Oakland
Lee To Present The Oakland Citizen Humanitarian Award to Tomika Perkins


Congresswoman Barbara Lee will present The Oakland Citizen Humanitarian Award to Ms. Tomika Perkins, Sunday, January 20, 2019 – 7:00-9:30 pm at “In the Name of Love”, The 17th Annual Musical Tribute Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Oakland Scottish Rite Center, 1547 Lakeside Dr., Oakland, CA 94612
On Sunday, January 20th, Congresswoman Barbara Lee will present the Oakland Citizen Humanitarian Award to Tomika Perkins, Operations Director at Operation Dignity, for her outstanding work on behalf of the Oakland community at “In the Name of Love”, the 17th Annual Musical Tribute honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., an extensive civic and cultural event that pays homage through music, to one of the greatest humanitarians of our time.
The theme of this year’s tribute is “Rhythm and Blues and the Civil Rights Movement” highlighting 5 outstanding vocalists Jeanie Tracy, Kev Choice, The Dynamic Miss Faye Carol, Terrie Odabi, and Alvon Johnson along with an exciting backup band including Kev Choice and Joe Warner on piano, Scott Thompson on bass, Daria Johnson on drums, and Alvon Johnson on guitar. These outstanding musicians have each individually made a tremendous impact on the Bay Area cultural scene, and the 2019 program will bring them together onto the stage for the first time to rekindle Dr. King’s powerful and unifying teachings. The tribute will also serve as a platform for a one-time exciting collective, creative experience meant to inspire hope, celebrate Oakland’s cultural history and highlight the power of music to spur positive change.
The tribute will also include the 65-voice Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir; and the 300-voice Living Jazz Children’s Project backed up by winners of Jazz Search West 2019, another Living Jazz program. Konda Mason, Co-Founder and Founding CEO of Impact Hub, Oakland will serve as Mistress of Ceremonies.
Living Jazz, an Oakland based non-profit and producers of the MLK Tribute, originally created this award to acknowledge those who give of themselves beyond the call of duty and to inspire others to work for the betterment of the community. The recipient is chosen with the help of Oakland’s Department of Human Services, and in the spirit of Dr. King’s tireless efforts, is presented annually at “In the Name of Love”, the Annual Musical Tribute honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Tomika Perkins is the Operations Director at Operation Dignity. She started with the agency over 13 years ago as an outreach worker with their street outreach team. She is now the Operations Director overseeing street outreach, the Community Cabins programs, and Operation Dignity’s facilities serving more than 200 homeless veterans each year. Operation Dignity’s programs touch clients countywide, with their outreach concentrated here in Oakland, they also expanded outreach to Alameda in 2016.
Tomika is highly involved in the ongoing wellness of unsheltered and marginally housed clients and has been an active partner in the City’s implementation of various programs including OPRI, AC Impact, Coordinated Entry, and the Community Cabins.
She is a fierce advocate for the unsheltered and deeply committed to partnerships across agencies and the City of Oakland, balancing perspectives from multiple stakeholders to ensure that interventions are client focused and strengths based.
“In the Name of Love”, Oakland’s only non-denominational musical tribute to Dr. King, is the perfect platform in which to honor Tomika Perkins, this year’s recipient of the Oakland Citizen Humanitarian Award and a wonderful opportunity to acknowledge a member from our own community helping to inspire change and positive contribution.
Tickets: $25-$60 adv., door $30-$65; discounts for children 12 and under Tix and info: livingjazz.org/mlktribute or call 510-858-5313.
“In the Name of Love” has been made possible through the generosity of the National Endowment for the Arts; California Arts Council; City of Oakland Cultural Funding Program; Clorox Company Foundation, Zellerbach Family Foundation; William and Flora Hewlett Foundation; Alameda County Arts Commission; and BART.
Activism
Oakland Post: Week of May 21 – 27, 2025
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of May 21 – 27, 2025

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Activism
Oakland Hosts Town Hall Addressing Lead Hazards in City Housing
According to the city, there are 22,000 households in need of services for lead issues, most in predominantly low-income or Black and Latino neighborhoods, but only 550 to 600 homes are addressed every year. The city is hoping to use part of the multimillion-dollar settlement to increase the number of households served each year.

