 days or more than 125 days after May 14, meaning the date could fall anywhere from late July to September.

But the County charter also states that if a general election takes place within 180 days of their scheduling deadline, the Board could choose to use the November ballot as a way to consolidate the two events.

In the event that Price is recalled, the Supervisors would appoint someone to fill the vacancy, though neither the County nor the California charter specifies how long they would have to pick a replacement.

The appointee would serve as district attorney spot until the next election in 2026. Afterwards, either they, if they run and win, or a newly elected candidate would serve the rest of Price’s six-year term until 2029. Price is unique as the only district attorney wo serves a term of six years.

The Board acknowledged that they knew last fall that this recall would come with its own set of complications when Measure B, which changed the local recall charter to match California’s, was first brought to their consideration.

Supervisors Nate Miley and David Haubert opposed discussing the measure, stating that the public would think that the Board was attempting to influence the recall campaign that had already taken off months prior.

“I think ultimately this feels like it’s going to end up in court, one way or the other, depending on who files what,” Haubert said.

Price’s legal team told the Post that the district attorney intended to consider all legal options should the recall election take place.

Miley stated that while he was in support of the amendment to the charter, he did not think it was right to schedule it for the March ballot as it would ultimately cause confusion for everyone involved.

“It has produced some legal entanglements that I think, potentially, could’ve been avoided,” Miley said.

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Antonio‌ ‌Ray‌ ‌Harvey‌

Working Group: More Entry-Level Homes Could Help Solve Housing Crisis

The Community Housing Working Group hosted a briefing on April 23 at Cafeteria 15L in Sacramento. Discussions focused on how the housing crisis in California affects Black and Brown communities and explored ways to provide low-income families and individuals with affordable housing.

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Tia Boatman-Patterson, CEO and President of California Communities Reinvestment Corporation says there should be more affordable "entry-level homeownership" in California for Black and Brown communities. Boatman-Patterson is also a former Associate Director for Housing, Treasury, and Commerce in the Office of Management and Budget for the Biden Administration. April 23, 2024. CBM photo by Antonio Ray Harvey.
Tia Boatman-Patterson, CEO and President of California Communities Reinvestment Corporation says there should be more affordable "entry-level homeownership" in California for Black and Brown communities. Boatman-Patterson is also a former Associate Director for Housing, Treasury, and Commerce in the Office of Management and Budget for the Biden Administration. April 23, 2024. CBM photo by Antonio Ray Harvey.

By Antonio Ray Harvey, California Black Media

The Community Housing Working Group hosted a briefing on April 23 at Cafeteria 15L in Sacramento.  Discussions focused on how the housing crisis in California affects Black and Brown communities and explored ways to provide low-income families and individuals with affordable housing.

Tia Boatman Patterson, CEO and President of the California Communities Reinvestment Corporation, said “entry-level housing” is not available as it was in the past, adding that affordable units were a major point of entry into homeownership for many families in the Black community.

“My mother bought her first house when I was in junior high. It was an 850-square foot, two-bedroom and one-bathroom house in 1978. That house cost $30,000,” Boatman-Patterson said.

“A woman working part-time at JCPenney was able to afford that house. We don’t build these types of housing now. We do not build entry-level homeownership,” she added.

The Community Housing Working Group is a collection of diverse community organizations from across California working together to address housing challenges in their communities. The organization believes that solving the affordable housing crisis will require creating enough smaller, lower-cost, multi-family homes located near jobs, transit, and good schools.

The briefing included a panel discussion titled, “Exclusionary Zoning: A Look Back and a Path Forward.” Boatman-Patterson participated in that session along with Henry “Hank” Levy, Treasurer-Tax Collector for Alameda County, and Noerena Limón, consultant, Unidos U.S., and Board Member of California Housing Finance Agency.

Boatman-Patterson, a former Associate Director for Housing, Treasury and Commerce in the Office of Management and Budget for the Biden Administration, started her presentation by highlighting how exclusionary single-family zoning is contributing to continued segregation of California communities.

She said that single-family zoning originated in the Bay Area city of Berkeley in 1916.

“By creating single-family zoning and having fenced-off communities, you were able to exclude the ‘others,’” Boatman-Patterson said. “It really was a method to exclude — what they called ‘economic segregation’ — but that was a guise for racial segregation. Single-family zoning, along with redlining, became a systemic approach to exclude based on affordability.”

Title VIII of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1968 — commonly known as the Fair Housing Act of 1968 – is the U.S. federal legislation that protects individuals and families from discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing. It was passed to open the doors to affordable housing.

In 1968, 65.9% of White families were homeowners, a rate that was 25% higher than the 41.1% of Black families that owned their homes, according to National Low-Income Housing Coalition. Today, those figures have hardly changed in the Black community, although White homeownership has increased five percentage points to 71.1%.

Boatman Patterson said the rate has not changed in Black and Brown communities because financing for affordable entry-level homes is almost nonexistent. The homeownership disparities contribute to the disturbing racial wealth gap in the nation, according to the National Low-Income Housing Coalition’s October 2018 report.

“We really must align the financing with the actual building of units, which we haven’t necessarily done. Because of this misalignment, I think we continue to see problems,” Boatman-Patterson said.

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California Black Media

State Ed Chief Tony Thurmond Pushes Bill to Train Educators

State Superintendent of Public Instruction (SSPI) Tony Thurmond is advocating for comprehensive training for teachers in reading and math, emphasizing the urgent need to improve student academic outcomes across California. On April 24, during testimony in the Senate Education Committee, Thurmond backed Senate Bill (SB)1115, which aims to provide evidence-backed educator training. The committee passed the bill with a 7-0 vote.

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California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond.
California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond.

By California Black Media

State Superintendent of Public Instruction (SSPI) Tony Thurmond is advocating for comprehensive training for teachers in reading and math, emphasizing the urgent need to improve student academic outcomes across California.

On April 24, during testimony in the Senate Education Committee, Thurmond backed Senate Bill (SB)1115, which aims to provide evidence-backed educator training. The committee passed the bill with a 7-0 vote.

Thurmond pointed out to the committee that existing funding for educator training in literacy and math only covers about one-third of California’s educator workforce. SB 1115, Thurmond said, would fund the remaining two-thirds.

“This is an issue of moral clarity,” according to Thurmond. “In the fifth-largest economy in the world, and in an age when we have access to substantial brain science about how students learn, it should be unacceptable to train only some educators in the best strategies to teach essential skills.”

SB 1115 incorporates multiple research-backed methods, including phonics, and it aligns with the California ELA/ELD Framework, which encourages biliteracy and multilingualism.

Thurmond emphasized the moral imperative behind the push for enhanced training by noting that 70% of incarcerated adults struggle with reading or are illiterate.

“Every child should feel supported as they learn to read and every teacher should feel confident in their ability to support students’ foundational literacy,” Thurmond said. “SB 1115 is about ensuring that all children have the opportunity to read by third grade, and that all children have a shot at the life-changing outcomes that come from early literacy.”

The next step for SB 1115 is a hearing in the Senate Appropriations Committee on May 6.

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