Community

Peralta Village Tenants, Supporters, Petition Oakland Housing Authority

The direct action on February 13 is the result of organizing that began last fall, when about a dozen Peralta Village residents started meeting with each other and Bay Area-based housing rights activists seeking improved maintenance and better treatment from OHA.

Published

5 years ago

February 1, 2021

Kiki

Cassidy Taylor (left) of the housing justice group The United Front Against Displacement, and Eddie Simmon (right) a Peralta Village resident of 20 years, pose outside of a Peralta Village apartment on January 24. Photo by Zack Haber.

Residents of Peralta Village and organizers and members of the United Front Against Displacement are planning a protest at the Oakland Housing Authority (OHA) headquarters on February 13 because of OHA’s slow responses to requests for repairs, lagging upkeep and threats of eviction despite the current moratorium caused by the pandemic.

The protesters will deliver the petition to OHA offices. The time of day and place of the protest will be announced at a later date.

About 11%, or 85, of Peralta Village residents of the West Oakland public housing project’s population have supported the efforts by signing a petition residents and activists wrote accusing OHA of “unresponsive or slow…follow-through on repairs and regular upkeep,” “threats of eviction” despite eviction moratoriums that are currently in place, “not clearing garbage…on a consistent schedule” or providing recycling bins, and unfair ticketing from OHA Police. The petition asks OHA to improve maintenance and reduce rent until problems are fixed.
“We gotta get together and make it a group effort,” said Eddie Simmon, who has lived in Peralta Village for over 20 years. “One person [addressing OHA] is like a mosquito bite; they flick it away. But if you get a whole hornet’s nest, then you got something to contend with.”

Simmon is one of four Peralta Village residents, all of whom are Black in their late 40s to mid-60s and who helped write the petition, that The Oakland Post interviewed. Fearing retaliation, two of these residents requested anonymity in this article.

Peralta Village consists of 390 units in a mix of one- two- and three-bedroom apartments as well as town homes that serve more than 700 residents. Originally named Cypress Village, it was created just after World War II as segregated all-Black housing in West Oakland at 935 Union St. To this day, its population is almost entirely Black and many still refer to it as Cypress Village.

The Oakland Post also interviewed three activists, all of whom are in their 20s and are part of the grassroots housing justice group the United Front Against Displacement (UFAD). The group has been doing weekly door-knocking in Peralta Village since last summer to connect and organize residents. In recent months, residents have joined in the door-knocking.

Residents meet with each other and UFAD members weekly, sometimes in person and sometimes on Zoom. The meetings are called Cypress Tenants Meetings and have no affiliation with OHA. Residents can learn more about the meetings by contacting the UFAD at wewontgo@riseup.net or 510-815-9978.

“It’s been really encouraging seeing folks get enthusiastic about doing tenant organizing in the projects,” said Cassidy Taylor, a low-income essential worker who lives close to Peralta Village. She moved to Oakland from Boston about a year ago to work with UFAD and sees tenant organizing as important to improving the conditions of all working-class people.

Taylor is among the Peralta Village residents and other UFAD members who will participate in the February 13 protest and deliver the petition to OHA offices.

Their protest will address the ill treatment that many Peralta Village residents say they are experiencing. One resident claimed that it recently took OHA six weeks after she notified them to fix her window that wouldn’t close.

Another resident, JaCynthia Givens, said she’s been “having headaches and weakness” due to breathing black mold in her apartment. Gena Rainey, 38, who spends time in Peralta Village as a caretaker for her mother, said she has contacted OHA more than 10 times in the last year requesting that they fix broken wiring that causes the overhead lighting to fail in her mother’s apartment, but no OHA workers have helped.

“I understand they consider this the ghetto or the ’hood but we deserve to be treated better,” said Rainey.

According to OHA spokesperson Greer McVay, OHA has a property management team that addresses maintenance issues when tenants put in work orders. She said that “because of COVID-19, we’re doing things a bit differently and prioritizing emergencies.”

