Blog entry by Ishmael Reed.
Last updated at Tue, 17 Aug at 1:03pm.

If you'd examine the Times' coverage of Oakland, typically, it's about crime,which
is one aspect of a city's life. Crime exists in New York where the Times is located,
but if you pick up today's newspaper, there is also news about the city's cultural
life. Theater, literature, art- but when the Times does Oakland, it usually

Blog entry by Crystallee Crain.
Last updated at Tue, 18 May at 12:14am.

As the end of the school year approaches, we're starting the search for next year's Heal the Streets fellows. We're looking for 15-20 young people to become next year's dedicated change agents.

Blog entry by Nwamaka Agbo.
Last updated at Wed, 24 Mar at 11:44am.

On Saturday, April 17th, from 8 am-3 pm, f you're handy with a hammer, skilled with a saw, or just want to give back to your community, come and join Soul of the City as we partner with Rebuilding Together Oakland. We'll spend a day fixing up gardens, painting homes and doing other mai

Blog entry by Oakland Local edi....
Last updated at Tue, 23 Mar at 9:35am.

California is facing a $20 billion shortfall. Oakland is in a $15 million mid-year budget deficit, predicted to double in the new fiscal year. Both of these deficits have resulted in massive cuts to services and public sector jobs, like teachers, city workers, and librarians, impacting thousands of working families across Oakland.

Article by Kwan Booth.
Last updated at Wed, 17 Mar at 9:25am.

Expect to hear from a full line up of Cunts, Coochie Snorchers and Angry Vaginas as Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues takes over Read the whole story...

Blog entry by Bay Localize.
Last updated at Sat, 13 Mar at 8:07am.

Recession, rising prices, climate change: our communities are feeling the crunch. How do we build stronger communities in tough times? Support our families in ways that help our planet instead of harming it? Develop solutions to multiple challenges at once? If you’re active in your community, you’re probably thinking about these questions.

Blog entry by Jennifer Inez Ward.
Last updated at Thu, 4 Mar at 8:57am.

The deadline for the Eva Lowe Fellowship for Social Justice is closing in.

Monday, March 8, is the last day to turn in Fellowship applications for the eight-week progressive program designed to help activists and organizers improve the lives of the working class Chinese immigrant community.

Blog entry by Pamela Drake.
Last updated at Wed, 24 Feb at 1:54pm.

2 Fun Public Ethics Commission Meetings next Week!

Blog entry by Steven Weiss.
Last updated at Mon, 22 Feb at 4:10pm.

Alameda County Board of Supervisors Should Reverse Decision to Cut General Assistance

The Tuesday morning Alameda County Board of Supervisors meeting may be their last opportunity to reverse a decision made last year, on a 3-2 vote, to make extensive cuts to the county’s General Assistance program. 

Blog entry by Irene Nexica.
Last updated at Fri, 19 Feb at 11:56am.

Security Council resolution seen by local Eritreans as clearing the path for Ethiopian invasion

Members of Oakland’s Eritrean community are gearing up for a worldwide demonstration February 22 as part of a worldwide demonstration against the Dec 23, 2009 United Nations Security Council Resolution 1907, which, in the words of the UNSC, “imposed an arms embargo on that country, in addition to travel restrictions and a freeze on the assets of its political and military leaders.”

Article by Meg Bertoni.
Last updated at Thu, 11 Feb at 8:41am.

Some years ago, author, sociologist and historian James Loewen spent two years surveying American high school history textbooks--only to discover that they amounted to hundreds of pages and several pounds of... something that resembled propaganda more closely than it did educational materials.

Article by Meg Bertoni.
Last updated at Wed, 3 Feb at 12:28pm.

We now know that societies where women have access to education and democracy are specifically and monumentally better off, from lower crime rates and lower incidences of violence, to lower birth rates and lower infant mortality, to higher life expectancies for all.

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?...

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

Article by bLaKtivist.
Last updated at Tue, 26 Jan at 10:47am.

Every other day, when I peek in at Haiti, my heart starts beating fast… I click through pictures, and I read “nearly 200,000 dead.” And I try to imagine: What would Oakland (where I live now), or Flushing, NY (where I grew up), look like if there were upwards of 200,000 dead people lying in the streets?

I close the screen.

I am once again overwhelmed by that bewildering feeling that I had a little more than four years ago, when Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast. My heart broke then, while I, along with the rest of the world, watched as thousands lost their lives in the aftermath. Ironically, I was on the Island of Hispaniola at the time, though not in Haiti, but rather in the east, on a family vacation in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.

Article by Oakland Local edi....
Last updated at Mon, 25 Jan at 3:00pm.

Urban Habitat celebrated its first class of graduates from the Boards & Commissions Leadership Institute last week, holding an event at The David Brower Center in Berkeley. Family, friends and UH staffers listened to speeches by program organizer Laurie Jones Neighbors and Keynoter Bevan Duffy, a San Francisco Supervisor and attorney.