City Government

Programs Halted at West Oakland Youth Center

Published

8 years ago

February 10, 2017

Ongoing programing at the West Oakland Youth Center, an island of services for some of the city’s young people most in need of job training and support, have been disrupted as the city so far has failed to renew the contract that allows the center to operate.

The center’s director and advisory group members say they want the city to expedite the reopening of the center, which has been closed since Jan. 6, laying off staff and young people who work at the site.

They are calling for the city to be more transparent in its dealing with the center, located at 3233 Market St.

“You can’t be letting the safety net be ripped apart, and you don’t even tell anybody,” said Jumoke Hinton Hodge, a member of the center’s advisory group and the Board of Education.

“The language of the city is temporary closure, but the center has been five weeks without a contract and no communication,” said Liz Derias-Tyehimba, the center’s director.

Neither the Office of the Mayor or the City Administrator responded to the Post’s questions.

In an email statement to the Post, West Oakland City Councilmember Lynette Gibson McElhaney said these facts are not correct.

“The center is not closed,” she said.

On Wednesday at 3 p.m.,
a sign center at the West
Oakland Youth Center said
the center was open. But
the building was closed

However, a visit to the center yesterday at 3 p.m. revealed a big sign on the front that said, “We are open!” But the building was closed.

Councilmember McElhaney said the decision to close the center was made by its director.

“At the time of that decision, the city and the fiscal agent had been working to clarify and resolve several issues of operational and management concern that must be addressed. This resulted in a delay in the execution of the contract,” said McElhaney.

The issue is that this is the third time the city has had a lapse in procuring the contact in the last four years, said Derias-Tyehimba.

But there is no reason that the concerns are not worked out before the contract is allowed to expire, she said. There is no reason that the center should be closed, and youth should not be going without the programs that they desperately need.

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Activism

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

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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.