While OHA used to send workers out in shared vehicles, now only one worker can be in a vehicle at a time, which slows down the process of fulfilling work orders. McVay claims that generally non-emergency work orders get fulfilled within two days, though she acknowledges “there are times where work orders have slipped through the cracks.”

The residents The Oakland Post interviewed all claimed that delays of weeks or months in securing repairs usually occur when they put in work orders. Simmon said he started doing his repairs himself because OHA maintenance workers do not give specific times when they plan to do the repairs.

“They just come whenever they want to come,” said Simmon. “You might not even be available.”

When workers come and tenants are not at home, the workers leave. Simmon wants the workers to arrange times with tenants to fulfill work requests so they do not waste trips and repairs can be fulfilled.

Tenants said that when OHA feels they have broken housing rules, OHA threatens them with eviction. Rainey said these notices scare people and that her mother fell ill soon after OHA sent a letter threatening to evict her due to Rainey parking next to her home and within Peralta Village’s gates without a pass, a technical violation of OHA’s policies that is commonly practiced due to safety concerns with parking on the street.

Another resident, who is in her 60s, said she got a threatening notice after she fought back against a neighbor in her 30s who attacked her. The resident said she experienced repeated harassment from this neighbor, reported it to OHA over two years, but that OHA never worked to remedy the situation. The notice, which The Oakland Post obtained, threatened to evict her if she ever engaged in an altercation with the neighbor again. After obtaining what she calls threats from OHA instead of help, she is scared to meet with them.

According to McVay, OHA is not currently evicting residents.

“We are always going to look for ways to help people if they are in non-compliance [with OHA rules],” she said. “And we have not evicted anyone during COVID-19.”

When a resident is accused of violating an OHA rule, they are sent forms including what McVay describes as “standard legal language” that could “seem harsh” to residents, but she said that OHA also follows up and tries to keep residents housed. Residents The Oakland Post interviewed said they felt threatened rather than helped by OHA.

All residents interviewed said that overflowing trash in the dumpster area is unpleasant to deal with and attracts rodents. A few said the conditions made them scared to throw their trash away. During a visit to several dumpster areas around the apartment complex on January 24, rats could be seen scurrying around waste matter that included unbagged food scraps piled on the ground. Electronics and cardboard boxes could be seen outside of but near the dumpster area. No recycling receptacles were present. While in the past, Simmon said clean-ups from workers happened weekly, now they’re “almost non-existent.”

McVay said much of the trash problem in the area is related to people from outside the neighborhood dumping in OHA receptacles. Peralta Village tenants confirm illegal dumping is common but think that OHA is not addressing the problem. One resident suggested installing cameras to document and discourage dumpers. Residents say people from outside the neighborhood also throw trash around searching for recyclable cans and bottles, and that the presence of recycling receptacles would alleviate this problem.

McVay supports recycling at Peralta Village and said “I believe that all of our locations have recycling bins and if they don’t, then they should or will soon.” But all residents interviewed said no recycling receptacles currently exist in their dumpster areas.

Residents like Givens see a disconnect between how OHA says treats residents and what she and her neighbors experience. She described the way OHA treats her as inhumane.

In a recent meeting with UFAD members, she expressed excitement about protesting OHA offices February 13.

“We don’t have to be afraid,” she said. “We’re just fighting for our rights.”

Kiki

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Business

Gov. Gavin Newsom Signs Law Streamlining Affordable Housing Rules

The legislation builds on the governor’s efforts that have reversed decades of inaction on housing and homelessness — creating more homes and the largest reduction in unsheltered homelessness in more than 15 years.

Published

22 hours ago

July 24, 2026

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From left to right: Jesse Arreguín, Gov. Gavin Newsom, Sharon Quirk Silva, Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee, and Janelle Chan. Photo courtesy Sarah Henry.

In Oakland on July 13, Gov. Newsom signed AB 179 — the state’s new housing budget trailer bill that cuts red tape, modernizes how California finances affordable housing, and lowers the cost of building a unit by up to $70,000.

