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Questions About Oakland Promise: If It Wasn’t a Nonprofit, What Was It? What Happened to the Money for Scholarships for Kids?

Published

5 years ago

September 12, 2019

Questions continue to surface about the organization and accountability of “The Oakland Promise,” Mayor Libby Schaaf’s signature initiative that has raised millions of dollars since 2015 to help low-income families “to triple the number of high school graduates who …complete college by the year 2024.”

Though the promise’s lofty goal is widely popular among Oakland residents, that support has not silenced demands for full transparency about what the legal status is of this organization is—which has operated out of the Mayor’s Office — and how it is spending public money and resources.

Oakland Promise is now widely perceived as a nonprofit organization — but that has not always been the case, at least until recently.

The organization was not listed as one by Guidestar, a website designed to provide “the highest-quality, most complete nonprofit information available.” Nor was Promise registered as a nonprofit with the State Attorney General.

According to an email to the Oakland Post on Aug. 29, 2018, Oakland Promise was described by its backers as a “public-private effort” backed by four organizations: the City of Oakland, the Oakland Unified School District, the East Bay College Fund and the Oakland Public Education Fund.

Since July, however, Oakland Promise has become a nonprofit, merging with the East Bay College Fund and taking over its nonprofit status, according to the East Bay Times. Mialisa Bonta, president of the Alameda Unified School Board and wife of Assemblyman Rob Bonta, has become the organization’s CEO, taking over the leadership from David Silver, who is a city staffer in the Mayor’s Office.

Another question surrounds what has happened to the money the city gave Oakland Promise to set up college saving accounts for children.
A copy of a Public Records Act request forwarded to the Post asked for information about the total of $1,150,000 that the city budgeted in 2015 to Oakland Promise for these savings accounts.

But according to the city’s Finance Department on Aug. 16, “The city has not yet made payments on behalf of Oakland Promise from funds earmarked for this program in the adopted budgets for 2016-17, 2017-18 (and) 2018-19. The requested documents (canceled checks) do not exist.”

Council President Rebecca Kaplan explained in an email why she has asked City Auditor Courtney Ruby to audit Oakland Promise.
“Many people have been asking the questions I sent to the auditor, and many members of the public — even the League of Women Voters — have expressed concern about the Oakland Promise funds. It is perfectly reasonable for anyone to want to know where the money is. This is large amounts of tax-payer funds that were promised to be used to set up college savings accounts for each Oakland kid, as they enter kindergarten.” “We want to know where the money is, and where the college savings accounts are — which were supposed to be set up each year, starting in 2015,” Kaplan said. “By now, they should have grown a lot if they had been set up as promised and as funded in the City of Oakland budget, for the Kindergarten to College Program.”

Asked about Kaplan’s request for the audit, the Mayor’s Office replied, “Kaplan wants Oakland taxpayers to fund her petty political vendetta masquerading as an audit. And tragically she’s targeting the Oakland Promise — a program started by the City of Oakland to send low-income kids to college with scholarships and mentors. She needs to immediately withdraw this taxpayer funded political score settling because it hurts taxpayers and kids.”

Responding, Kaplan said, “The Mayor’s Office says I’m asking for tax payer money, but that is flatly false. I am not requesting any money. I have asked our independently elected City Auditor for help getting information about where the college savings accounts they promised for Oakland youth are. The auditor is paid a regular salary.”

The Alameda County League of women Voters (LWVO) expressed concerns about Oakland Promise when Mayor Schaaf and the Promise organization backed Measure AA last November, which would have created a $198 parcel tax to provide funding for Oakland Promise for 30 years. In its voters’ guide, the League took a neutral position, saying, “We found it unclear how moneys in the Oakland Promise Fund would be spent.”

Measure AA won more than 50 percent of the vote but failed to pass because it needed a two-thirds majority. That ruling is now being challenged in court, and according to observers, the case may take three years and end up at the state Supreme Court.

According to its website (Oaklandpromise.org), the organization consists of four programs:

• Brilliant Babies, “a college savings account seeded with $500 as an early investment and source of inspiration for [parents] baby’s bright future,” according to Oakland Promise;

• Kindergarten to College, which “Open(s) an early college scholarship seeded with $100 for all Oakland public school kindergarten students;”

• Future Centers, which creates college and career advising center on middle school and high school campuses, replacing services lost by the public schools as a result of cutbacks;

• College Scholarships and Completion, which provides $1,000 annual scholarships to students going to community colleges and up to $4,000 a year for students attending four-year colleges.

Questions that remain to be answered are how many $500 accounts have been set up through Brilliant Babies; how many $100 scholarships have been established through Kindergarten to College; how many Future Centers have been set up and how many hours of support they have provided to students; as well as how many community college and four-year college scholarships have been awarded.

