Coronavirus

Oakland Equity Caucus Budget Approved, $26.9M in COVID-19 Funding for Most Impacted Communities, Redirects Police Funding

Published

4 years ago

June 25, 2020

OAKLAND, Calif. – On Tuesday, June 23, Oakland City Council approved the “Community First Budget” proposed by Finance Chair Lynette Gibson McElhaney, and Equity Caucus partners Vice Mayor Reid, Councilmembers Noel Gallo and Loren Taylor. Informed by Oakland’s 2018 Equity Indicators Report, this budget aims to guide the City’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic while addressing the Community’s demands for a transformation in public safety and policing.

During this meeting, Councilmember McElhaney and the Equity Caucus made clear, through their proposed policy directives, their commitment to reducing OPD’s usage of the City’s general-purpose funds by 50% as alternative methods for community safety are scaled to meet the safety needs of residents.

This reduction is paired with investments in the Oakland Department of Violence Prevention, which Councilmember McElhaney championed in 2017, a $1.35M investment in alternative safety measures like MACRO, a program designed to dispatch health workers instead of police for mental health service calls, and $200,000 in further funding to the Oakland Police Commission, the strongest and most independent police commission in the country.

“As a Black woman, I have lived in police terror and do not have the luxury to talk about it academically,” said Councilmember McElhaney. “The call to defund and reimage policing is right, but we also owe it to the community to really get it done right this time before we see another black man murdered on video or another black child killed in our streets due to community violence. ”

In this “Community First Budget”, the Oakland Equity Caucus also increased funding for COVID-19 measures demanded by community members and organizations. To ensure accountability and the equitable use of taxpayer dollars, this budget also included directives that would ensure issues like homelessness, community policing, senior support, and youth development are better prioritized in the City Administration structure.

“Amidst this pandemic and this moment of deep pain, our workers and our community are counting on us to get this money out immediately,” said Councilmember McElhaney. “This is our opportunity to throw a lifeline to our businesses systematically excluded from federal funding, our artists going hungry, and our community organizations fighting tooth and nail against COVID-19 with their own funds.”

Some of these investments in the community include:

$28.3M to expand residential anti-displacement funding
$9.5M for citywide broadband to bridge the digital divide and ensure access to learning for youth and community members from historically marginalized communities
$4M to support small businesses
$1.8M to support artists, arts organizations, cultural institutions, and youth programming
$700,000 to support Oakland’s Multi-Ethnic Chambers of Commerce and entrepreneurship efforts
$500,000 for community-led COVID-19 relief initiatives utilizing credible messengers
$400,000 to support workforce development programs for neighborhood beautification

The Equity Caucus delivered approximately $30M to Oakland’s Flatland communities without losses to service or layoffs to workers.

“We are proud to have been a leading voice standing shoulder to shoulder with our labor partners to avert layoffs and service reductions,” said Councilmember McElhaney.

R. Maurice Arnold

Posts by R. Maurice Arnold

California Black Media

Gov. Newsom and Gov. DeSantis Go Head-to-Head in Nationally Televised Debate

Conservative Fox News personality Sean Hannity moderated the duel, during which the TV pundit, more than once, injected his opinion, and appeared to be providing subtle assists to DeSantis. As the debate progressed, it was clear that opinions about each topic discussed was representative of the philosophical and political chasm that divides liberal and conservative America, and a preview of campaign mudslinging that is bound to intensify as the 2024 presidential campaign ensues.

Published

4 months ago

December 10, 2023

Oakland Post

The debate between Gov. Gavin Newsom and Gov. Ron DeSantis was moderated by Fox News personality Sean Hannity. California Black Media image.

By California Black Media

In an intense, 95-minute-plus televised faceoff between California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Nov. 30, the men traded jabs and putdowns, defended their respective gubernatorial records, disagreed sharply on how to solve the country’s most pressing problems, and expressed clashing views on the performance of the Biden-Harris administration.

Conservative Fox News personality Sean Hannity moderated the duel, during which the TV pundit, more than once, injected his opinion, and appeared to be providing subtle assists to DeSantis.

As the debate progressed, it was clear that opinions about each topic discussed was representative of the philosophical and political chasm that divides liberal and conservative America, and a preview of campaign mudslinging that is bound to intensify as the 2024 presidential campaign ensues.

