2010: A year of transformation for Oakland
Article by Jennifer Inez Ward.
Last updated at Tue, 28 Dec at 8:45am.

This was a defining year for the city of Oakland.

In 2010, we saw street demonstrations, a new mayor get elected -- and, for the first time, city police officers were handed pink slips en masse. The Oakland Museum of California reopened this year, the city hosted its first marathon and the Oakland Underground Film Festival held its first summer event.

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The recession, a reflection (Community Voices)
Article by Roger Porter.
Last updated at Tue, 28 Sep at 6:23am.

The recession is staying in the house on the weekend because you don’t have enough money to go out with your friends. Even if they agree to pay the cover charge then you still can’t afford to have a drink so what’s the point? 

And if your friends agree to buy you drinks in addition to paying your cover, then you  would still rather stay home because you feel as though having to depend on someone else to provide for you all night would be the equivalent of having your pride publicly mutilated.

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Women of Color Resource Center Confronting a Financial Crisis
Blog entry by CB Smith-Dahl.
Last updated at Thu, 25 Feb at 7:03pm.

[I am pasting an email I recieved from the WCRC, a Bay Area Trailblazer for more than a decade. This is the kind of news that rarely makes the front page, but that affects us all. The recession has hit the non-profit world harder than any other sector.  cb]

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How Oakland social justice groups convinced feds to yank Airport Connector stimulus funds (City Translator)
Article by The City Translator.
Last updated at Tue, 2 Feb at 12:48pm.

The controversial Oakland Airport Connector project may be delayed, and possibly derailed, by a civil rights complaint filed by three Oakland social justice groups.

In a Jan. 15 letter, the head of the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) said the agency would withdraw $70 million in crucial stimulus funding for this project unless BART and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) can -- by March 5 -- prove that the Connector would benefit poor people, too. This came in response to a federal complaint filed by Urban Habitat, TransForm, and the interfaith group Genesis.

In this City Translator article, Oakland Local shows how this happened, and considers what might happen from here. Could that $70 million go to fund other local transit needs?...

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MTC votes to support Oakland Airport Connector 11-5, despite FTA hurdles--but with contingency plan
Article by Ryan Van Lenning.
Last updated at Thu, 28 Jan at 10:19am.

The most recent hurdle for the contested $492 million Oakland Airport Connector (OAC ) was addressed at a Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) meeting Wednesday morning.  The decision before the commission was whether the $70 million (from federal ARRA stimulus funding) will still be used to help fund the OAC or if it will be div

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Faces of Hunger in Oakland: Just like Us
Article by Sierra Filucci.
Last updated at Sun, 24 Jan at 9:32am.

Folks with limited or reduced incomes to turn to food banks and soup kitchens to help get them through tough times. That's what they are for.

But volunteers and administrators at centers around Oakland say that more people are showing up for assistance now than ever before...

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More Than Ever, Oakland is Hungry
Article by Sierra Filucci.
Last updated at Sun, 24 Jan at 9:29am.

Less work means more hunger. Oakland's nearly 17% unemployment rate (close to twice the national rate) means that in our city, right now, many people don't have enough to eat. And in outlying towns like Fremont and Hayward, the problem is even more severe.

Recently the USDA reported that in 2008 nearly 15 million US households were “food insecure” -- which means a member of the household did not have access to adequate and nutritious food at some point during the year. The number of people seeking free food from American food banks and food pantries is the highest recorded since USDA began collecting this information in 1995.

What does increasing hunger look like in Oakland?

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