Calendar

9896
Dec
15
Sat
GOING SOLAR WORKSHOP @ Berkeley Public Library, South Branch
Dec 15 @ 11:30 am – 1:00 pm

GOING SOLAR WORKSHOP

Learn about solar photovoltaic (PV) for your home. Understand the basics of solar PV, the economics benefits of going solar, the options you have and purchasing tips. Special focus will be on home owners with low electric bills averaging under $100/month (excluding EV usage)

65405
Dec
29
Sat
Waffles & Zapatismo @ Omni Commons
Dec 29 @ 10:00 am – 1:00 pm

Waffles & Zapatismo is a free space for learning about and discussing the history, ideas, values and practices of the Zapatista National Liberation Army, EZLN or Zapatistas. We serve waffles at the start of the class to those who want them.

65047
Jan
13
Sun
SURJ: Supporting the M4BL Platform Part 1: Legislative Workshop
Jan 13 @ 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm

Join us for a legislative strategy session and workshop that will demystify the legislative process, build our legislative capacity, and highlight the legislative priorities and strategies of our people of color (POC) led partners!

More Info:
This workshop is the first of a two-part series for anyone who is passionate, curious, or wants to learn more about the ways that policy combined with grassroots organizing can be used as a tool in the movement for racial justice and collective liberation.

This workshop will provide opportunities for participants to:

– Learn how the Movement 4 Black Lives Policy Platform (M4BL) fits into SURJ Bay Area’s organizing framework
– Leverage our grassroots power in the state Capitol
– Plug into statewide policy work and action
– Practice bringing your voice and positionality to the political process
– Hear from our POC partner organization, Initiate Justice, on their 2019 legislative campaign

This workshop is a fundraiser for Initiate Justice. Please bring a cash donation that is meaningful for you. We are eager to hear all of your voices and to help develop SURJ’s role in the California policy landscape. All levels of experience are welcome!

Hold the date for the second workshop in this two-part series: February 3, 2019!
ACCESSIBILITY INFORMATION

Seneca Family of Agencies is located at 6925 Chabot Road, Oakland, CA 94618.

PARKING AND TRANSPORTATION

65418
Jan
26
Sat
Social Justice Symposium @ Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School
Jan 26 all-day

Thirteenth Annual Social Justice Symposium

The Social Justice Symposium (SJS) is a student-organized event that serves as space for the community to meet and discuss social justice work in the Bay Area.

 

Schedule

This year, our keynote speaker is George Galvis. Galvis holds both a Bachelor of Arts in Ethnic Studies and a Master’s in City Planning from UC Berkeley where he was a Ronald E. McNair Scholar and Public Policy & International Affairs (PPIA) Fellow. Galvis is the co-founder and executive director of Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice (CURYJ, pronounced courage). Galvis advocates for at-risk youth, prisoners and formerly imprisoned individuals with children. He has led statewide advocacy efforts to transform punitive school and juvenile justice policies that disparately impact youth of color and has developed traditional rites of passage programs as healthy alternatives to gang violence.

  • 9:00 — Doors open/Registration
  • 9:30-11:00 — Workshops
  • 11:15-12:00 — Keynote Address
  • 12:15-12:45 — FREE LUNCH
  • 1:00-2:30 — Workshops
65520
Jan
29
Tue
DSA Socialist Night School: Understanding Capitalism @ East Bay Community Space
Jan 29 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Required Readings

See the readings that we’ll be discussing after a brief introduction from our members.

 

 

65512
Jan
31
Thu
E12th & 23rd Homeless Eviction Defense @ The Village
Jan 31 @ 8:00 am – 11:00 am

65562
Feb
1
Fri
E12th & 23rd Homeless Eviction Defense @ The Village
Feb 1 @ 8:00 am – 11:00 am

65562
Feb
3
Sun
SURJ Bay Area Lobby Visit Workshop
Feb 3 @ 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm

The Policy Working Group is excited to invite you to our upcoming, SURJ Bay Area Lobby Visit Workshop, part two of our legislative workshop series!