“I’ll tell you why I’m here,” Newsom said. “I’m here to tell the truth about the Biden-Harris record and also compare and contrast Ron DeSantis’ record and the Republican Party’s record” with that of California.

DeSantis blasted Newsom’s management of the COVID-19 crisis and criticized Newsom for prevalent crime, homelessness and deteriorating social conditions in California cities.

“You have the freedom to defecate in public in California,” DeSantis said. “You have the freedom to pitch a tent on Sunset Boulevard. You have the freedom to create a homeless encampment under a freeway and even light it on fire. They’re not the freedoms our founding fathers envisioned.”

Newsom took a jab at DeSantis’ presidential candidacy, predicting that the Florida Governor would be endorsing GOP frontrunner Donald Trump soon.

“There’s one thing we have in common,” Newsom said. “Neither of us will be the nominee for our party in 2024.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

BayCityNews

FDA Updates Approval of Pfizer Booster Vaccine for Children Under 5

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration updated its approval Tuesday of the Pfizer-BioNTech booster vaccine, making it available to some children under age 5. Before this update, children under 5 were not eligible for COVID-19 booster shots. Instead, they received three doses of the regular vaccine.

Published

1 year ago

March 22, 2023

Oakland Post

As of December 2022, children age 4 and younger who have not been vaccinated receive the omicron variant-specific booster vaccine as the third dose in their primary vaccine series, following two doses of the original Pfizer vaccine.

By Eli Walsh
Bay City News

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration updated its approval Tuesday of the Pfizer-BioNTech booster vaccine, making it available to some children under age 5.

Before this update, children under 5 were not eligible for COVID-19 booster shots. Instead, they received three doses of the regular vaccine.

However, children in that age range who completed their initial vaccination series before December 2022 only received three doses of the original Pfizer vaccine, and are less protected against more infectious variants of the virus as a result.

FDA officials updated the vaccine’s emergency use authorization Tuesday to allow those children who only received the original Pfizer COVID vaccine to receive one dose of the bivalent booster if it has been at least two months since they completed their initial series.

Other children under age 5 are not eligible for the booster, although everyone age 5 and up is eligible for a booster.

“Currently available data show that vaccination remains the best defense against severe disease, hospitalization and death caused by COVID-19 across all age groups, and we encourage all eligible individuals to make sure that their vaccinations are up to date with a bivalent COVID-19 vaccine,” said Dr. Peter Marks, the director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.

Clinical data has found that both the original Pfizer vaccine and the booster vaccine that targets the omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 are safe for everyone aged 6 months and up and effective at preventing the worst outcomes of COVID infection, including serious illness and death.

COVID vaccines are available at primary care providers, retail pharmacies and some facilities operated by local health departments.

Copyright © 2023 Bay City News, Inc. All rights reserved. Republication, rebroadcast or redistribution without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. Bay City News is a 24/7 news service covering the greater Bay Area.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Bay Area

COVID-19 Response Grant Program

The City of Union City will be issuing another round of its COVID-19 Response Grant Program. The program has distributed approximately $620,000 in grant funds and forgivable loans to the community to respond to the impacts of COVID-19 and will distribute another $322,000 through this latest round of funding. The City will utilize federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and CARES Act funds.

Published

1 year ago

March 21, 2023

Oakland Post

The City will be holding two informational/technical assistance meetings to support residents and businesses with their applications and respond to any questions. These meetings will be streamed via Zoom. See below for meeting information and Zoom meeting links.

Grants are available through the City’s Road to Recovery Small Business Assistance Program and the Residential Rental Assistance Program. The City began accepting applications on March 6, 2023, at 9 a.m. and will begin reviewing applications (up to 50 applications for each grant opportunity) submitted on or before March 30, 2023, at 5 p.m. The program information and the online application are available on the City’s website:

https://www.unioncity.org/548/COVID-19-Response-Grant-Program

Tuesday, March 14, 2023: 9 a.m. to 10 a.m.

https://unioncity-org.zoom.us/j/89061570160

Wednesday, March 15, 2023: 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.

https://unioncity-org.zoom.us/j/81868680531