By Magaly Muñoz
The City of Oakland’s Housing and Community Development Department hosted a town hall in the Fruitvale to discuss the efforts being undertaken to remove lead primarily found in housing in East and West Oakland.
In 2021, the city was awarded $14 million out of a $24 million legal settlement from a lawsuit against paint distributors for selling lead-based paint that has affected hundreds of families in Oakland and Alameda County. The funding is intended to be used for lead poisoning reduction and prevention services in paint only, not water or other sources as has been found recently in schools across the city.
The settlement can be used for developing or enhancing programs that abate lead-based paint, providing services to individuals, particularly exposed children, educating the public about hazards caused by lead paint, and covering attorney’s fees incurred in pursuing litigation.
According to the city, there are 22,000 households in need of services for lead issues, most in predominantly low-income or Black and Latino neighborhoods, but only 550 to 600 homes are addressed every year. The city is hoping to use part of the multimillion-dollar settlement to increase the number of households served each year.
Most of the homes affected were built prior to 1978, and 12,000 of these homes are considered to be at high risk for lead poisoning.
City councilmember Noel Gallo, who represents a few of the lead-affected Census tracts, said the majority of the poisoned kids and families are coming directly from neighborhoods like the Fruitvale.
“When you look at the [kids being admitted] at the children’s hospital, they’re coming from this community,” Gallo said at the town hall.
In order to eventually rid the highest impacted homes of lead poisoning, the city intends to create programs and activities such as lead-based paint inspections and assessments, full abatement designed to permanently eliminate lead-based paint, or partial abatement for repairs, painting, and specialized cleaning meant for temporary reduction of hazards.
In feedback for what the city could implement in their programming, residents in attendance of the event said they want more accessibility to resources, like blood testing, and information from officials about lead poisoning symptoms, hotlines for assistance, and updates on the reduction of lead in their communities.
Attendees also asked how they’d know where they are on the prioritization list and what would be done to address lead in the water found at several school sites in Oakland last year.
City staff said there will be a follow-up event to gather more community input for programming in August, with finalizations happening in the fall and a pilot launch in early 2026.
Alameda County
Oakland Begins Month-Long Closure on Largest Homeless Encampment
At 8 a.m. sharp, city workers began piling up trash and dismantling makeshift homes along the nearly five-block encampment. City crews blocked off streets from 14th Ave to 17th Ave, between E. 12th and International Blvd, due to the Safe Work Zone Ordinance that was passed by the city council in 2022 to protect workers from harassment during cleanings, according to a city spokesperson.

By Magaly Muñoz
The City of Oakland began a three-week-long breakdown of the largest homeless encampment in the city on E. 12th Street on Monday morning. Residents and advocates said they are devastated about the displacement of dozens of people.
At 8 a.m. sharp, city workers began piling up trash and dismantling makeshift homes along the nearly five-block encampment. City crews blocked off streets from 14th Ave to 17th Ave, between E. 12th and International Blvd, due to the Safe Work Zone Ordinance that was passed by the city council in 2022 to protect workers from harassment during cleanings, according to a city spokesperson.
Jaz Colibri, one of the many advocates at the closure, said the encampment sweeps were “intense and terrifying” to witness. They claimed that several residents, many of them non-English speakers, had not been aware that the sweep was happening that day because of a lack of proper communication and outreach from Oakland.
Colibri added that the city had done a Census “many months ago” and “had not bothered to count people since then”, meaning dozens of individuals have missed out on housing and resources in the last few weeks because the city doesn’t offer outreach in multiple languages.
“Basically, [Oakland] dropped the ball on actually getting to know everybody who lives here and then creating a housing solution that meets everyone’s needs,” Colibri said.
City spokesperson Jean Walsh told the Post that notices of the closure operation were posted in Spanish and Chinese prior to Monday, but did not clarify if outreach was done in those languages as well.
Nearly a dozen Oakland police vehicles, California Highway Patrol officers, and Oakland Public Works staff were gathered along E 12th waiting for residents to pack up their belongings and move away from the area.
Advocates said residents “felt unsafe” due to the hefty law enforcement presence.
One city worker, who was picking up debris near 16th Ave, said, “They’ve known we were coming for a long time now” in reference to resident confusion about the sweeping.
The state doubled down on its requirement to get cities and counties to deal with their homelessness crisis at a press conference Monday afternoon. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office released a “model ordinance” that is intended to provide a starting point that local municipalities can use to build from and adjust in creating their own policies on encampments, if they haven’t done so yet.
Newsom said “No more excuses, time to deliver” after the state has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into solving the issue.
Oakland was awarded a $7.2 million grant from the state in 2024 to close long-standing encampments in the city, including camps at Martin Luther King, Jr. and 23rd Street, and Mosswood Park.
Residents at these encampments were offered wraparound supportive services, temporary shelter, and eventually will be transitioned to permanent supportive housing, according to a city statement from last year.
Residents who accepted housing at these three encampments were moved into newly acquired property, formerly the Extended Stay America Hotel in West Oakland, which will first serve as interim housing for up to 150 individuals and couples in 105 units, and in the coming year, will be converted into 125 units of permanent housing.
Walsh said as of May 2, “32 residents of the recently closed Mosswood Park encampment moved into the Mandela House program” and as of May 12, “41 residents of the East 12th Street encampment have already accepted offers to move to the Mandela House.” The city will provide final numbers of how many accepted and moved into housing after the closure operation is over.
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