City Government

City Council Challenges WIB Dysfunction, Awards Additional Funding to Oakland PIC

Published

11 years ago

June 5, 2015

Responding to the city’s long-term failure to meet the needs of the unemployed in Oakland, the City Council voted this week to award the Oakland Private Industry Council (PIC) a $250,000 grant to help support the agency’s jobs and training programs that are a primary local resource for youth and adults, veterans and the formerly incarcerated.

On a number of occasions, PIC has pointed out the failure of the city to comply with applicable regulations governing the setting of funding levels for RFPs that are issued by the city for federal workforce dollars. The City Council appears to agree that service providers, such as PIC, are underfunded.

The city receives federal funding to support jobs and training programs, and unlike many other cities, Oakland contributes no direct funding to support the programs, despite diminishing federal revenues.

However, the city takes more than 30 percent of the annual allotment of federal funds off the top for administration, resulting in a lack of sufficient funds for the service providers that work directly with unemployed youth and adults in the community.

PIC provides employment services through its One-Stop Comprehensive Career Center, which keeps the city in compliance with federal regulations for WIA funding.

It provides direct services in response to 35,000 to 44,000 visits per year from job seekers, in addition to workshops and classes, one-on-one career counseling and job placement services, as well as assistance to employers facing downsizing or closure.

As federal Workforce Investment Act (WIA) funding has decreased over the past five years, the amount of money dedicated to city administration has increased, while nonprofits and service providers have suffered the cost.

And, PIC has been one of the organizations carrying that burden.

Since 2010, PIC’s WIA funding has been cut by $150,000, while contracted service levels have increased by 300% over prior levels. This has created a significant funding gap, according to PIC’s memo to the city council.

At Tuesday’s council meeting, Annie He, coordinator at PIC, speaking in both English and Cantonese, said, “We have a very diverse population of clients that walk through our doors who may speak many different languages or may be monolingual, and we’re always prepared to translate.”

More than 40 percent of PIC staff at the career center is multilingual.

“Regardless of what language our clients may speak, we have the ability to assist them with their job search, obtaining employment or entering training. At Oakland PIC, we try to be as culturally competent as we can,” said He.

“Clients are in big need of our services,” said Mayra Ramirez, who manages the career center and WIA program at the PIC. “Fourteen years ago, I was a WIA client myself and an Oakland PIC client, and the services that I once received are the reason for my success now.” Ramirez addressed the meeting in both English and Spanish.

She said this year alone, PIC has placed over 500 clients in jobs. “It feels great to learn that clients are getting into training, getting jobs, and getting services,” said Ramirez.

The underlying issue at the council meeting was how did the city get itself into this position?

According to the memo from PIC, the WIB has not conducted a “competent cost analysis” that is required for federal WIA funding and would provide guidance on fair pricing for services that the city requires.

Speaking at the Tuesday meeting, Vice Mayor Rebecca Kaplan asked why no one has ever asked for the city to “audit the internal component of this funding, in terms of how it is that the city’s own overhead is higher than previously, and there’s less money going to service providers.”

After calling for a motion to award the additional funding to the PIC, Kaplan also asked the city administrator to “continue to look into the big picture, long-term issues so by next year we have a more thorough plan for the long term.”

Councilmember Desley Brooks said, “I think all of this council understands the dysfunction of the WIB board, a board that routinely did not complete its budgets on time.”

“It is shameful when you look at what other WIBs are doing around the country, and ours is so mired in mess that they can’t do their work,” Brooks continued.

“PIC isn’t the only organization that was impacted by the dysfunction that we all know exists within the WIB process. PIC has been ostracized because they have spoken up,” she said.

“We never looked at a process that spends $1.46 million for 7 city staff to not provide direct services…I hope that this council looks closely at the facts of this case and we will begin to move forward in how we can correct the dysfunction,” Brooks added.

Councilmember Noel Gallo praised the Private Industry Council for its work and said he looked forward to seeing the city work more closely with PIC in the future to work on job development programs.

