Bay Area

Oakland Cuts Funding to Community Programs Organized by Acta Non Verba: Youth Urban Farm Project

Acta Non Verba,a youth urban farm project fighting food insecurity and diet-related health issues in Oakland, recently lost its city funding despite protests by community members and other local organizations such as the Sugar Freedom Project last month. ANV, which has two farms, one in West Oakland and one in East Oakland, was backed by the 2017 tax on sugar-sweetened beverages of 1 cent per fluid ounce. The intended beneficiaries of this tax were programs like ANV’s that are helping combat the intake of sugary processed foods and diet-related health issues. ANV farms serve a further purpose in that the produce from their farms is used to create Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) bags which they freely distribute to community members who need them.

Published

10 months ago

August 6, 2024

Oakland Post

A lack of access to healthy foods leads to an increased consumption of processed foods which tend to be higher in sodium, and artificial sugars. These diets can lead to many negative health effects, the most common being diabetes. About 10% of the adult population has diabetes. In 2018, African American people were twice as likely to die from diabetes than white people.

By Daisha Williams

ANV, which has two farms, one in West Oakland and one in East Oakland, was backed by the 2017 tax on sugar-sweetened beverages of 1 cent per fluid ounce. The intended beneficiaries of this tax were programs like ANV’s that are helping combat the intake of sugary processed foods and diet-related health issues.

ANV farms serve a further purpose in that the produce from their farms is used to create Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) bags which they freely distribute to community members who need them.

During the Oakland City Council meeting on July 18 the city stood firm on its decision despite pushback from the community.

Cutting these funds negatively affects parents, children, and unhoused individuals.

Rachel Parker, the CSA manager and one of the full-time workers at the West Oakland farm said, “The soda tax was a perfect opportunity for the city to do right by its citizens and they failed to deliver.” She and many other people left that meeting feeling both frustrated and infuriated at the city failing to keep its word.

The cut in funding has detrimental effects on the community because there are many neighborhoods in Oakland that are considered food deserts. A food desert is defined as a neighborhood where at least a third of the population lives more than half a mile from the nearest grocery store. African American and low-income households tend to make up these neighborhoods.

In 2021, 900 neighborhoods in the Bay Area had limited access to food. With the prices of produce continuing to increase, even when distance isn’t a problem, for many people fresh produce is simply out of their budget.

One of the workers prefers the term “food apartheid.” A desert is something that occurs naturally but the fact that certain neighborhoods cannot access healthy food is intentional.

These effects are just a fraction of the things that ANV is trying to remedy with their work. ANV wants to continue supplying the community with fresh, organically grown produce but cannot do so without the proper funding. They are accepting donations and have created a “pay it forward” campaign in order to help them continue to serve the community.

In addition to the farms, ANV has programs catered toward youth, the biggest being Camp ANV, a six-week overnight camp where kids are able to get out of an urban environment, connect with nature, learn how to use food as medicine, develop cooking skills as well as gain skill in archery. They also have an adult camp held each fall to fundraise for their youth camp called Camp for Grown Folx.

ANV turns no child away from the camp due to lack of funds because they believe that this is an experience that every kid should be able to have.

They use the produce from these farms to put together CSA bags that they distribute at no cost to community members who need them.

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Oakland Post: Week of May 21 – 27, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of May 21 – 27, 2025

Published

5 days ago

May 25, 2025

Oakland Post

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Chevron Richmond Installs Baker Hughes Flare.IQ, Real-time Flare Monitoring, Control and Reduction System

While the sight of flaring can cause concern in the community, flares are essential safety systems that burn pollutants to prevent them from being released directly into the atmosphere. They activate during startup and shut-down of facility units or during upsets or equipment malfunctions. The typical flare stack is about 200 feet high so that vapors are well above street levels.

Published

2 weeks ago

May 19, 2025

Oakland Post

Image courtesy The Richmond Standard.

The Richmond Standard

Chevron Richmond recently installed flare.IQ, a real-time, automated system that will improve the facility’s flaring performance.

The technology, developed by Panametrics, a Baker Hughes business, uses sensors to monitor, reduce and control flaring in real time. It collects and assesses data on refinery processes, such as temperature, pressure, gas flow and gas composition, and adjusts accordingly to ensure flares burn more efficiently and cleanly, leading to fewer emissions.

“The cleaner the flare, the brighter the flame can look,” said Duy Nguyen, a Chevron Richmond flaring specialist. “If you see a brighter flame than usual on a flare, that actually means flare.IQ is operating as intended.”

“A key element in Baker Hughes’ emissions abatement portfolio, flare.IQ has a proven track record in optimizing flare operations and significantly reducing emissions,” said Colin Hehir, vice president of Panametrics, a Baker Hughes business. “By partnering with Chevron Richmond, one of the first operators in North America to adopt flare.IQ, we are looking forward to enhancing the plant’s flaring operations.”

The installation of flare.IQ is part of a broader and ongoing effort by Chevron Richmond to improve flare performance, particularly in response to increased events after the new, more efficient hydrogen plant was brought online in 2019.

Since then, the company has invested $25 million — and counting — into flare minimization. As part of the effort, a multidisciplinary refinery team was formed to find and implement ways to improve operational reliability and ultimately reduce flaring. Operators and other employees involved in management of flares and flare gas recovery systems undergo new training.

“It is important to me that the community knows we are working hard to lower emissions and improve our flaring performance,” Nguyen said.

Also evolving is the process by which community members are notified of flaring incidents. The Community Warning System (CWS), operated by Contra Costa County is an “all-hazard” public warning system.

Residents can opt-in to receive alerts via text, e-mail and landline. The CWS was recently expanded to enable residents to receive notifications for “Level 1” incidents, which are considered informational as they do not require any community action.

For more information related to these topics, check out the resources included on the Chevron Richmond, CAER and Contra Costa Health websites. Residents are also encouraged to follow @chevronrichmond and @RFDCAOnline on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter), where additional information may be posted during an incident.

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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.

Published

2 weeks ago

May 18, 2025

Oakland Post

iStock.

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.

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.