Oakland is the first pro-housing city in the Bay Area, and it’s not slowing down. Oakland is cutting through bureaucracy, unlocking new financing, and clearing the path for more affordable homes to get built faster.

Special thanks to East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation (EBADC), State Assemblymember Sharon Quirk Silva, and California Housing and Community Development Director Gustavo Velasquez.

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Commentary

Volunteer Work for Black Americans Pays Off By Helping Others and Building Portfolios

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Volunteer work can be personally fulfilling and can even benefit your professional life. Learn about the perks of dedicating your time to helping others here.

Published

2 days ago

July 23, 2026

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Volunteer work can pay off for Black Americans by letting them experience personal fulfillment as they reach out, interact with, and help others in need. The charity work they engage in, whether it’s leadership, mentorship, or organizational roles, can also help them build their professional portfolio.

All those positive impacts, combined with the potential health and wellness benefits of volunteering, can help explain why many Americans engage in charitable work.

Per the latest U.S. Census Bureau and AmeriCorps’ biennial civic engagement survey, over 75.7 million Americans 16 years+ formally volunteered through an organization from September 2022 to September 2023. They dedicated 4.99 billion hours, which had an economic value of over $167.2 billion.

What Are the Primary Types of Volunteer Work?

There are several primary types of volunteer work, usually categorized based on commitment structure and type of volunteer services rendered. Three of the most common categories include: formal, informal, and skills-based volunteering.

Formal Volunteering

Formal volunteering involves partnering with a trustworthy, reputable, and licensed volunteer organization. It’s a highly structured approach, requiring dedicated commitment from volunteers and their chosen charitable nonprofit organization.

Formal charity workers can engage in opportunities that involve volunteering overseas, interstate, or locally. They undergo training, adhere to specific guidelines, and usually work on scheduled shifts.

Informal Volunteering

Informal volunteer opportunities are casual, flexible, and unstructured acts of kindness. They present themselves outside of formal organizational structures, directly benefiting recipients. They can be sudden and random or scheduled.

Skills-Based Volunteering

Skills-based volunteering gives professionals the chance to leverage their specialized trade, expertise, or talents to help individuals or organizations. With their help, nonprofits can save money and use the funds to support more charitable work.

What Are Examples of Volunteer Work?

A popular and common example of volunteer work is a food bank. Volunteers here can play various roles, including:

Cooks
Servers
Sorters
Inspectors
Drivers

Being a food bank volunteer is a type of formal volunteering. The food bank, in turn, is the nonprofit charitable organization that volunteers work with.

You can also find volunteer work in many other sectors, from childcare to healthcare, as noted by Involvement Volunteers International. Nonprofits also offer opportunities in community and education outreach programs.

As for informal volunteering, it can be something as simple yet impactful as running errands (e.g., mowing the lawn or picking up groceries) for a neighbor who’s older or has an injury or disability. It can also involve organizing a neighborhood cleanup or checking in on home-bound community members.

Members of the Black community interested in sharing their expertise may explore skills-based volunteering, too. One example is providing pro-bono legal counsel. Another is offering medical services at a community clinic in an underserved neighborhood.

How Does Volunteer Work Pay Off for Members of the Black Community?

An article published by the University of Maryland’s Do Good Institute in April 2026 noted that America is home to 1.9 million nonprofits. It also cited data from a 2025 Urban Institute research, which stated that 75% of these organizations say volunteers are integral to their operations, with 23% even being completely dependent on volunteers.

All those figures underscore the value of volunteer work, which not only benefits the recipients of the charitable service but also those who provide it. Here’s how volunteers from Black communities can reap the fruits of their philanthropic work.

Personal Fulfillment

Volunteer work gives Black Americans a way to experience personal fulfillment because it ties them to kinship networks. Such social connections and interactions can provide a profound sense of intrinsic joy, something brought about by the act of supporting neighbors and those in need while also advocating for equity.

