Bay Area

Opinion: Recovering from Covid-19 With Public Banking

Published

6 years ago

April 30, 2020

Rick Girling, California Public Banking Alliance

The response to COVID-19 has laid bare, once again, the glaring economic inequalities we live with every day. An essential new institution is public banking — new to most of us in America, but a proven institution globally for the past few hundred years.

If cities had public banks, they would be able to multiply their impact by leveraging the bank’s capital. This would allow cities to quickly and efficiently deploy recovery efforts, distribute assistance and make low-interest loans to small- and medium-sized businesses to help them get back on their feet.

The COVID-19 crisis is likely to last for many months or years, bringing about profound changes to our society. While many may wish for a rapid return to “normal,” let us remember what has been “normal” in the past:

• People drowning in debt to pay medical bills, fund college educations, and simply survive;

• Global climate crisis glaring at us with rapidly melting glaciers, fires, droughts and tumultuous floods;

• Rampant numbers of unhoused living on the streets;

• Thousands at risk of losing their homes to evictions and foreclosures;

• 40 million Americans living below the poverty line, with 40% unable to weather a $400 financial emergency.

In 2019, the California Public Banking Alliance ushered through the California Legislature historic legislation, AB 857, the Public Banking Act. This law allows municipalities across the state to set up public banks in their communities. What does this have to do with COVID-19 or other disasters that may strike?

If public banks existed today, they would be a ready source of funds in our communities to help people and businesses sustain themselves through these hard times and rebuild. Public banks, like all banks, are able to multiply the impact of the dollars on deposit through making multiple loans. They provide the most efficient means of expeditiously deploying scarce funds into the community. If cities had public banks, they would be able to multiply their resources quickly to help with recovery efforts.

Public banks offer other important benefits Wall Street banks are unable to deliver. Public bankers are local and accountable to the people that live in their communities. They are more responsive to those most in need following disasters. If there were public banks in our communities today, rescue funds from the Federal Reserve Bank would be distributed through them focused on rebuilding communities rather than rebuilding astronomical profits of Wall Street banks.

Public banks will invest funds into making communities more resilient to disasters. They will be obligated to fund affordable housing minimizing the number of unhoused who are most vulnerable. Public banks will be responsive to community demands for capital improvements such as hospitals and community clinics to provide accessible healthcare for daily needs, as well as for disaster preparedness.

Public banking will enable a return to conservative banking practices focused on realistic projects that build communities, rather than risky, remote projects, like drilling for oil in the Arctic, that may reap huge financial profits but entail enormous environmental costs and entail huge financial risk.

Financing investments for sustainable energy production, conservation and delivery may not be sexy with extraordinary returns, but it is financially secure and environmentally sound. Political leaders must use emergency powers to rapidly create public banks able to rebuild resilient communities capable of thriving in a “new normal” future.

Rick Girling, California Public Banking Alliance

Posts by Rick Girling, California Public Banking Alliance

Up Next

Black Doctors in Philadelphia Take COVID-19 Testing to the People

Don't Miss

Teachers Demand Equal Access to Online Learning

Rick Girling, California Public Banking Alliance

Click to comment

Activism

Oakland Post: Week of September 2 – 8, 2026

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

Published

6 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.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Activism

Youth-Led Black August Event Brings Past to Present at East Oakland Boxing Association

The mission of Youth Alive! Is to “break the cycle of violence, heal trauma, and uplift a thriving community of leaders, to save lives in Oakland and beyond” by serving “as mentors, youth leaders, counselors, case managers, intervention specialists and violence interrupters,” working “to help violently wounded people heal themselves and their community.”

Published

2 weeks ago

August 29, 2026

Post News Group

Dawna Williams, EOBA executive director speaks to attendees at the Black August Eperience on Aug. 21. Photo courtesy of Carolyn Flynn of EOBA.

By Jana Lang Propel Youth Reporter

Youth-Led Black August Event Brings Past to Present at East Oakland Boxing Association

The East Oakland Boxing Association (EOBA) and Youth Alive! came together on Aug. 21 to share with their community all that Black August means to them.

Held on EOBA’s patio at 816 98th Ave. in Deep East Oakland, the two organizations hosted their second annual Black August Experience, featuring a food tasting, financial literacy and mindfulness workshops, and voter registration with the League of Women Voters Oakland (LWV).

Black August is known as a time to uphold the legacy of prisoners who protested their conditions by fasting, fighting, and educating themselves on the economic and political circumstances that contributed to their incarceration.

According to its website, “EOBA is a multi-service youth and community development hub that goes far beyond the ring. While rooted in the discipline of boxing, for nearly 40 years EOBA has also integrated robust programs in workforce development, food justice, afterschool enrichment, financial literacy, mentorship, and wellness.”.

The mission of Youth Alive! Is to “break the cycle of violence, heal trauma, and uplift a thriving community of leaders, to save lives in Oakland and beyond” by serving “as mentors, youth leaders, counselors, case managers, intervention specialists and violence interrupters,” working “to help violently wounded people heal themselves and their community.”

Through Coro California, another leadership organization serving young people across the state for 80 years, they gained a broader understanding of Black August.

EOBA Executive Director Dawna Williams spoke about how much she learned about Black August from the youth who created it. “I let them educate me,” she said. Instead of talking about prison reform and mass incarceration, Williams and youth interns found that Black August meant so much more. “We would have done a disservice if we had just focused on who the people were and what their situation was…We tried to take their message from back in the day and make it relevant to the young people today. What do they need to know?”

Youth interns created and placed posters around the patio to help participants understand how traditional Black foodways, civic engagement, financial literacy, and the power of education are relevant to Black resistance today.

An EOBA member described Black August with Youth ALIVE! as “a whole vibe. “This year we added the Fun Zone for the kids, because you really cannot go wrong with a Fun Zone. I also loved seeing everyone chillin’ in the outdoor lounge, catching some Vitamin D and just enjoying a Friday evening together.”

The food tasting, a popular event from last year, featured traditional Black foods such as black-eyed peas, johnny cakes, and fried chicken. Led by Williams, the tasting included a talk about how these traditional foods were made and why they are forms of Black resilience.

The “‘Plate of History’ was a favorite of the online writers. “Fun, educational, and did I mention delicious? Our Taste of History cook, Angela Southall, served up some good eats while connecting food to history and culture.”

The writer also commended the “League of Women Voters Oakland for their civic leadership and for getting our young people informed, ready, and registered to vote.”

Overall, it was a “good Friday event in East Oakland,” the writer said.

Upcoming Black August events: Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency (BOSS), will host “Black August: The Arc of Liberation” at Oakland City Hall on Sat. Aug. 29, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The websites for East Oakland Boxing Association, Youth Alive! and CORO are sources for this report.

Jana Lang is an Oakland resident, teacher, gardener and poet participating in the Propel News Initiative.