Workshop participants can expect to…

-Learn about lobby visits and how they fit into SURJ’s larger framework
-Practice speaking about policy to a legislative staffer
-Hear about new opportunities to engage in the legislative process with SURJ
-Hear from Essie Justice Group on their 2019 policy priorities

Tickets are sliding scale, $0 – $10. No one will be turned away for lack of funds. This workshop is a fundraiser for Essie Justice Group. Please bring a cash donation that is meaningful for you.

****This is the second workshop of a two part series. Attendance at the first workshop on 1/13/19 is not necessary but may be helpful. All are welcome.

65555
Feb
7
Thu
E12th & 23rd Homeless Eviction Defense @ The Village
Feb 7 @ 8:00 am – 11:00 am

65562
Feb
8
Fri
E12th & 23rd Homeless Eviction Defense @ The Village
Feb 8 @ 8:00 am – 11:00 am

65562
Feb
14
Thu
Homeless Eviction Support Needed! @ Lake Merritt North Shore by the columns
Feb 14 @ 8:00 am – 12:00 pm

65638
Make Sure the BART Board Approves Oscar Grant Way! @ BART Boardroom, 20th Street Mall, Third Floor
Feb 14 @ 9:00 am – 11:00 am

Join us this Thursday at the BART Board mtg and next week to celebrate the people that made #ReclaimMLKOak possible .
Last month the Oakland City Council unanimously approved a resolution to name an unnamed street near Fruitvale Station as Oscar Grant Way. Join us and Oscar Grant’s family this Thursday at the BART Board of Directors meeting to make sure they approve the motion!

Dear APTP supporters,

Huge THANK YOU to everyone that came out last month to support the 5th Annual People’s March to Reclaim King’s Legacy!

It was a beautiful day with about 3,000 people marching in the streets, an amazing people’s concert and a deep healing ritual lead by Lead to Life to close in the evening.

Check out more photos by the talented Amir Saadiq of that day.

We lifted up the demands of the people’s platform, held People’s Assemblies on housing, education, inter-communal violence, development, use of force, and sanctuary for all.

Now it’s time to get to work!


65631
Feb
15
Fri
Homeless Eviction Support Needed! @ Lake Merritt North Shore by the columns
Feb 15 @ 8:00 am – 12:00 pm

65638
Feb
17
Sun
Morality, Christianity, and the History of Policing @ First Congregational Church of Oakland
Feb 17 @ 1:30 pm – 5:30 pm

ALTERNATIVES TO POLICING WORKSHOP 2

Let’s talk about the “common sense” ideas about crime, morality, and safety that shape and limit how we think about policing and community safety. Many of these ideas are profoundly influenced by a particular brand of Christianity that has dominated in this country, a version of the faith that served to justify genocide and slavery and continues to uphold white supremacy in ways that are sometimes overt but more often subtle and even innocuous-seeming. How can we begin to call these “common sense” ideas into question so that we can have a different conversation?

In this interactive workshop, we will take a deep dive into both the actual history of policing and the narratives and ideologies that have shaped it. Content will include viewing and discussion of segments from two webinars, one offered by Andrea Ritchie on January 28, 2019 on the History of Policing, and one offered by SoulForce on January 8, 2018 on Christian Supremacy and Policing, both through SURJ-Faith.

Andrea Ritchie is a Black lesbian immigrant and police misconduct attorney and organizer who has engaged in extensive research, writing, and advocacy around criminalization of women and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people of color over the past two decades. She recently published Invisible No More: Police Violence Against Black Women and Women of Color now available from Beacon Press. Read more about her and her work here: http://andreajritchie.com/bio/

SoulForce is an LGBTQI organization that sabotages Christian Supremacy through radical analysis, spiritual healing and strategic direct action. Their website reads: “Christian Supremacy is not new; the project of empire has snatched Christianity and put it into service for hundreds of years, especially in the United States and its business partners. Calling out Christian Supremacy means recognizing that the struggles against white supremacy, capitalism, and (neo)colonization – to name a few – are intricately tied to how certain sectors and expressions of Christianity are driven by power over, not justice. We believe consciousness of how this kind of religion works in the United States – its language, its cultural plumb lines, its relationship to social and financial power, its stated and unstated values – tells a more honest story of how this country came to be.”