There’s also a sense of fulfillment in being able to empower the next generation through volunteering services. Members of the Black community, for instance, can commit their time to skills-based volunteer work, which lets them pass down knowledge, share skills, and foster cultural pride.

Volunteering also comes with potential health benefits. As explained by the University of Kentucky, giving back can make people feel better, as it supports physical, mental, and emotional health. It noted the findings of studies that show a connection between regular volunteering and:

Lower rates of anxiety, depression, and loneliness
Higher life satisfaction and self-esteem
Lower blood pressure
Reduced inflammation
Improved heart health

Career Advancement and Portfolio Building

Volunteer work can open doors to career-advancing and skill-building opportunities. As members of the black community experience fulfillment and joy in helping others, they can also:

Gain hands-on experience in tasks or activities like project management and leadership
Close representation gaps, particularly in high-impact industries where there’s an underrepresentation of people of color
Forge vital connections (career, social, or networking)

Frequently Asked Questions

Where Are Volunteers Needed the Most?

The urgent need for volunteers often arises in areas that require crisis response and food security.

Natural disasters, for instance, often fuel the demand for volunteers, as they can cause sudden, widespread, and devastating effects that can overwhelm local professional responders and emergency services. They create an emergency need for extra hands to carry out tasks like food and water distribution, staffing emergency shelters, and search and rescue operations.

Areas with a high rate of food insecurity also welcome volunteers with open arms. In these scenarios, volunteers often assist with food preparation, packaging, sorting, and distribution.

What Is the Best Volunteering Activity?

There’s no “single” best volunteering activity, as it’s highly subjective and depends on a person’s specific interests, unique skills, and individual capacity.

In many cases, the most impactful and rewarding choices are those that align with someone’s passions, such as helping out at food banks or caring for animals at a shelter. It can also be sharing skills and knowledge through mentoring and leadership programs.

Consider Participating in Volunteer Work

While most volunteer work may not be lucrative, Black Americans who decide to participate in it often find it very rewarding and fulfilling. Giving back alone can already make you feel better, but it can also be a great way to develop and hone skills that can help advance your career or build your professional portfolio.

Read other informative guides like this or stay in the loop of the latest events in the Black community by checking out our most recent posts.

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Business

Top Strategies to Resolve Operational Issues Effectively

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Explore effective strategies to tackle operational issues and boost efficiency. Discover solutions that lead to smoother operations.

Published

2 days ago

July 23, 2026

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Operational issues are best resolved through a structured process that identifies the root cause, prioritizes the most urgent problems, improves communication, and tracks results over time. Businesses that respond quickly and make informed decisions can reduce costly disruptions, improve productivity, and create more reliable operations.

Minutes before an important client presentation, a company’s ordering system crashes, employees scramble to find missing information, and deadlines begin slipping one after another.

Operational challenges can arise without warning, but organizations that rely on clear processes, strong teamwork, and continuous improvement are far better prepared to solve problems before they become larger setbacks.

Why Is Identifying the Root Cause Important?

Addressing an operational issue without understanding its cause often leads to the problem recurring.

The underlying cause could involve:

Outdated procedures
Poor communication
Inadequate training
Inefficient workflows

Identifying the root cause allows businesses to solve problems permanently. Techniques like the following help uncover the factors that contributed to the issue:

Process mapping
Employee interviews
Performance reviews
Root cause analysis
Equipment and system checks
Workflow audits

After identifying the true source of the problem, organizations can install targeted improvements that create more efficient operations.

Learning From Past Mistakes

Taking the time to investigate major issues also helps organizations learn from mistakes. Each resolved problem becomes an opportunity to:

Refine processes
Update procedures
Improve employee training
Reduce the likelihood of similar disruptions
Identify recurring operational trends

How Do Outdated Systems Create Operational Problems?

Outdated systems can slow daily operations and make it harder for employees to complete their work efficiently. Older software may not integrate with newer applications. Aging hardware can fail frequently, disrupting productivity and delaying important projects.

