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City Council Unanimously Approves Plan to Save Head Start, Prevent Layoffs

To ensure equitable sustainability and prosperity of Oakland’s Head Start/Early Head Start programming, these councilmembers applaud their colleagues’ support for their resolution which will require that, if Head Start/Early Head Start programs are restructured or reorganized before June 2022, all existing staff who represent decades of experience and expertise serving low-income communities of color in Oakland, are retained.

Published

2 years ago

December 12, 2021

Oakland Post

Councilmembers (left to right): Sheng Thao, Rebecca Kaplan, Nikki Fortunato Bas, and Carroll Fife. Photo courtesy of Oakland City Council.

By Kimberly Jones

The Oakland City Council this week unanimously approved a resolution by Vice Mayor Rebecca Kaplan, Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas, Councilmember Carroll Fife, and President Pro Tem Sheng Thao directing the City Administrator to ensure Head Start/Early Head Start are adequately funded now and in the future — including preventing staffing layoffs.

The backbone of Early Head Start and Head Start membership is overwhelmingly Black women and people of color, who have historically and disproportionately borne the brunt of the economic difficulties our society experiences.

These communities are also disparately impacted when childcare is not available.

It is vital to engage front-line workers directly impacted by investments and center conversations around these workers in a transparent budget process, according to a media statement released by Kaplan’s office.

Stable funding ensures staff retention, and that existing Head Start/Early Head Start facilities are properly maintained.

Further, the City Administrator will be required to return to City Council with an amendment to the biennial budget for fiscal years 2021-2023 that fully funds all City of Oakland’s Head Start/Early Head Start programming no later than May 2022 when the fiscal year 2022-2023 midcycle budget amendments will be considered.

Finally, the resolution requires the Human Services Department to create a transparent, strategic planning process for the operation and management of the Head Start/Early Head Start programs.

“We must prioritize equity in our City’s COVID-19 recovery plan and allowing our most impacted communities to have vitally needed services is a high priority,” Vice Mayor and Councilmember At Large Rebecca Kaplan said. “Head Start is an important program which helps children with lifelong positive impacts on their future and ensures access to economic recovery for struggling working parents…I thank everyone who helped pass this important plan to save Head Start to support providing these services for all of Oakland’s communities.”

“Our most vulnerable children and families in Oakland must be supported,” Nikki Fortunato Bas, Council President and District 2 Representative, said. “The Franklin Head Start Center serves a diverse community in District 2, from the Chinatown to Eastlake to San Antonio neighborhoods, and I am fighting to protect the services for these families and the jobs for the workers caring for our children.”

“Robust investment in Head Start is investment in our future; it is long-term public safety planning; it is the right thing to do,” said Carroll Fife who represents District 3. “Our local government cannot allow Head Start to fail. To do so would be to continue the practice of state-sanctioned discrimination that creates new racialized disparities and perpetuates existing ones…As a working-class Black woman, like many of our Head Start providers, I have lived experience in needing access to affordable childcare. And as an elected official, I am committed to doing what it takes to keep our centers open, funded and accessible to the families who need them most.”

“Every parent knows the first five years of a child’s development have an enormous impact on the adult they will become,” Council President Pro Tempore and District 4 representative Sheng Thao said. “Head Start is a vital resource to the children and parents that need support. One of my top priorities is making sure every child in Oakland has a chance to succeed.”

Kimberly Jones is the chief of staff to Vice Mayor Rebecca Kaplan.

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Oakland Post: Week of April 17 – 23, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 17 – 23, 2024

Published

6 days ago

April 19, 2024

Oakland Post

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Oakland Schools Honor Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties

Every Jan. 30, OUSD commemorates the legacy of Fred Korematsu, an Oakland native, a Castlemont High School graduate, and a national symbol of resistance, resilience, and justice. His defiant stand against racial injustice and his unwavering commitment to civil rights continue to inspire the local community and the nation. Tuesday was “Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution” in the state of California and a growing number of states across the country.

Published

6 days ago

April 19, 2024

Oakland Post

Fred Korematsu. Courtesy of OUSD.

