City Government

Councilmembers Endorse Prompt Payments to Nonprofits

Published

11 years ago

October 31, 2014

The City Council’s Finance and Management Committee this week endorsed an amendment to its Prompt Payment Ordinance that will ensure nonprofits that contract with the City of Oakland will receive payments for the work they do in a timely manner.

The proposed ordinance will affect payments to many of the agencies in the city that work with youth, provide job training and reentry support for the formerly incarcerated.

Many of these agencies, especially, the smaller nonprofits, have frequently complained that they in effect they have had to float a loan to the city, as they wait for months or even over year for the city to pay invoices of tens of thousands of dollars or more for work that has already been completed.

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Councilwoman Desley Brooks, District 6

“Look (at the impact) on small profits, which often are serving the most vulnerable people in the city,” said Councilmember Desley Brooks, speaking at Tuesday’s meeting.

“They did the work and did not get paid for over a year,” she said. “Some organizations had to lay off people. They did good work for the city, and yet we didn’t pay them.”

The amendment to prompt payment ordinance should have been unnecessary, according to Brooks, who wrote the original ordinance in 2008. Though it should have applied to nonprofits, the City Attorney ruled that it only applied to private contractors, she said.

“Typically, if there is a question, they look at the legislative intent,” said Brooks. “You would have thought somebody would have come and asked me what was the intent.”

“The city should always pay its bills on time,” said Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan, adding she does not understand why the City Attorney is requiring this clarification of the payment policy.

“The notion that nonprofits should be treated even worse (than private contractors) makes no sense at all,” she said. “Small organizations suffer serious harm when they are not paid on time.”

John Tang

One of those who supported the revised policy was John Tang, executive director of the English Center, which offers job services in Oakland.

“It is very important to have a significant cash flow to keep the doors open,” he said. “We simply don’t have the resources to operate without prompt payments.”

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Oakland Post: Week of June 4 – 10, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of June 4-10, 2025

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June 7, 2025

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Remembering George Floyd

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing.

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1 week ago

June 2, 2025

Oakland Post

Mural showing the portrait of George Floyd in Mauerpark in Berlin. To the left of the portrait the lettering "I can't Breathe" was added, on the right side the three hashtags #GeorgeFloyd, #Icantbreathe and #Sayhisname. The mural was completed by Eme Street Art (facebook name) / Eme Free Thinker (signature) on 29 May 2020. (Wikimedia Commons)

By April Ryan
BlackPressUSA Newswire

“The president’s been very clear he has no intentions of pardoning Derek Chauvin, and it’s not a request that we’re looking at,” confirms a senior staffer at the Trump White House. That White House response results from public hope, including from a close Trump ally, Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. The timing of Greene’s hopes coincides with the Justice Department’s recent decision to end oversight of local police accused of abuse. It also falls on the fifth anniversary of the police-involved death of George Floyd on May 25th. The death sparked national and worldwide outrage and became a transitional moment politically and culturally, although the outcry for laws on police accountability failed.

The death forced then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden to focus on deadly police force and accountability. His efforts while president to pass the George Floyd Justice in policing act failed. The death of George Floyd also put a spotlight on the Black community, forcing then-candidate Biden to choose a Black woman running mate. Kamala Harris ultimately became vice president of the United States alongside Joe Biden. Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison prosecuted the cases against the officers involved in the death of Floyd. He remembers,” Trump was in office when George Floyd was killed, and I would blame Trump for creating a negative environment for police-community relations. Remember, it was him who said when the looting starts, the shooting starts, it was him who got rid of all the consent decrees that were in place by the Obama administration.”

In 2025, Police-involved civilian deaths are up by “about 100 to about 11 hundred,” according to Ellison. Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African-American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing. During those minutes on the ground, Floyd cried out for his late mother several times. Police subdued Floyd for an alleged counterfeit $20 bill.