Mayoral candidate and City Council President Pro-Tem Rebecca Kaplan has successfully fought for the City of Oakland to conduct a legally required disparity study to protect equal economic opportunity in the community.

Even though the City Charter requires the study to be done every two years, one has not been conducted since 2007, seven years ago.

Oakland, like much of the country, has a troubling history of excluding Black-owned businesses and woman-owned businesses from an equal opportunity to participate in city-issued contracts, according to Kaplan.

The last time this disparity was studied in Oakland large gaps and inequalities were discovered. In recent years, in spite of community concerns, no further study was conducted.

People in the city have been so concerned about this issue that voters adopted a legal requirement in the City Charter that mandates Oakland to regularly conduct disparity studies and to take action to make sure that everyone has an equal chance to participate in business, jobs and the economy, Kaplan said.

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