Oakland Post

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Activism

From Disparity Study to Solutions: Oakland Coalition and Mayor Barbara Lee Renew Commitment to Reform City Contracting

She committed to ensuring the coalition has direct access to City leadership by designating Assistant Deputy City Administrator Chuck Baker the primary liaison. Working alongside Deputy City Administrator Sofia Navarro, DWES Director Emylene Aspilla, Race and Equity Director Darlene Flynn, and other City departments, the coalition will continue advancing these priorities while maintaining regular communication with City leadership.

Published

53 minutes ago

July 15, 2026

Oakland Post

Present at the recent meeting on implementing recommendations on Oakland’s Disparity Study on city work contracts were (first row, l. to r.): Chuck Baker, Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee and Darlene Flynn. Second row, l. to r.) Samuel Adams, Erica Astrella, Chadwick Spell, Cathy Adams, Stanley Cooper, Maria Wagner, Len Turner, Derek Barnes, Paul Cobb. Photo courtesy of Oakland Mayor’s Office.

Special to The Post

On June 30, a coalition of minority business leaders, contractors and others met with Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee to discuss the City’s commitment to implement recommendations outlined in Oakland’s Disparity Study and eliminate barriers that have historically prevented Black and minority-owned businesses from fully participating in public contracting opportunities.

Representatives of the Oakland African American Chamber of Commerce (OAACC), National Association of Minority Contractors Northern California (NAMC NorCal), Construction Resource Center (CRC), and the East Bay Rental Housing Association (EBRHA) said the meeting represented an important milestone in a process that has been underway for several months.

On April 21, the Oakland City Council’s Life Enrichment Committee received a progress report from the Department of Workplace and Employment Standards (DWES), where Director Emylene Aspilla presented the coalition’s working document and outlined a collaborative implementation plan between the coalition and the City. That report established 30-, 60-, and 90-day objectives focused on five key priorities:

Reforming Local and Small Local Business Enterprise (L/SLBE) waiver practices
Strengthening prompt payment compliance
Improving procurement forecasting and transparency
Expanding contractor capacity building and business development
Increasing oversight, accountability, and public reporting

A series of working sessions was scheduled between coalition representatives, DWES, and the City Administrator’s Office to begin implementing those priorities but were temporarily delayed by the resignation of former City Administrator Jestin Johnson.

Rather than allowing that momentum to stall, OAACC President and CEO Cathy Adams requested a meeting with Lee to gain clarity on the City’s direction and reaffirm its commitment to implementing the recommendations contained within the Disparity Study.

Coalition leaders described the meeting as productive, candid, collaborative, and encouraging.

During the meeting, Lee spoke not only from her role as mayor but also from her experience as an 8(a) contractor and business owner, sharing that she understands firsthand what it takes to build and grow a successful company, employ a substantial workforce, compete for public work, and navigate the complexities of municipal contracting.

Mayor Lee also expressed her commitment to personally participate in future working meetings with the coalition.

“This meeting represents a renewed commitment to partnership,” said Adams. “Mayor Lee listened, engaged, and demonstrated that she wants to move beyond conversation and into implementation.”

CRC’s Len Turner said the roadmap is already in place. ““The City already has the evidence. What’s been missing is execution. …Now it’s time to deliver results.”

Mario Wagner, president of NAMC NorCal agreed that the next phase must focus on implementation, funding, and accountability.

“The coalition is ready to get to work. …The next step is ensuring these initiatives receive meaningful funding in the upcoming fiscal budget cycle. Just as important, the City must establish transparent reporting mechanisms that keep the public informed through regular progress reports, measurable benchmarks, and accountability.”

Coalition leaders also acknowledged that while City leadership has indicated it is reviewing Local and Small Local Business Enterprise waiver practices, the community continues to seek a formal response regarding existing long-term waivers, including waivers extending 10 and 25 years. The coalition believes those waivers should be comprehensively reviewed and, where appropriate, rolled back as part of the City’s broader contracting reforms.

The coalition is also calling on the City to include meaningful funding in the upcoming fiscal budget cycle to support implementation of the Disparity Study recommendations and establish better methods and mechanisms to keep the public informed through regular progress reports, measurable benchmarks, and transparent accountability.

The coalition’s immediate next step is to schedule a working meeting with Baker, Aspilla, Lee, and the appropriate City staff to review what has already been accomplished under the implementation framework.