During the years before Oakland Promise became a nonprofit, the Oakland Public Education Fund served as the organization’s fiscal sponsor. The Ed Fund can share budgetary information, such as IRS Form 990, audited financial statements, Form 1023 and all correspondence in relation to the production and completion of this document, including an IRS Determination Letter — according to Maggie Croushore, director, development, of Oakland Promise.

By deadline, the Post had not received that data nor an answer questions about the cost that Public Education Fund charges to serve as Oakland Promise’s fiscal sponsor and numbers of students and families served by the programs.
Promise staff said they would meet with the Post next week.

Croushore told the Post that during the three years, 2015-18, the Oakland Promise spent a total of $19.9 million or 94.7 percent of its budget on program costs ($11.3 million) and scholarships and saving accounts ($8.6 million).

During that time, the initiative spent $1.1 million or 5.29 percent on administrative expenses. Total revenue during the three years was $33.5 million. However, now that the Oakland Promise has become a nonprofit, costs of administrative overhead could potentially increase if most the organization’s 47 employees are paid out of the budget instead of being provided without cost by the City, OUSD and other agencies.

In an email to the Post, Schaaf spokesperson Justin Berton said:“The nature of the Oakland Promise has always been a collaboration with OUSD and community partners to send underrepresented kids from Oakland to college with scholarships, mentors, and the life skills to end patterns of generational poverty and institutionalized racism.”
Oakland Promise has sent more than 1,400 Oakland kids to college, seeded more than 500 ‘Brilliant Baby’ scholarships and worked tirelessly to support Oakland families, said Berton.
For more information, go to Gene Hazzard’s website: www.cleanoakland.com

Ken Epstein

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Related Topics:Libby Schaaf Oakland Promise rebecca kaplan

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City Government

San Pablo Appoints New Economic Development and Housing Manager

Kieron Slaughter has been appointed as the economic development & housing manager for the City of San Pablo. Since 2017, Slaughter has served as chief strategic officer for economic innovation in the City of Berkeley’s Office of Economic Development. Previously, he served in a 2.5-year appointment in the Pacific West Region as one of 10 Urban Fellows in the United States National Park Service.

Published

12 hours ago

November 4, 2024

Oakland Post

Kieron Slaughter. Photo courtesy of the City of San Pablo

The Richmond Standard

Kieron Slaughter has been appointed as the economic development & housing manager for the City of San Pablo.

Since 2017, Slaughter has served as chief strategic officer for economic innovation in the City of Berkeley’s Office of Economic Development. Previously, he served in a 2.5-year appointment in the Pacific West Region as one of 10 Urban Fellows in the United States National Park Service.

Before that he was an associate planner in the City of Richmond’s Planning and Building Services Department from 2007-2015.

San Pablo City Manager Matt Rodriguez lauded Slaughter’s extensive experience in economic development, housing and planning, saying he will add a “valuable perspective to the City Manager’s Office.”

Slaughter, a Berkeley resident, will start in his new role on Nov. 12, with a base annual salary of $164,928, according to the City of San Pablo.

Oakland Post

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City Government

Aaron Osorio Rises Up Ranks to Become Richmond’s Fire Chief

For Aaron Osorio, it started with a ride along on a firetruck at age 10. “I thought it was the coolest job,” he said, adding, “I knew being in fire service would make a big difference in the community.” Now a 27-year fire service veteran, Osorio appears to approach his work with the same youthful exuberance. And that’s good for the city as Osorio was recently named chief of the historic Richmond Fire Department.

Published

12 hours ago

November 4, 2024

Oakland Post

Richmond Fire Department Chief Aaron Osorio. Courtesy photo

By Mike Kinney

The Richmond Standard

For Aaron Osorio, it started with a ride along on a firetruck at age 10.

“I thought it was the coolest job,” he said, adding, “I knew being in fire service would make a big difference in the community.”

Now a 27-year fire service veteran, Osorio appears to approach his work with the same youthful exuberance. And that’s good for the city as Osorio was recently named chief of the historic Richmond Fire Department.

Osorio is a San Francisco native who rose up the ranks in the Richmond Fire Department over the last 21 years before being elevated to chief.

He joined the department in 2002 and has served in multiple roles including firefighters, engineer, captain, battalion chief, training director and deputy fire chief. He said he truly loves working in this community.

While it isn’t common for a fire department to hire a chief that came up through its ranks, Osorio was credited by the city for serving Richmond well during uncommon times.

The city lauded him for developing internal policies and vaccination clinics during the initial COVID response, for supporting activation of the emergency operations center in response to a potential mudslide disaster in Seacliff last year, helping to draft mutual aid agreements and working to increase fire response capabilities for industrial incidents.