By Post Staff

Every Jan. 30, OUSD commemorates the legacy of Fred Korematsu, an Oakland native, a Castlemont High School graduate, and a national symbol of resistance, resilience, and justice.

His defiant stand against racial injustice and his unwavering commitment to civil rights continue to inspire the local community and the nation. Tuesday was “Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution” in the state of California and a growing number of states across the country.
One OUSD school is named in his honor: Fred T. Korematsu Discovery Academy (KDA) elementary in East Oakland.

Several years ago, founding KDA Principal Charles Wilson, in a video interview with anti-hate organization “Not In Our Town,” said, “We chose the name Fred Korematsu because we really felt like the attributes that he showed in his work are things that the children need to learn … that common people can stand up and make differences in a large number of people’s lives.”

Fred Korematsu was born in Oakland on Jan. 30, 1919. His parents ran a floral nursery business, and his upbringing in Oakland shaped his worldview. His belief in the importance of standing up for your rights and the rights of others, regardless of race or background, was the foundation for his activism against racial prejudice and for the rights of Japanese Americans during World War II.

At the start of the war, Korematsu was turned away from enlisting in the National Guard and the Coast Guard because of his race. He trained as a welder, working at the docks in Oakland, but was fired after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. Fear and prejudice led to federal Executive Order 9066, which forced more than 120,000 Japanese Americans out of their homes and neighborhoods and into remote internment camps.

The 23-year-old Korematsu resisted the order. He underwent cosmetic surgery and assumed a false identity, choosing freedom over unjust imprisonment. His later arrest and conviction sparked a legal battle that would challenge the foundation of civil liberties in America.

Korematsu’s fight culminated in the Supreme Court’s initial ruling against him in 1944. He spent years in a Utah internment camp with his family, followed by time living in Salt Lake City where he was dogged by racism.

In 1976, President Gerald Ford overturned Executive Order 9066. Seven years later, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco vacated Korematsu’s conviction. He said in court, “I would like to see the government admit that they were wrong and do something about it so this will never happen again to any American citizen of any race, creed, or color.”

Korematsu’s dedication and determination established him as a national icon of civil rights and social justice. He advocated for justice with Rosa Parks. In 1998, President Bill Clinton gave him the Presidential Medal of Freedom saying, “In the long history of our country’s constant search for justice, some names of ordinary citizens stand for millions of souls … To that distinguished list, today we add the name of Fred Korematsu.”

After Sept. 11, 2001, Korematsu spoke out against hatred and discrimination, saying what happened to Japanese Americans should not happen to people of Middle Eastern descent.
Korematsu’s roots in Oakland and his education in OUSD are a source of great pride for the city, according to the school district. His most famous quote, which is on the Korematsu elementary school mural, is as relevant now as ever, “If you have the feeling that something is wrong, don’t be afraid to speak up.”

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WOMEN IMPACTING THE CHURCH AND COMMUNITY

Published

1 week ago

April 17, 2024

Oakland Post

Juanita Matthews

Sister Juanita Matthews

55 Years with Oakland Public School District

The Teacher, Mother, Community Outreach Champion, And Child of God

Juanita Matthews, better known as “Sister Teacher,” is a walking Bible scholar. She moved to California from the great state of Arkansas in 1971. Sister Teacher has a passion for teaching. She has been a member of Bible Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church since 1971. She followed her passion for teaching, and in 1977 became the lead teacher for Adult Class #6. Her motto still today is “Once My Student, Always My Student”.

Beyond her remarkable love for the Lord, Sister Teacher has showcased her love for teaching by working for the Oakland Unified School District for 55 years, all but four of those years spent at Emerson Elementary and Child Development School. She truly cares about her students, making sure they have the tools/supplies needed to learn either at OUSD or Bible Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church.

She’s also had a “Clothes Closet Ministry” for 51 years, making sure her students have sufficient clothing for school. The Clothes Closet Ministry extends past her students, she has been clothing the community for over 50 years as well. She loves the Lord and is a servant on a mission. She is a loving mother to two beautiful children, Sandra and Andre. This is the impact this woman of God has on her church and the community.