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Kingston was recently named one of ten urban areas in New York State to receive an initial $25,000 grant to study measures to ensure that no residents are displaced from their homes. The grant allows participation in the state Anti-Displacement Learning Network, a two-year program scheduled to begin this month with a three-month learning exchange among the participants and consultants.

A recent poll found that a staggering 78 percent of Americans are now in favor of a federal job guarantee. Although it has been largely erased from public memory, the job guarantee was a centerpiece not only of FDR’s second bill of economic rights, but also of the civil rights movement’s policy agenda. Coretta Scott King mobilized 1.2 million people to march for full employment in the late 1970s.

America's big cities are becoming increasingly diverse – and California's urban centers are leading the way.

On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. While the speech is widely quoted for its hopeful message, we too often ignore the purpose of the speech and the specific demands of the march organizers – to advance the civil and economic rights of African Americans, and create good jobs with family-supporting wages for all.

January 2020

Advancing Frontline Employees of Color: Innovating for Competitive Advantage in America's Frontline Workforce

Overview

Advancing Frontline Employees of Color: Innovating for Competitive Advantage in America's Frontline Workforce is a resource and call to action for employers to support the advancement of frontline employees of color. The information in the report can also be a useful tool for those advocating for opportunity for all. The report reveals how companies that are successful in advancing racial equity go beyond traditional diversity and inclusion efforts by shifting their management and HR practices and transforming their company cultures. These companies implement evidence-based practices and policies that fall under three strategic opportunity areas: 1) building internal capacity for an inclusive, understanding, and adaptive culture; 2) strengthening management and HR systems, policies, and practices; and 3) intentionally investing in the development of frontline employees of color.

Download Advancing Frontline Employees of Color Executive Summary

More than 1.5 million residents fled the Bay Area between 2010 and 2016 due in part to the rising cost-of-living, including San Joseans who are increasingly forced out.

We Decry the Eviction of Moms 4 Housing


Housing for People, Not Speculators! 

We condemn the cruel and violent eviction of homeless Black mothers and their children in the organization Moms 4 Housing, from a vacant house in West Oakland that they have been occupying for the past two months.  Around 5:30 a.m., Alameda County sheriff’s deputies broke down the door with guns drawn, backed by armed personnel in military fatigues with semi-automatic rifles and armored vehicles.  Authorities arrested two of the moms and two supporters, boarding up the house to prevent reentry.

We decry the terror of eviction, and the wanton waste of public funds against Moms 4 Housing – extreme measures which do nothing to address the crisis of real estate speculation and homelessness engulfing Oakland, especially its Black community.  

We call for charges against those arrested to be dropped immediately.  And we fully support the demands of Moms 4 Housing! We call on the property owner, Wedgewood, to sell the home to Oakland Community Land Trust at the price they bought it for, so the moms may continue to live there and raise their children in peace, with long-term stability; and we call on Oakland and Alameda County to advance policies to repossess vacant homes to secure their use for community needs, to end the inhumane and unnecessary homelessness that has become ubiquitous.

There are nearly four times the number of vacant properties in Oakland as there are homeless individuals.  Wedgewood Properties, a real estate investment firm, prides itself on profiting from flipping properties, which it calls the “backbone” of its business model.  Oakland lost 35,000 homes to foreclosure between 2007 to 2012. The impact was disproportionate in Black and brown neighborhoods, due to predatory and racist subprime lending practices that targeted these residents.  Wedgewood has unapologetically scooped up these foreclosed homes, even retaliating against displaced residents seeking to buy their home back. The house occupied by Moms 4 Housing lay vacant for two years before the moms took action. Wedgewood’s practices, based on speculation rather than sheltering people, drive up housing costs for everyone.

By taking action, the Moms 4 Housing have courageously exposed the roots of our homelessness crisis, and pointed the way forward to real policy solutions. From their own experiences, many of the members of Moms 4 Housing know the intolerable gulf between declining real incomes for low-wage workers and skyrocketing rents, the impossible odds of securing affordable housing or a voucher, and the brutal inadequacy of underfunded homeless services. Policy studies prove that the most effective solution to homelessness is providing stable and affordable housing. Every person and child deserves a home.  

Tuesday morning’s eviction is not an end to this fight. We applaud City Councillors Nikki Fortunato Bas, Dan Kalb, and Council President Rebecca Kaplan for urging Wedgewood to sell the home to Oakland Community Land Trust, and call on government officials to lift all punitive action against the moms and support their demands. Now is the time to listen to Moms 4 Housing and the people most harmed, and act. Across the country, policymakers should heed this growing movement’s call to reign in speculators, including by limiting their rights to profit from flipping homes.

UPDATE: Moms 4 Housing has announced an agreement with Wedgewood to negotiate the sale of the house through the Oakland Community Land Trust. Read more here.

You Can Still Take Action By:

  • Signing the Moms' petition calling for an investigation into the militarized tactics used for their eviction.
 

 

 

 


 


 

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