He’s also led departmental hiring and recruitment since 2018.

Osorio said it is an honor to be hired as chief and has big plans for the department moving forward. He said he wants to continue hiring and promoting for vacant positions, and also completing a strategic plan guiding the direction of the organization.

He also aims to replace and renovate a number of fire department facilities placed on the Capital Improvement Plan and create new ways to recruit that will enhance the diversity of the department.

Osorio said his experience within, and love for, the city of Richmond puts him in a good position to lead the department. He says he knows what is needed and also the challenges that are unique to the city.

“I look forward to utilizing that institutional knowledge to move the fire department forward in a positive direction and enhance the services we provide to the community,” the chief said.

Osorio holds a bachelor of science degree in Fire Administration and is also a California State Fire Marshal-certified chief officer, company officer, and state instructor.

He also holds numerous certifications in fire, rescue, hazardous material, and incident command.

The chief has been married to his wife, Maria, for 26 years and they have two sons, Roman and Mateo.

Oakland Post

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Barbara Lee

Congresswoman Barbara Lee Reflects on Historic Moment Less Than One Week from Election Day

Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA-12) today released a piece on Medium reflecting on Vice President Kamala Harris’ historic presidential campaign 50 years after Lee worked on the presidential campaign of Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm.

Published

12 hours ago

November 4, 2024

Oakland Post

Congresswoman Barbara Lee.

Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA-12) today released a piece on Medium reflecting on Vice President Kamala Harris’ historic presidential campaign 50 years after Lee worked on the presidential campaign of Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm:

“As Election Day approaches, I’m reflecting on a few dates and numbers that mean something to me.

Zero: the number of Black members in Congress 56 years ago. Next Congress, we hope to swear in over 60 members in the Congressional Black Caucus.

Three: The number of Black women to ever serve in the United States Senate since the first Congress in 1789.

Two: The number of Black women that will be elected to the Senate this year alone if we do our job.

1972: The first time a Black woman, Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, ran for president in one of the major political parties of the United States.

Zero: the number of Black women to ever serve as president of the United States.

IF we do the work, we can change that with President Kamala Harris.

As I reflect on what would be Congresswoman Chisholm’s 100th birthday next month, I could not help but remember that my first official involvement in U.S. politics was working for her presidential campaign in 1972.

Over 50 years later, I have been involved in every single campaign since. Shirley was my mentor — she was a bold visionary, a progressive woman who understood that working together in coalitions was the only way to make life better for everyone, to build an equitable society and democracy that lived up to the creed of “liberty and justice for all.”

The historic moment we are in today is not lost on me. I have had the privilege to have known Vice President Kamala Harris for over three decades. She, after all, is a daughter of the East Bay. She, like Shirley, truly is a fighter for the people.

And I know she can move our country forward in a new way. As a member of her National Advisory Board, I have campaigned across our country to help take her message, her legacy of service, and her “to-do list,” as she says, to voters who were almost starting to feel hopeless, but are now feeling hopeful once again, captured by the politics joy and the bright possibilities brought upon by a possible Harris-Walz administration.

Recently, I visited churches in North Carolina with members of the Congressional Black Caucus. The chair of our CBC political action committee, Chairman Gregory Meeks from New York’s fifth district, eloquently and powerfully presented a vision of what Dr. Maya Angelou wrote in her famous poem, “And Still I Rise:” “I am the dream and the hope of the slave.”

Meeks remarked that on Jan. 20, 2025, we will observe the birthday of our drum major for justice, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

He also described that on Jan. 20, IF we do the work — if we knock on doors, if we make those phone calls, if we spread our message — standing on the podium at the U.S. Capitol will be the first Black speaker of the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries.

In the wings will be over 60 members of the Congressional Black Caucus. Holding Frederick Douglass’ Bible will be the first African American woman appointed to the highest court of the land, Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.

She will be swearing-in the first Black woman to serve as president, Kamala Harris, in front of the shining white dome of the United States Capitol, built by enslaved Black people.

In front of her and beyond, the tens of millions of Black men and women who voted for her. The world will witness the hope and the dreams of our ancestors ushering in a new way forward.

As I sat in front of the stage this week at the Ellipse in Washington, D.C., as Vice President Harris delivered remarks with the Oval Office behind her, I could not help but feel that our country was ready for this historic moment.

We are not only voting for a Black woman as Commander in Chief of the wealthiest and most powerful country in the world. We are definitively stating that we will not allow the clocks of freedom and justice to be turned back.

We are voting for our ancestors’ hopes and dreams. We are voting for the generations that will come after us, long after we are gone. We are voting for Vice President Kamala Harris.

Let’s get this done.