Legacy systems also create challenges when businesses grow. As customer demands increase and workflows become more complex, older technology often struggles to keep pace. This can result in:

Manual data entry
Inconsistent reporting
Duplicated work
Greater risk of human error

Modernizing technology allows organizations to streamline processes while improving visibility into day-to-day operations. Many businesses are also adopting software testing with AI assistants to:

Identify defects earlier
Automate repetitive testing tasks
Evaluate updates before they affect production environments
Verify that existing features continue working after updates
Support faster and more reliable software releases

Testing new systems before implementation helps prevent unexpected disruptions.

Improve Communication Across Teams

Strong communication keeps daily operations moving efficiently and reduces the likelihood of costly mistakes. When departments work in isolation or rely on inconsistent updates, projects can fall behind schedule.

Information may be overlooked. Employees may duplicate work without realizing it.

Creating clear communication channels helps everyone understand priorities, responsibilities, and deadlines. Teams should establish consistent methods for:

Sharing project updates
Reporting operational concerns
Documenting decisions

That way, important information remains accessible.

Businesses can strengthen collaboration through practices such as:

Holding regular cross-departmental meetings
Using shared project management platforms
Clearly defining roles and responsibilities
Documenting workflow changes and procedures
Encouraging employees to report potential issues early
Sharing performance updates with relevant teams

Open communication also creates opportunities for continuous improvement. Employees working closest to day-to-day operations often recognize inefficiencies before managers do. Their feedback is valuable when refining processes.

Business Process Improvement: Leadership And Decision Making

Effective leadership plays a significant role in preventing operational issues from escalating. Leaders who make informed decisions promptly can:

Direct resources where they are needed
Resolve obstacles
Keep projects moving forward

Slow or inconsistent decision making often leads to confusion, delayed work, and lower productivity throughout the organization.

Good decision-making depends on accurate information rather than assumptions. Reviewing operational data and evaluating potential risks before implementing changes helps organizations choose long-term solutions.

Using Accountability and Collaboration For Operation Optimization Techniques

Strong leaders also create an environment where accountability and collaboration are valued. The following encourages teams to solve problems proactively instead of waiting for issues to become larger operational setbacks:

Setting clear expectations
Communicating priorities
Recognizing employee contributions
Responding quickly to emerging challenges

Have a Backup Plan

Planning for unexpected disruptions helps businesses recover while keeping essential services running. A well-developed backup plan defines priorities in advance. Teams can concentrate on restoring critical operations. They won’t have to worry about making urgent decisions during a crisis.

Every continuity plan should identify the resources and functions the organization cannot afford to lose for an extended period. This may include:

Customer support systems
Financial records
Production equipment
Essential business applications

Defining acceptable recovery time frames also helps guide investments in efficiency strategies.

A well-prepared backup plan often includes:

Secondary work locations for critical teams
Backup internet and communication options
Alternative transportation or delivery arrangements
Emergency contact lists for employees and vendors
Recovery priorities for essential business functions
Periodic reviews to account for organizational changes

Frequently Asked Questions

Why Is Operational Scalability Important for Expanding Businesses?

Operational scalability enables a business to handle increasing workloads, customer volumes, and revenue. They don’t have to sacrifice efficiency or service quality.

As organizations expand, they often face greater demands on:

Employees
Technology
Supply chains
Internal processes

Scalable operations help accommodate that growth while reducing delays, bottlenecks, and unnecessary costs.

Businesses that plan for scalability are also better prepared to:

Introduce new products
Open additional locations
Enter new markets
Increase transaction volumes
Integrate new technologies more efficiently

How Can Benchmarking Help Improve Operational Performance?

Benchmarking helps improve operational performance by comparing a company’s processes, productivity, and results against industry standards or top-performing organizations. These comparisons can:

Reveal inefficiencies
Uncover opportunities for improvement
Highlight proven practices

Businesses should treat benchmarking as an ongoing process. Reviewing key performance indicators regularly allows leaders to measure progress.

They can set realistic goals. Plus, they can make informed decisions that improve efficiency, customer satisfaction, and overall operational performance over time.