Activism

OCCUR Offers Guidance to Nonprofit Leaders in the East Bay

Across the East Bay, community activists, nonprofit professionals, neighborhood leaders, and families struggling to overcome difficult circumstances understand how essential, proactive, and effective OCCUR has been for all these years. Their capacity-building initiatives have elevated the fortunes of many nonprofit and faith-based organizations, including the Lend a Hand Foundation, a highly successful Oakland-based nonprofit that has benefited tremendously from its ongoing association with OCCUR.

Published

2 years ago

May 4, 2022

Oakland Post

Idealism motivates the skilled and dedicated professionals and volunteers who have kept OCCUR relevant for decades.

By Lori Shepherd

Since the 1950s, OCCUR has been functioning as a catalyst for change in Oakland’s marginalized and deprived communities, becoming a fixture in the East Bay region, focusing on cultural, social, and economic development in areas that need their expertise.

Idealism motivates the skilled and dedicated professionals and volunteers who have kept OCCUR relevant for decades. Over the years, the nature of the challenges they face have changed, as they are currently working to find solutions to homelessness, school closures, dwindling Black homeownership, and a lack of access to learning technical knowledge and skills that prevents members of underserved communities from finding suitable employment. OCCUR was formed to assist people of color and other marginalized groups who have been most victimized by long-term inequalities of wealth and opportunity, and their dedication to that mission is reflected in their determination to evolve and grow.

The Lend A Hand Foundation is a youth-focused nonprofit that offers vital assistance to children, adolescents, and families facing arduous challenges or debilitating life circumstances.

Their diverse initiatives are designed to help the underserved experiencing poverty, deprivation, illness, or other stressful emergencies, by providing them with access to immediate essential aid and life improving goods and services of all types. Lend A Hand has received the most attention for its free backpack program, which provides school-aged children from deprived communities with backpacks stuffed full of all the crucial supplies they require at the start of each school year.

When the Lend A Hand Foundation opened its doors in 1997, it had little to rely on good intentions. Funds were short and experience at running a nonprofit was even shorter. Executive Director Dee Johnson knew she would need help to keep the project viable, and that’s why she began attending the free workshops OCCUR offers for aspiring nonprofit organizers.

“The workshops brought so much enlightenment to what was needed to survive,” Dee Johnson told us during a recent interview.

Sponsored jointly by OCCUR and the San Francisco-based Foundation Alliance with Interfaith to Heal Society, or FAITHS, the ‘A Model Built on Faith’ workshop series is offered annually at no cost to administrators and volunteers who run or serve faith-based or secular charity organizations in the Bay Area. The workshops combine individual coaching with small intensive group exercises and activities and are designed to help participants develop the skills and knowledge necessary to build stable organizational structures, find financing sources, create highly impactful individual and community uplift programs, and promote the empowerment of marginalized neighborhoods and people.

During the pandemic, the staff at Lend a Hand developed and implemented a comprehensive plan of action that included a safe and effective mix of virtual and in-person engagement. Despite lockdowns and quarantines, they continued to deliver vital assistance to the most vulnerable.

According to Johnson, the organization’s involvement with OCCUR played a big part in their capacity to rise to the occasion.

“Having gained a lot of knowledge from the esteemed management team, coaches, and facilitators, we were able to sustain,” she said. “Had we not received the knowledge through all the workshops we attended, we would not have been able to face the challenges when this very frightening situation occurred.”

Lend A Hand plans to distribute their signature backpack school supply kits to 25,000 underserved students in Oakland and Alameda County for the 2022 – 2023 school year.

Recently, OCCUR was in the news for a most surprising reason. In March the offices of the organization were burglarized and vandalized. Despite this temporary setback, organization leaders have no plans to slow down.

“With the ramping up of our capacity-building programs, OCCUR is not letting the burglary derail us,” Charla Montgomery, OCCUR’s program consultant, told the Post News Group. “Now more than ever, it is important that OCCUR reaches as many communities as possible and all those committed to positive change throughout the Bay Area.”

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Activism

Oakland Post: Week of April 17 – 23, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 17 – 23, 2024

Published

6 days ago

April 19, 2024

Oakland Post

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

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Oakland Schools Honor Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties

Every Jan. 30, OUSD commemorates the legacy of Fred Korematsu, an Oakland native, a Castlemont High School graduate, and a national symbol of resistance, resilience, and justice. His defiant stand against racial injustice and his unwavering commitment to civil rights continue to inspire the local community and the nation. Tuesday was “Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution” in the state of California and a growing number of states across the country.

