Activism

OUSD Receives $120,000 Grant to Bring Black Educators to Classrooms

The Oakland Teacher Residency (OTR) program received $120,000 from the National Center for Teacher Residencies (NCTR) to expand efforts to recruit and develop Black educators for OUSD schools. The grant will allow OTR to provide an additional $10,000 for 10 Oakland Teacher Residents to reduce the financial barriers to entering the pro-fession and becoming credentialed teachers. The grant will also support professional development through mentoring for Black Oakland Teacher Residents and first-year teachers.

Published

3 years ago

July 11, 2022

Oakland Post

Courtney Bean (standing) works as an Oakland Teacher Resident supporting students at CCPA.

Special to The Post

The Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) wants many more young adults to come to Oakland to be teachers, and recently, OUSD received a major grant to bolster that effort.

The Oakland Teacher Residency (OTR) program received $120,000 from the National Center for Teacher Residencies (NCTR) to expand efforts to recruit and develop Black educators for OUSD schools.

The grant will allow OTR to provide an additional $10,000 for 10 Oakland Teacher Residents to reduce the financial barriers to entering the profession and becoming credentialed teachers. The grant will also support professional development through mentoring for Black Oakland Teacher Residents and first-year teachers.

The award comes through NCTR’s Black Educators Initiative (BEI), a five-year, $20-million effort to prepare 750 Black teachers through its nationwide network of teacher residency programs.

OUSD launched OTR in 2019 as part of a districtwide Grow Our Own strategy to recruit and retain staff who are reflective of Oakland’s rich diversity in the district’s Strategic Initiative #4.

Over the past three years, the program has grown from supporting eight student teachers to supporting a total of 46 teachers pursuing credentials in math, science, and special education. Of the 46 Oakland Teacher Residents, 67% identify as Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC). Black teachers make up 22% of the total. The BEI funds will bolster ongoing recruitment and retention efforts of Black educators.

“It is critical for the District and for our students that we have more teachers who look like the young people in their classrooms,” said Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell. “So, it’s wonderful to see the early results of the Oakland Teacher Residency program, with a growing list of aspiring teachers with a profound commitment to Oakland and our students. This grant from the National Center for Teacher Residencies will enable us to bring in more young and enthusiastic educators who will add to the diverse fabric of our teaching corps, some of whom will no doubt be from Oakland. That’s exactly what our students deserve.”

Applications for the 2022-23 Oakland Teacher Residency program are now open. Math, science and special education Oakland Teacher Residents receive a $15,000 stipend to earn a credential while student teaching in an expert mentor teacher’s classroom.

There is also an affordable housing opportunity for Oakland Teacher Residents. After the one-year residency, teachers earn a teaching credential, secure a full-time teaching position, and make a four-year commitment to teach in Oakland.

For more information about the residency program, please contact: zaia.vera@ousd.org.

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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

Published

4 days ago

June 7, 2025

Oakland Post

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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.

Published

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.