Education
Mayor Announces Affordable Housing Pilot Program for 12 New Teachers
Mayor Libby Schaaf and the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) this week announced a pilot program that will help pay for affordable housing so a few Oakland teachers-in-training will be able to afford to live in the city where they teach.
In an interview with the Oakland Post, Oakland Education Association Pres. Keith Brown said that while it is good to provide affordable housing for a handful of teachers, the crisis calls for more than “Band-Aid” solutions.
The program currently serves 12 teachers and is not funded by public money. The pilot program was made possible by $150,000 in donations from the Community Development Finance nonprofit, Pritzker Foundation, Hellman Foundation, the California Endowment, and other philanthropic donors.
While no funds are currently available to expand the program beyond the original handful of teachers, the goal is to raise money to expand the program to over 100 teachers in the next nine years.
At present, a one-bedroom apartment in Oakland costs about $2,020 a month, about half of a beginner teacher’s salary, which is roughly $47,000 a year.
“This teacher affordability pilot is addressing housing insecurity. It’s addressing the quality of teachers for our children, and it’s addressing the issue of teacher attraction and retention,” said Schaaf, speaking at a press conference on Monday.
OUSD Supt. Kyla Johnson-Trammel said, “As everyone knows, the Bay Area is one of the most expensive places in the country to live. For me, what this really represents is equity being operationalized and really understanding the root of what it takes to have a long-term commitment to having teachers of color in the district.”
Brown said, “Anything that will help a few teachers be able to find affordable housing in Oakland is a good thing. (But) that’s a Band-Aid. Of course, it’s not enough.”
He said teachers are not the only ones in Oakland who need affordable housing. “We really need to find solutions, not only for educators but other school employees, for our families and working-class families in the city.”
Urging officials to move forward with a democratic, transparent process, he said there could be something like a series of town hall meetings involving the whole community in developing responses to the crisis. Brown said he is hopeful that in the coming year, with a more progressive School Board and City Council, the City will address the housing crisis.
Under the pilot “Teacher Residency Program,” each of the 12 teachers receives a $15,000 stipend for a year of student teaching if they commit to work in OUSD for four years.
Six of the teachers live at the Paloma Apartments in the Laurel District. Another student teacher instead receives a $1,500–a-month stipend. Five first- and second-year teachers receive a $500-month-stipend.
The program is designed to support teachers of color who are working in hard-to-recruit positions, such as special education, science, math and engineering. Officials did not explain how individual participants were selected.
Local school advocates are enthusiastic about efforts to develop affordable housing for teachers and local families. At the same time, they are wary that these concerns should not be used as an excuse to close schools, sell school property, and build market-rate condominiums.
Activism
Lend A Hand Foundation Celebrates 25th Anniversary
Lend A Hand Foundation Celebrates 25th Anniversary at the Scottish Rite Center in Oakland. On stage: KTVU Fox 2 Broadcasters Roberta Gonzales and Dave ClarkDance-A-Vision Founder, Carla Service, Vice Mayor Kimberly Mayfield-Lynch, California State Assemblymember Mia Bonta and Lend A Hand Foundation Executive Director Dee Johnson with the Dance-A-Vision Dancers. Photo By Carla Thomas
By Carla Thomas
The Lend A Hand Foundation (LAHF) celebrated the 25th anniversary of the organization’s Stay In School Program on May 9 at the Scottish Rite Center in Oakland.
Themed “Together We Can Empower Our Youth to Stay in School,” the event featured a pre-event reception featuring Oakland’s Kev Choice Ensemble.
The ensemble featured Oakland School for the Arts student, Ayo Brame, a 16-year-old, up-and-coming tenor saxophone jazz musician. The master and mistress of ceremonies were local broadcasters Dave Clark and Roberta Gonzales of KTVU Fox 2. Clark’s wife, Lucretia also supported the program.
A special appearance featured Dwayne Wiggins of Tony! Toni! Toné! on guitar, performing the group’s hit song “Anniversary” as guests dined on salmon, chicken, beef and vegetarian entrees prepared by the Food Network “Chopped” Champion, Chef Rashad Armstead of Oakland. California State Assemblymember Mia Bonta (D-Oakland) provided the keynote address and the Carla Service Dance-A-Vision youth dancers energetically performed a hip hop routine throughout the audience in white leotards as attendees clapped along. An auction led by Auctioneer Franco Finn assisted in raising funds for the organization with prizes that included a luxury resort vacation and other items.
LAHF presented District 5 Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson and District 4 Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley with Lifetime Supporter Awards. LAHF presented the Trailblazer Award to Guy Richardson of Ernst and Young; Dante Green of Kaiser Permanente; Antioch Attorney Gordon Greenwood of the Kazan McClain Partner’s Foundation; and Sarah Yoell of PG&E.
Oakland Unified School District Superintendent, Dr. Kyla Trammel Johnson acknowledged LAHF’s impact.
“Each year, LAHF gives backpacks and school supplies to thousands of students across Oakland,” said Johnson. “In 2022 the effort topped 25,000 students. No matter the need, big or small, involving lots of students or just one, Lend A Hand is always there ready to make a difference in the lives of our young people.”
Founder and executive director of LAHF Dee Johnson took the stage as the DJ played the Sledge Sisters’ “We Are Family.”
Guests gave Johnson a standing ovation as she thanked supporters and presented many of them with gifts.
“It’s heartbreaking to know some children don’t have clothes or supplies for school,” said Johnson. “The babies really need our support and when we deliver supplies to them, it makes them really happy.”
Since the LAHF Annual Stay in School Program began in 1999, it has provided over 150,000 educational school supply kits to students throughout Alameda County, including Oakland, Berkeley, Emeryville, and San Leandro, among other cities.