Facilitators will be Nichola Torbett and Marcia Lovelace.

We will also ground ourselves in our values and agreements, which are rooted in transformative justice, and in our commitment to caring for our hearts, minds, and spirits as we do this work.

By donation; no one turned away for lack of funds.

ABOUT THIS WORKSHOP SERIES

A growing coalition of organizations in the Bay Area is coming together to explore alternatives to calling the police to our campuses and into our neighborhoods. Over the coming year, we will be offering a series of workshops to explore alternatives to calling the police. Some of these workshops, like this one, will provide deepening analysis and a grounding in alternative ways of thinking about safety. Others will provide practical skills. All of them will lift up a transformative justice framework and emphasize the importance of self care.

The Coalition includes First Congregational Church of Oakland, Kehilla Community Synagogue, Agape Fellowship, Qal’bu Maryam, Jewish Voice for Peace, the East Bay Meditation Center, Skyline Community Church, Oakland Peace Center, Oakland LBGTQ Community Center, KinFolkz, the Omni Collective, and Black Organizing Project. We are eager to partner with additional organizations so please contact us if you are interested!

65644
Feb
19
Tue
Socialist Night School: Strikes! @ East Bay Community Space
Feb 19 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

East Bay DSA’s Socialist Night School continues its 2019 Winter Session with a class examining strikes.

Over the last year there has been a wave of successful teacher strikes, and our local Oakland Education Association recently voted to authorize a strike. But how do strikes figure into the larger picture of class struggle and building working class power? And what lessons can we learn from historical strikes?

Please join us on Tuesday, February 19 to discuss these questions and more!

Details and readings coming soon!

Accessibility: Wheelchair-accessible entrance and restrooms

Required Readings

See the readings that we’ll be discussing after a brief introduction from our members.

65652
Feb
20
Wed
Anti-Black State Violence Across the Americas Symposium
Feb 20 all-day

UC Berkeley is hosting influential scholars and social movement leaders from Brazil and the United States—homes to the two largest Black populations outside the continent of Africa.

Guest Speakers include:
Cat Brooks (Anti Police-Terror Project)
Ericka Huggins (Black Panther Party)
Vilma Reis (Movimento de Mulheres Negras)
Alicia Garza (Black Lives Matter)
Asha Ransby-Sporn (Black Youth Project 100)
Djamila Ribeiro (Movimento de Feministas Negras)
Andreia Beatriz & Hamilton Borges dos Santos (Reaja ou Será Mort@)
Christen Smith (UT Austin)
Tina Sacks, Leigh Raiford & john a. powell (UC Berkeley)
Camila de Moraes and more throughout this three-day symposium!

In 2019, a U.S. congressional session begins with more women and non-white members than ever before amid a contentious executive branch, and Brazil’s far-right president-elect begins his first term despite anti-Black, -LGBTQ, and -woman rhetoric. The symposium on “Anti-Black State Violence in the Americas” will facilitate transnational coalitions, engagement, and learning. Taking place over three days, scholars, scholar-activists, and organizers will discuss the intersecting challenges of addressing anti-black state violence through workshops on topics including: policing and democracy; historical foundations of Black struggle; wellness and healing; sustainability and social movements; cultural media production; education in today’s socio-cultural contexts; pathways to contesting racialized forms of violence, and, many others.

Join us during this dynamic multi-disciplinary symposium as we illuminate cross-cultural understanding, bringing forward the sharp contrast and commonality between South and North America and generating anti-oppression community building across the Americas. All community members welcome!

RSVP for individuals events and workshops: https://goo.gl/forms/par3FykAT2mJtRCe2

All events are wheelchair accessible. Please fill out our Event Registration form so we can accommodate any additional access needs.

We can’t wait for you to join us for this dynamic event!!!

65724
Feb
21
Thu
Anti-Black State Violence Across the Americas Symposium
Feb 21 all-day

UC Berkeley is hosting influential scholars and social movement leaders from Brazil and the United States—homes to the two largest Black populations outside the continent of Africa.

