City Government

Community Unites to Support San Pablo Fire Victims

Published

9 years ago

April 7, 2017

The West Oakland San Pablo Fire Relief and Advocacy Team, composed of local pastors and leaders of community-based organizations, is seeking unite the community to raise $100,000 to meet the needs of the families that have lost everything in the March 27 fire at 2551 San Pablo Ave. in Oakland.

“We have a mission: to bring strong advocacy and support on behalf of the survivors to provide for their unmet needs,” said Pastor Debra Avery of the First Presbyterian Church of Oakland, who co-chairs the advocacy team along with Bishop Joseph E. Simmons, Greater Saint Paul Missionary Baptist Church.

Pastor Debra Avery

The team has raised $2,700 in the past two days, utilizing social media and email, Avery said. “We’re depending on people to share the message with their friends and neighbors.”

The team meets weekly, and there will be weekly updates.

Bishop Joseph Simmons

While the city and county are supporting the fire survivors, there are other needs that are still falling through the cracks, she said. For example, a construction worker needs help to purchase the tools he lost in the fire so that he can return to work.

The outpouring of support from Oaklanders, particularly West Oakland residents, has been amazing, she said.

Another pressing need, said Bishop Simmons, is finding decent affordable housing for the displaced. Too many landlords are seeking to build or upgrade to market rate housing, rather than to serve the families in Oakland that in desperate need.

The city may not have the funds to create the housing, but it does have the legal clout to require landlords to change their practices, he said.

Councilmember-at-Large Rebecca Kaplan has lent her voice to garner support for those who were displaced by the fire.

“In this difficult time, it is important for us to support those adversely affected by the fire,” she wrote in an email to her constituents.

Mayor Libby Schaaf has also issued a statement backing the fire survivors advocacy team.

“Over this past week, our city staff has been focused on helping them recover and taking the steps to ensure the safety of this community. I hope you will join the effort to help the families and individuals who lost so much in this fire,” Mayor Schaaf wrote.

The organization has designated the First Presbyterian Church of Oakland as the fiscal agent for the San Pablo Fire Relief and Advocacy Team Advocacy fund. Checks can be made out to: FPCO and mailed to the church at 2619 Broadway, Oakland, CA 94612, or you can make a donation online.

Tax-deductible charitable contributions can be made to serve the unmet needs of fire victims

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Oakland Post: Week of July 1 – 7, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of July 1 – 7, 2026

Published

5 days ago

July 5, 2026

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Inaugural Juneteenth Awards Ceremony Celebrates the Fillmore’s Black History, Leadership and Resilience

Addressing more than 100 Black and Asian attendees, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie stated “San Francisco is reliant on the Black community, and we must invest in this community.”

Published

2 weeks ago

June 26, 2026

Oakland Post

District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, Rev. Dr. Amos Brown, Pastor Emeritus of Third Baptist Church, SF Mayor Daniel Lurie. Photo by Linda Parker Pennington.

By Linda Parker Pennington

The Fillmore Community Ambassadors held its first annual Juneteenth Wesley Johnson White Horse Awards ceremony on June 19 inside the newly reopened Fillmore Heritage Center.

The event featured awards for former San Francisco mayors London Breed and Willie Brown, along with Third Baptist Church Pastor Emeritus, Rev. Dr. Amos Brown.

The Koret Heritage lobby at the newly reopened center at 1330 Fillmore St. held a standing-room-only, culturally diverse and multi-generational audience while the art gallery featured photos of Fillmore community members in action, red Japanese lanterns, art and calligraphy, and Chinese artwork, giving the space a multicultural feel.

Addressing more than 100 Black and Asian attendees, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie stated “San Francisco is reliant on the Black community, and we must invest in this community.”

District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood acknowledged that “the Fillmore community has had a difficult history. Thanks to Rev. Amos Brown’s continuous focus on accountability and resistance, you hold us accountable and continue to inspire us.”

Mahmoud is referring to the Fillmore’s Japanese residents who were forced from their homes and sent to concentration camps during World War II. Black people occupied those homes until the return of their Japanese neighbors and then gave them back, while homes that had been unoccupied were lost. The presence of the Asian community on Juneteenth is a testament to that shared history.

In receiving his honor, Amos Brown elicited a powerful spontaneous call-and-response, where members of San Francisco’s many Black churches proudly shouted out the names: “Bethel AME! Providence Baptist! Jones Memorial! Glide!”

Awards program Master of Ceremonies Shawn Richards of Brothers Against Guns warmly introduced Breed, highlighting her many accomplishments, particularly on “March 16, 2020, when she became the first mayor to shut down a major U.S. city due to COVID-19, saving thousands of lives.”

The audience was captivated by Breed’s emotional speech touching on past traumas, present conditions, and future hopes for the neighborhood where she grew up.

She recalled another trauma of the neighborhood during the City’s redevelopment era in the 1960s, where Black residents were forced to move with a promise of being able to return that was largely unfulfilled.

“We remember when this land was just a field because they bulldozed hundreds of Victorian homes that Black people owned. They built the Fillmore Center, where most Black people can’t afford to live or start their own business. But we are still here.”