Press Event & Rally: ReFund and ReInvest in Oakland

Press event to ReFund and ReInvest in Oakland & Release of our Community-Labor Budget Platform

We are inviting you to join renters, residents of affordable housing developments, city workers, seniors, artists, immigrants and low wage workers to call on City Leaders to ReFund our communities and support a Community Budget that ensures a healthy, livable and sustainable Oakland for EVERYONE!

In the wake of the Administration’s release of their proposed Bait & Switch Budget that prioritizes displacement and criminalization over the needs of our communities, the ReFund Oakland Community-Labor Coalition will be unveiling the community and worker’s vision for ReFunding & ReInvesting in our city and its most impacted neighborhoods.   It’s time to prioritize public services, housing our residents and protecting our workers and artists who make Oakland the soul of the Bay.

We will be demanding the Administration stand on the side of long-term residents, youth, seniors and workers and NOT wealthy developers who have helped to shape a Bait and Switch Budget that prioritizes displacement!

Please RSVP by responding directly to this email!

Background:

Oakland is in the midst of possibly the worst housing crisis in its 165 year old history.  Thousands of mostly Black and Brown families have been pushed out of the city, homeless encampments have proliferated, wages are still stagnant for low wage workers and our youth and long term, residents of color do not have access to the higher paying jobs that are attracting wealthier newcomers to the city.

In November, 2016, voters took to the polls in hopes of addressing many of these concerns, voting overwhelmingly to authorize ballot measures including Measure KK, Measure HH and others that they thought would alleviate the housing crisis and increase health amongst young people.  However this past Tuesday, Oakland’s current Administration released a Bait and Switch Budget that misallocates and redirects these funds. It continues to prioritize large developers and displacement, placing renters, youth, our city workers and first responders, low wage, immigrant workers, homeless folx and families on the back burner.  At a time of record displacement, nearly weekly fires at homeless encampments and a national administration that has waged war on poor, communities of color, we must demand that Oakland ReFund and ReInvest in our long-term communities and the thousands who have been forced out of their homes and onto the streets.  Additionally, there was no concrete plans in the Mayor’s budget to implement Measure JJ, the renter protection act, to ensure we are protecting tenants at a time of increased displacement.

The ReFund coalition includes ACCE Action, EBHO, SEIU 1021, Street Level Health Project (SLHP), Causa Justa::Just Cause, IFPTE Local 21, Oakland Tenants Union (OTU), CURYJ, Communities for a Better Environment (CBE) and many others!