Activism

Jaylen Brown and Jason Kidd’s $5 Billion Plans

On Aug. 9, in downtown Oakland at Oakstop, a co-working and event space, dozens of journalists and broadcasters convened to hear an historic announcement from NBA icon Jason Kidd and NBA All Star and Finals MVP Jaylen Brown. The duo told the world that they have joined forces to raise an ambitious $5 billion dollars to empower underserved and marginalized communities. The week prior, Brown set the goal in motion by creating the Boston XChange in preparation to do the same in the Bay Area as the Oakland XChange.

Published

3 weeks ago

September 12, 2024

Oakland Post

NBA All Star and 2024 Finals MVP Jaylen Brown, Oakland XChange's founder Trevor Parham, Boston XChange board member Riz Shah, and NBA icon Jason Kidd at Oakstop in Oakland announcing the creation of XChange Oakland and a commitment to raise $5 billion dollars to empower marginalized communities across the nation. Courtesy of Oakland Xchange.

By Carla Thomas

The duo told the world that they have joined forces to raise an ambitious $5 billion dollars to empower underserved and marginalized communities. The week prior, Brown set the goal in motion by creating the Boston XChange in preparation to do the same in the Bay Area as the Oakland XChange.

“True systemic change requires collaboration, shared vision, and collective impact. By working with community partners, thought leaders, and cultural influencers, our goal is to cultivate a powerful network of support and innovation,” shared Brown.

Through the new nonprofit XChange enterprises in Boston and Oakland and his sphere of influence, Brown has set his intentions in motion jumpstarting a path toward generational wealth and cultivating cultural innovation in underserved and underrepresented communities. Designed to provide opportunities at the intersection of business and culture, Brown says the XChange will use a place-based strategy to drive solutions for better cities, integrating real estate development, business education, technology, and cultural competency to foster economic growth.

Chapters in Boston (BXC) and Oakland (OXC) will serve as organizing hubs, utilizing commercial real estate to empower underserved communities.

Kidd says he was inspired by Brown’s concept and the two have committed millions of dollars from their own fortunes to kick off the venture. Kidd and Brown, both Oakland natives, see a bright future for their hometown.

“We welcome anyone that is willing to make a commitment to the future and health of the community and put it on a path toward generational sustainability,” said Kidd, during the press conference.

“The racial wealth gap is not limited to Boston — It’s a national issue, affecting Oakland and cities throughout the country, revealing how some groups are better positioned to make critical investments in their futures that benefit their families and communities,” said Kidd.

Kidd has also made significant philanthropic contributions to his hometown, such as funding the Willie Keyes Recreation Center in West Oakland.

The XChange will create and showcase scalable and repeatable models for shared real estate ownership and impact investments to facilitate asset building for sidelined community members that can be adopted across the country. They will engage professional athletes, business leaders, philanthropists, and influencers who are passionate about solving wealth inequality in the cities they love, using a replicable model that maximizes impact while uplifting existing organizations working to bridge the wealth gap.

“Using this strategy, The XChange presents an opportunity for individual cities to tailor the model to the unique needs and strengths of their communities, replicating and refining it for optimal impact,” said the Oakland XChange’s founder Trevor Parham.

“Place based strategies are important for unifying and revitalizing underserved communities and our lived experiences inform market insights and social solutions that help foster sustainable economic development. I’m proud of Oakstop’s track record for community-led social impact and our synergy with the Boston XChange.”

Boston XChange board member Riz Shah was also on hand along with local politicians, Caroll Fife, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA-12), and Lateefah Simon, candidate for U.S Congress. They all shared their excitement for the new venture.

For more information visit: www.oaklandxchange.org

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Activism

‘Respect Our Vote’ Mass Meeting Rejects Oakland, Alameda County Recalls

The mass meeting, attended mostly by members of local Asian American communities, was held in a large banquet room in a Chinese restaurant in Alameda. The Respect Our Vote (ROV) coalition, consisting of concerned community members and groups, is organizing meetings in Oakland and around Alameda County leading up to the November election.

Published

7 days ago

September 28, 2024

Oakland Post

Some of the leaders who spoke at the Respect Our Vote – No Recalls!” mass meeting were (left to right): Elaine Peng, Mariano Contreras, Pastor Servant B.K. Woodson, and Stewart Chen. Photo by Ken Epstein.

