From our friends at Oakland Alliance: 

Oakland is in crisis. Our rent are rising

faster

than any other city in the U.S. As of 2010, Oakland had lost over

25%

of our Black residents to displacement – a trend that has accelerated over the last five years. Our elected leaders are either in

denial

or actively

working

to promote gentrification. Many organizations and individuals are fighting hard to stem the tide of displacement, but without elected officials who take this crisis seriously and are committed to real solutions, we lack the political will to make a real difference.

We need a new plan. We need to recruit and elect our own candidates, people who have made concrete commitments to the kind of policies we need to stop displacement – and then we need to hold them accountable to those promises. But it will take all of us, the entire Oakland left, to get it done.

Join us for an Oakland Alliance-hosted panel at

Speak Out to Stay Put! An Oakland-Wide Anti-Displacement Forum

on October 17th. Oakland Alliance co-chairs

Carroll Fife (who is also a member of the Planting Justice Board of Directors)

and Dan Siegel, along with housing policy activist and OA member James Vann, will lead a workshop entitled “Building an Electoral Strategy to Stop Displacement.” This workshop will provide a historic overview of how the actions of local decision makers have directly or indirectly led to the ever-growing displacement of low income residents, particularly people of color, from the city of Oakland. We will examine the opportunities and challenges presented by the 2016 Oakland elections and work together to begin to build a plan to for electoral power of the people, for the people, and by the people.

Join us on October 17th at 11:05 am (or 9 am to catch the full event, with lots of important information and discussion on housing policy and tenants’ rights) at the West Oakland Youth Center at 3233 Market Street.