“This past August, we provided for over 12,000 students with supplies, with the help and support of our very generous donors,” said Johnson. “This year, we aim to do all we can to match that amount or provide even more.”
For more information visit: www.LendaHandFoundation.org
Community
Dasia Taylor: A Girl’s Powerful Success Story Is Inspiring the Next Wave of STEAM Leaders
Dasia Taylor’s journey began as a young girl in high school in her AP chemistry class. Her teacher at Iowa City’s West High School had just asked which students wanted to try out for the school’s science fair team. Taylor volunteered. At the time, Taylor was a high-school junior focusing on the humanities. She was already overcommitted as a member of the student senate, her district’s diversity and equity committee, and an array of other “anti-racism initiatives.” Her family had no history of participating in science fairs – and no desire to attend one, as she wasn’t really into science. However, Taylor says her life and decisions are guided by a simple rule: “Be curious.”
By Tamara Shiloh
Dasia Taylor’s journey began as a young girl in high school in her AP chemistry class. Her teacher at Iowa City’s West High School had just asked which students wanted to try out for the school’s science fair team. Taylor volunteered.
At the time, Taylor was a high-school junior focusing on the humanities.
She was already overcommitted as a member of the student senate, her district’s diversity and equity committee, and an array of other “anti-racism initiatives.” Her family had no history of participating in science fairs – and no desire to attend one, as she wasn’t really into science. However, Taylor says her life and decisions are guided by a simple rule: “Be curious.”
With cash prizes in the four-digit range and competitors polishing concepts and techniques since grade-school, today’s science fair projects are much more advanced than the simple papier-mâché volcanoes we used to see.
Taylor says her chances of entering the science far, let alone winning, were slim to none.
However, she won her next competition, then the one after that. Finally, she ended up in the last stage of the Regeneron Science Talent Search, the Super Bowl of high school science competitions. And the publicity resulting from her unlikely story and potentially world-changing proposal made Taylor a viral sensation, putting the bubbly 17-year-old on ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show’, ‘PBS NewsHour’, CNN, and many other shows.
In fact, equity work was the inspiration for Taylor’s science ideas. Her medical suture, which colors beet juice to reveal an infected surgical wound, is based on research that shows that Black individuals are particularly vulnerable to post-surgical complications such as infection – and that what appears on some patients’ skin as simple signs of infection, like a red patch and swelling, doesn’t show up on darker skin.
Taylor’s suture concept, which she is trying to patent, could provide a simple low-cost fix in poor countries where infections that can easily be treated are often fatal.
Two years after her forum-moments virilization, at 19, Taylor is a college student, but also the founder and CEO of VariegateHealth, creating inclusive medical devices; and the owner of her own “head nerd brand.”
“My life’s work is helping kids embrace their inner nerd and just be their authentic selves,” Taylor says.
Through “hands-on innovation workshops,” she inspires teenagers to make science bolder. By bolder, Taylor says she means more exciting and socially meaningful.
By the time the debate wrapped up, Taylor had been chosen for the 2023 Iowa’s Woman of the Year prize by USA Today, which annually showcases creative leaders with “stories that influence their communities.”
She was featured in the collection “Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls: 100 Tales of Extraordinary Women,” which is part of the Rebel Girls series.
Through her innovative work and advocacy for STEAM education (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) programs, Taylor is proving that it’s possible for students to be curious about the issues that affect their lives, engage in learning experiences not just in the classroom but beyond, and change the world.
With this constant motivation and her focus on improving the lives of others, she has become a public speaker, and a role model for the millennial generation worldwide.
Taylor says she has a penchant for the color yellow, music and creating any rule she wants.
California Black Media
California Approves $1.3 Billion to Restructure Community Schools
The State Board of Education and Governor Gavin Newsom announced last week that they have approved $1.3 billion in grants to implement a new school initiative that offers students support outside the classroom. According to a press release dated May 8, State education officials have appropriated funds since 2021 to offer students and their families resources such as health care, mental health support, and social services.
By California Black Media
The State Board of Education and Governor Gavin Newsom announced last week that they have approved $1.3 billion in grants to implement a new school initiative that offers students support outside the classroom.
According to a press release dated May 8, State education officials have appropriated funds since 2021 to offer students and their families resources such as health care, mental health support, and social services. The State’s board awarded $1.3 billion to 288 local education agencies that fund and support 995 schools statewide.
The California Department of Education plans to mobilize resources to help students thrive in school and at home. This initiative includes summer programs, tutoring, and counseling.
Gov. Newsom said that the state is expanding community schools across the state. Students will be offered free meals twice a day, mental health counseling, and after-school programs.
“California is transforming education to make schools a place where every family and student can succeed,” Newsom said.
The state is developing the initiative as part of the California Community Schools Partnership Program (CCSPP), a ten-year plan that promotes equity and quality education for students in California. The state will spend $4.1 billion with its partners including community schools, local counties, government agencies, and nonprofits that provide health, mental health, and social services.
State Board of Education President Linda Darling-Hammond is eager to uplift communities with well-resourced schools and achieve equity in public education.
“We know children learn best when they are healthy, happy, and in a learning environment where they are surrounded by knowledgeable and caring adults attuned to their needs,” Darling-Hammond said.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond endorsed current school programs and anticipates promising results as grants are invested in these programs.
“Our Community Schools continue to serve as exemplars of programs that educate the whole child. I am proud to see California continue to be at the forefront of recognizing that student wellness is a cornerstone of learning,” Thurmond said.
The California Department of Education will award a final round of grants to community-based organizations and schools during the 2024-2025 academic year.
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