Activism

The Black New Deal

Published

4 years ago

June 4, 2020

Across the entire county, Black Americans have been crying out for specific data on the impacts of the coronavirus on their communities due to high rates of contraction and mortality.

In Oakland, coalition of Black-led organizations was convened to address the disproportionate impacts of COVID-19 and its evisceration of the Black community.

The resulting effort is The Black New Deal, a platform of short, mid and long-range goals crafted to address the immediate needs of Oakland’s Black residents.

Black New Deal advocates are requesting, amongst a suite of other equity shifts, that the Oakland Unified School District Board of Trustees and the City of Oakland work together to provide internet access and computers to OUSD students who do not have this privilege.

In addition, the Black New Deal advocates for deeper investment from the County of Alameda to:

• Provide free testing for all of Oakland’s 400,000 citizens;

• Utilize FEMA funds to immediately shelter every unhoused person in hotels;

• Release all Black people incarcerated in Alameda County, and upon their release they be tested, provided with medical care, housing, and other services by through funding to community organizations

The Black New Deal, which is also moving in Sacramento and Los Angeles is already having an impact in Oakland as legislators are making changes to address the platform demands.

“President Roosevelt’s New Deal, the programs and reforms enacted to stabilize the United States during the Great Depression, left Black Americans out of the recovery and in many ways, exacerbated existing racist injustices and state-sanctioned discrimination,” said Carroll Fife, director of the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE). “It deepened the divide between white and Black Americans in areas of educational achievement, job quality and a living wage, and access to safe and affordable housing. As a result, the Black New Deal was created for those left behind by the first New Deal as a way to say, never again.”

According to Fife, “We have to do more than just say Black people are dying disproportionately from the coronavirus. We must dig deep into the why and do the work to change the systems that are killing us. We must also change the narrative: we are not just dying of a disease, we are dying because of structural racism and benign neglect.”

“My goal is for Black people to know it’s OK to center Black health and wellness,” Fife said.

Fife urges community members to find its own solutions for the challenges here and create their own systems to take care of each other. The self- love and desire for the ‘best good’ does not mean that African Americans in Alameda County don’t want the same for others.

“Our blood, sweat and tears have fertilized the ground in America and we are still fighting for space and equity,” Fife said. “It is our responsibility to build our people, and we should also hold accountable those in positions to affect our lives to do their part.

If this pandemic is an emergency, we should act like it and move with urgency to halt the existing trend of Black disposability and do everything in our power to right the wrongs of history so we do not continue to duplicate its failures.

By Tanya Dennis and Carroll Fife

Posts by By Tanya Dennis and Carroll Fife

Activism

Richmond Seniors Still Having a Ball After 25 Years

The Senior Winter Ball is a symbol of the Commission on Aging’s broader mission of providing enriching life experiences to the local senior community, particularly those in need of them. “Besides the social activities, we focus on issues such as housing, transportation and health,” said Michelle Hayes, the commission’s chairperson. “We get things done for our senior population.”

Published

7 minutes ago

November 24, 2024

Oakland Post

Myrtle Braxton (l-r), Byran H. Harris, and Michelle Hayes. Photo by Mike Kinney.

By Mike Kinney
The Richmond Standard

For a quarter century, seniors in the local community have had a prime location in the heart of the city to gather and celebrate the holidays.

That is courtesy of the annual Senior Winter Ball, which will mark a milestone this year when it takes place for the 25^th time. The gala will run from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Richmond Memorial Auditorium.

The holiday tradition was started by the City of Richmond’s Commission on Aging in 1999 to entertain and celebrate seniors. The event also raises funds for local senior causes. Attendees wear their finest attire and enjoy dinner and dancing.

“It’s so exciting to see all of the gala attendees all dressed up and seeing their lifetime friends and making new friends as well,” said Bryan M. Harris, secretary for the Commission on Aging. “They will reminisce about old Winter Ball memories and at the same time create new ones.”

Richmond’s very own Chef Josephine Orozco of El Sol Catering will serve at this year’s anniversary dinner. The gala will also feature the band Top Shelf Classics, which plays hits from the 50s through the 80s and has been the gala’s annual performer for the last decade.

The Senior Winter Ball symbolizes the Commission on Aging’s broader mission of providing enriching life experiences to the local senior community, particularly those in need of them.

“Besides the social activities, we focus on issues such as housing, transportation and health,” said Michelle Hayes, the commission’s chairperson. “We get things done for our senior population.”

Myrtle Braxton, 97, has served on the commission for 17 years and is its current vice president. She says her goal is to increase the quality of life for seniors through safe social events.

“So many seniors are isolated and are sometimes forgotten by society,” Braxton said. “So, our commission is their advocate and makes sure they are not left behind.”

Tickets to the 25th Silver Anniversary Annual Senior Winter Ball are $45 per person or $360 for a table of eight. They are available in person via the Main Recreation office at 3230 Macdonald Ave., via email at csdregistration@ci.richmond.ca.us or by phone at 510-620-6793.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Activism

Bank of America Grants $200,000 to Richmond Housing Nonprofit

RNHS has provided housing services to Richmond residents since 1981. The organization develops, acquires, and/or rehabilitates single-family homes and housing developments in blighted or vacant lots in order to make them available as affordable homes for rent or purchase to low-income families.

Published

17 minutes ago

November 24, 2024

Oakland Post

Photo by RDNE Stock via Pexels. Courtesy The Richmond Standard.

The Richmond Standard

Richmond Neighborhood Housing Services, Inc. (RNHS) was one of two Bay Area nonprofits awarded a $200,000 grant over two years from Bank of America’s Neighborhood Builders program.

The nonprofit also serves residents through education programs involving financial literacy programs, home loans, foreclosure prevention, and affordable rental counseling.

RNHS plans to use the $200,000 Bank of America grant to hire leadership staff, and to expand its Emerging Developers Program and Restoring Neighborhoods Program.

Through this grant program, RNHS will also benefit from comprehensive leadership training for its executive director and an emerging leader.

Since the Neighborhood Builders program’s inception in 2004, 59 nonprofits have been selected in San Francisco and the East Bay, with the bank investing nearly $12 million in philanthropic capital into these local organizations.

Along with RNHS, San Francisco-based mental health nonprofit RAMS also won a $200,000 grant this year.

“We’re proud to include RAMS and RNHS as the 2024 Neighborhood Builders,” said Gioia McCarthy, president of Bank of America San Francisco-East Bay. “Countless individuals, families and neighborhoods have felt the profound impact that these 59 Neighborhood Builder nonprofits have had in our area over the past two decades.”