Guest Speakers include:
Cat Brooks (Anti Police-Terror Project)
Ericka Huggins (Black Panther Party)
Vilma Reis (Movimento de Mulheres Negras)
Alicia Garza (Black Lives Matter)
Asha Ransby-Sporn (Black Youth Project 100)
Djamila Ribeiro (Movimento de Feministas Negras)
Andreia Beatriz & Hamilton Borges dos Santos (Reaja ou Será Mort@)
Christen Smith (UT Austin)
Tina Sacks, Leigh Raiford & john a. powell (UC Berkeley)
Camila de Moraes and more throughout this three-day symposium!

In 2019, a U.S. congressional session begins with more women and non-white members than ever before amid a contentious executive branch, and Brazil’s far-right president-elect begins his first term despite anti-Black, -LGBTQ, and -woman rhetoric. The symposium on “Anti-Black State Violence in the Americas” will facilitate transnational coalitions, engagement, and learning. Taking place over three days, scholars, scholar-activists, and organizers will discuss the intersecting challenges of addressing anti-black state violence through workshops on topics including: policing and democracy; historical foundations of Black struggle; wellness and healing; sustainability and social movements; cultural media production; education in today’s socio-cultural contexts; pathways to contesting racialized forms of violence, and, many others.

Join us during this dynamic multi-disciplinary symposium as we illuminate cross-cultural understanding, bringing forward the sharp contrast and commonality between South and North America and generating anti-oppression community building across the Americas. All community members welcome!

RSVP for individuals events and workshops: https://goo.gl/forms/par3FykAT2mJtRCe2

All events are wheelchair accessible. Please fill out our Event Registration form so we can accommodate any additional access needs.

We can’t wait for you to join us for this dynamic event!!!

65724
Feb
22
Fri
Anti-Black State Violence Across the Americas Symposium
Feb 22 all-day

UC Berkeley is hosting influential scholars and social movement leaders from Brazil and the United States—homes to the two largest Black populations outside the continent of Africa.

Guest Speakers include:
Cat Brooks (Anti Police-Terror Project)
Ericka Huggins (Black Panther Party)
Vilma Reis (Movimento de Mulheres Negras)
Alicia Garza (Black Lives Matter)
Asha Ransby-Sporn (Black Youth Project 100)
Djamila Ribeiro (Movimento de Feministas Negras)
Andreia Beatriz & Hamilton Borges dos Santos (Reaja ou Será Mort@)
Christen Smith (UT Austin)
Tina Sacks, Leigh Raiford & john a. powell (UC Berkeley)
Camila de Moraes and more throughout this three-day symposium!

In 2019, a U.S. congressional session begins with more women and non-white members than ever before amid a contentious executive branch, and Brazil’s far-right president-elect begins his first term despite anti-Black, -LGBTQ, and -woman rhetoric. The symposium on “Anti-Black State Violence in the Americas” will facilitate transnational coalitions, engagement, and learning. Taking place over three days, scholars, scholar-activists, and organizers will discuss the intersecting challenges of addressing anti-black state violence through workshops on topics including: policing and democracy; historical foundations of Black struggle; wellness and healing; sustainability and social movements; cultural media production; education in today’s socio-cultural contexts; pathways to contesting racialized forms of violence, and, many others.

Join us during this dynamic multi-disciplinary symposium as we illuminate cross-cultural understanding, bringing forward the sharp contrast and commonality between South and North America and generating anti-oppression community building across the Americas. All community members welcome!

RSVP for individuals events and workshops: https://goo.gl/forms/par3FykAT2mJtRCe2

All events are wheelchair accessible. Please fill out our Event Registration form so we can accommodate any additional access needs.

We can’t wait for you to join us for this dynamic event!!!

65724
Feb
23
Sat
Waffles & Zapatismo @ Omni Commons
Feb 23 @ 10:00 am – 1:00 pm

Waffles & Zapatismo is a free space for learning about and discussing the history, ideas, values and practices of the Zapatista National Liberation Army, EZLN or Zapatistas. We serve waffles at the start of the class to those who want them.

65047
Feb
25
Mon
Oakland Teachers Strike
Feb 25 all-day

65756