By Ken Epstein

A recently organized coalition, “Respect Our Vote – No Recalls!,” held a standing-room only mass meeting on Sept. 14, urging residents to vote ‘No’ on the two East Bay recalls funded by conservative billionaires and millionaires with the help of corporate media and instead to support the campaign to protect residents’ democratic right to choose their representatives.

The mass meeting, attended mostly by members of local Asian American communities, was held in a large banquet room in a Chinese restaurant in Alameda.

The Respect Our Vote (ROV) coalition, consisting of concerned community members and groups, is organizing meetings in Oakland and around Alameda County leading up to the November election.

Speaking at the meeting, prominent East Bay leader Stewart Chen said that local leaders, like Alameda County D.A. Pamela Price and Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, worked hard to get elected, and our system says they get four years to carry out their policies and campaign promises. But rich people have “broken” that system.

Within two months after they took office, they were facing recalls paid for by billionaires, he said. “(Billionaires’) candidate did not get elected, so they want to change the system.”

“(Our elected leaders) were elected through the process, and the people spoke,” said Chen. “It’s the entire system that the billionaires are trying to (overturn).”

“If a candidate does something wrong or enacts a policy that we do not like, we let it play out, and in four years, we do not have to vote for them.

“The democratic system that we have had in place for a couple of hundred years, it needs our help,” said Chen.

Pastor Servant B.K. Woodson, a leader of the coalition, emphasized the diversity and solidarity needed to defend democracy. “We need each other’s wisdom to make our nation great, to make it safe. We are deliberately African American, English-speaking, Latino American, Spanish-speaking, and all the wonderful dialects in the Asian communities. We want to be together, grow together, and have a good world together.”

Mariano Contreras of the Latino Task Force said that people need to understand what is at stake now.

The recall leaders are connected to conservative forces that will undermine public education, and bilingual education, he said. “The people behind (the recalls) are being used by outside dark money,” he said. The spokespeople of these recalls are themselves conservatives “who are wearing a mask that says they are progressives.”

In 2017, Oakland passed an ordinance that gave teeth to its “Sanctuary City” policy, which was brought to the City Council and passed because it was supported by progressive members on the council.

“That would not be possible anymore if the progressive alliance – Sheng Thao, Nikki Fortunato Bas, and Carroll Fife – if they are pushed out,” he said.

Elaine Peng, president of Asian Americans for Progressive America, said, “I strongly oppose the recalls of Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price.”

Citing statistics, she said Alameda County’s murder rate was higher when Alameda County D.A. Nancy O’Malley was in office, before Pamela Price was elected to that position.

“The recall campaign has been misleading the public,” said Peng.

She said Oakland is making progress under Thao. “Crime rates are falling in Oakland,” and the City is building more affordable housing than ever before and is creating more jobs.

Attorney Victor Ochoa said, this recall is “not by accident in Oakland – it is a political strategy.”

“There is a strategy that has been launched nationwide. What we’re seeing is oligarchs, (such as Phillip Dreyfuss from Piedmont), right wingers, conservatives, who can write a check for $400,000 like some of us can write a check for $10.”

“They aligned themselves with so-called moderate forces, but they’re not moderates. They align themselves with the money, and that’s what we have seen in Oakland.”

Ochoa continued, “You got to put up signs, you’ve got to talk to your neighbors, volunteer whatever hours you can, have a house meeting. That’s the way progressives win.”

Pecolia Manigo of Oakland Rising Action spoke about what it will take to defeat the recalls. “This is the time when you are not only deputized to go out and do outreach, we need to make sure that people actually vote.

“We need everyone to vote not just for the president, but all the way down the ballot to where these questions will be. Remind people to fill out their ballot, and mail it back.”

Former Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, who had herself faced a recall attempt, said, “In this recall, they used a lot of money, had paid signature gatherers, and they moved very fast. I talked to many of the people gathering signatures. They didn’t know what was going on. Many of them didn’t live in Oakland. It was just money for them.”

“Sam Singer, the guy who is their spokesperson, is a paid PR guy. He has media ties, so they’ve swamped the media against Sheng,” Quan said.

‘Oakland is… a city that implemented some of the first rent control protections in the country. So, developers and big apartment owners would love to get rid of rent control,” said Quan.

“We also established ranked-choice voting, which allows people with less money to coalesce and win elections,” she said. “That’s too democratic for people with big money. They would rather have elections the way they were.”