Published

7 days ago

April 19, 2024

Oakland Post

Fred Korematsu. Courtesy of OUSD.

By Post Staff

Every Jan. 30, OUSD commemorates the legacy of Fred Korematsu, an Oakland native, a Castlemont High School graduate, and a national symbol of resistance, resilience, and justice.

His defiant stand against racial injustice and his unwavering commitment to civil rights continue to inspire the local community and the nation. Tuesday was “Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution” in the state of California and a growing number of states across the country.
One OUSD school is named in his honor: Fred T. Korematsu Discovery Academy (KDA) elementary in East Oakland.

Several years ago, founding KDA Principal Charles Wilson, in a video interview with anti-hate organization “Not In Our Town,” said, “We chose the name Fred Korematsu because we really felt like the attributes that he showed in his work are things that the children need to learn … that common people can stand up and make differences in a large number of people’s lives.”

Fred Korematsu was born in Oakland on Jan. 30, 1919. His parents ran a floral nursery business, and his upbringing in Oakland shaped his worldview. His belief in the importance of standing up for your rights and the rights of others, regardless of race or background, was the foundation for his activism against racial prejudice and for the rights of Japanese Americans during World War II.

At the start of the war, Korematsu was turned away from enlisting in the National Guard and the Coast Guard because of his race. He trained as a welder, working at the docks in Oakland, but was fired after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. Fear and prejudice led to federal Executive Order 9066, which forced more than 120,000 Japanese Americans out of their homes and neighborhoods and into remote internment camps.

The 23-year-old Korematsu resisted the order. He underwent cosmetic surgery and assumed a false identity, choosing freedom over unjust imprisonment. His later arrest and conviction sparked a legal battle that would challenge the foundation of civil liberties in America.

Korematsu’s fight culminated in the Supreme Court’s initial ruling against him in 1944. He spent years in a Utah internment camp with his family, followed by time living in Salt Lake City where he was dogged by racism.

In 1976, President Gerald Ford overturned Executive Order 9066. Seven years later, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco vacated Korematsu’s conviction. He said in court, “I would like to see the government admit that they were wrong and do something about it so this will never happen again to any American citizen of any race, creed, or color.”

Korematsu’s dedication and determination established him as a national icon of civil rights and social justice. He advocated for justice with Rosa Parks. In 1998, President Bill Clinton gave him the Presidential Medal of Freedom saying, “In the long history of our country’s constant search for justice, some names of ordinary citizens stand for millions of souls … To that distinguished list, today we add the name of Fred Korematsu.”

After Sept. 11, 2001, Korematsu spoke out against hatred and discrimination, saying what happened to Japanese Americans should not happen to people of Middle Eastern descent.
Korematsu’s roots in Oakland and his education in OUSD are a source of great pride for the city, according to the school district. His most famous quote, which is on the Korematsu elementary school mural, is as relevant now as ever, “If you have the feeling that something is wrong, don’t be afraid to speak up.”

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Activism

WOMEN IMPACTING THE CHURCH AND COMMUNITY

Published

1 week ago

April 17, 2024

Oakland Post

Juanita Matthews

Sister Juanita Matthews

55 Years with Oakland Public School District

The Teacher, Mother, Community Outreach Champion, And Child of God

Juanita Matthews, better known as “Sister Teacher,” is a walking Bible scholar. She moved to California from the great state of Arkansas in 1971. Sister Teacher has a passion for teaching. She has been a member of Bible Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church since 1971. She followed her passion for teaching, and in 1977 became the lead teacher for Adult Class #6. Her motto still today is “Once My Student, Always My Student”.

Beyond her remarkable love for the Lord, Sister Teacher has showcased her love for teaching by working for the Oakland Unified School District for 55 years, all but four of those years spent at Emerson Elementary and Child Development School. She truly cares about her students, making sure they have the tools/supplies needed to learn either at OUSD or Bible Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church.

She’s also had a “Clothes Closet Ministry” for 51 years, making sure her students have sufficient clothing for school. The Clothes Closet Ministry extends past her students, she has been clothing the community for over 50 years as well. She loves the Lord and is a servant on a mission. She is a loving mother to two beautiful children, Sandra and Andre. This is the impact this woman of God has on her church and the community.