Urban Strategies Council

04/11/2019

#TBT to a day at the California State Capital with PolicyLink's Statewide Alliance for Boys and Men of Color to power build for equity and justice.

04/01/2019

Journalists Should Call Something Racist When It's Racist, Associated Press Says

Throughout our 30+ years, the Council has been calling things as the data says they are. The truth can hurt. Call to action people - speak truth to power and always.
Call it what it is.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/journalism-racist-racism-reports_n_5c9e6245e4b0bc0daca861d7

People have criticized news outlets for using euphemisms like “racially charged” or “racially tinged,” particularly in reporting on President Donald Trump.

03/19/2019

Late post from the weekend's First 5 Alameda County Fathers Crops Summit. Here with our CEO and BMOC Alliance Program Associate, Darris Young, is Maestro Jerry Tello of the National Compadres Network.
#FathersCorps #UrbanEquity #PropsToThePops

03/08/2019

The Rank and File Women of the Black Panther Party and Their Powerful Influence

On International Women's Day, Urban Strategies Council celebrates the brave women who shaped our history in the civil rights movement.

Props to the Smithsonian Institution's Janelle Harris for penning this article.
#InternationalWomensDay
#UrbanEquity
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/rank-and-file-women-black-panther-party-their-powerful-influence-180971591/

A portrait taken at a “Free Huey” rally defines the female force that both supported and propelled the movement

03/06/2019

Earn It! Keep It! Save It! – Taxes are hard. We make it easy!

It's tax season and the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is one of the most effective anti-poverty strategies we have. Eligible filers can get their taxes done for free and collect the EITC! To find a tax site, visit this website.
#EKS #EITC
https://earnitkeepitsaveit.org/

Come prepared and know before you go! Check out the list of what you need to bring to an EKS tax site when you have your tax prepared.

02/21/2019

Barack Obama Talks About Toxic Masculinity And ‘Being A Man’

In case you missed the live stream from the #MBKRising! Town Hall, here's an article in the HuffPost that highlights a response from the Pres to a question asked by Oakland's own, Mercer Brotherhood.

#MBKRising! My Brother's Keeper Alliance #WeAreMBK #ThankYou44 #UrbanEquity

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/barack-obama-steph-curry-toxic-masculinity_n_5c6cafe6e4b0f40774c9df5c

The former president and NBA star Steph Curry spoke about the need for young men of color to create spaces “to talk about vulnerabilities” at a Californi...

02/21/2019

Scenes from #MBKRising!

The Urban Thinker, Octavius Blount: Say it again Sista Harris, "Freedom is an inside job!"
#NextGen #MBKRising #BlackPantherParty #FantasticNegrito #UrbanEquity #ThankYou44 #WeAreMBK @MBK_Alliance

02/20/2019

Boys and young men of color deserve equal access to opportunity to reach their full potential. Urban Strategies Council is proud to stand alongside so many from across the country as we celebrate 5 years of My Brother's Keeper at #MBKRising! right here in Oakland. #MBKRising! #WeAreMBK #TheTown #UrbanEquity #MaleMentorship #ThankYou44 #ViolencePrevention

02/18/2019

Arrive as Many. Rise as One. Welcome to MBK Rising!

Today, as part of the kickoff for this week’s MBK Rising! event in Oakland, the staff of Urban Strategies Council were among hundreds of volunteers participating in a Day of Service at Martin Luther King Elementary School in Oakland. Organizers, dignitaries and others from across the community and country attended the festivities and resource fair.
https://www.obama.org/mbka/rising-live/

#MBKRising! #WeAreMBK #UrbanEquity My Brother's Keeper Alliance #ThankYou44

Welcome to MBK Rising!, a two-day convening that will bring together in Oakland the growing network of MBK Communities, elected officials, cross-sector leaders, and young men of color and the organizations working hard to help them achieve their dreams.

02/13/2019

Urban Strategies Council is excited to celebrate and lift up boys and young men of color alongside My Brother's Keeper Alliance at #MBKRising! right here in Oakland next week. #MBKRising! #WeAreMBK #UrbanEquity #OakProud #ThankYou44

02/11/2019

California's State Budget: The Governor’s Proposal - Public Policy Institute of California

What do you think of Governor Gavin Newsom's proposed budget?
#PPIC
https://www.ppic.org/publication/californias-state-budget/?utm_source=ppic&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=bulletin

Governor Newsom’s first budget proposal would build up budget reserves and pay down debt—while increasing funding for housing, education, and health and human services.

02/08/2019

Will you be our Valentine? Shop at smile.amazon.com/ch/94-3044453 and AmazonSmile donates to Urban Strategies Council.

02/04/2019

Urban Strategies Council

Just in time for #BlackHistoryMonth and in advance of the national MBK Rising! event coming to Oakland later this month, the Council is excited to share the Obama Foundation's video of our community's #MBKA award.

Special thanks go to our partner in the grant, The Mentoring Center. Gratitude's also go to the Council's Alliance for BMOC members from the OUSD Office of Equity, Aypal: Building API Community Power, The Unity Council, and Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf for their continued support and partnership.

#BlackHistoryMonth #ObamaFoundation #MBKA #UrbanStrategiesCouncil #Oakland #MBKRising #BMOC #YMOC #Mentorship #MaleMentorship #ThankYou44
https://www.obama.org/mbka/communities/urban-strategies-council/

Urban Strategies Council’s mission is to eliminate persistent poverty in the Bay Area by working with partners to transform low-income neighborhoods into vibrant, healthy communities.

01/18/2019

Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2019: Here’s what is happening in Bay Area

As we head into the weekend, here are some goings on in the area to commemorate Dr. King.
#IHaveADream
https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/01/08/martin-luther-king-jr-day-2019-heres-what-is-happening-in-bay-area/

People will be gathering all over San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, Peninsula at Martin Luther King Jr. Day events. Here’s a look at some top events.

01/09/2019

Kamala Harris Doesn’t Yet Announce Presidential Run With New Book (but Hints as Subtly as a Semi-Truck)

How far do you think the junior Senator's star will rise?
#GoAllTheWay #KamalaHarris

Expect news about a Kamala Harris presidential run to drop any day now.

01/02/2019

Congratulations to Gus Newport, Urban Strategies Council's Vice Chair of the Board of Directors, for being selected by the Arab American Institute Foundation for the 2019 Award for Individual Achievement. This prestigious honor has similarly been bestowed upon Muhammad Ali, SalmaHayek, Sting, and Presidents of Ireland and Poland, among others. Thank you for your service to Urban Strategies Council, to our community, and the nation.

#ArabAmericanInstituteFoundation #KahlilGibran #SpiritofHumanityAward #FormerMayorofBerkeley #DudleyStreetNeighborhoodInitiative #CommunityLandTrusts #UrbanEquity #ServantLeader #ThankYouGus

12/21/2018

Thank you for your partnership in making our region more equitable for all.

Our offices will be closed
Dec. 24 through Jan.1

12/10/2018

This holiday season, support Urban Strategies Council's Annual Fund with a year-end gift. Together we can develop collective solutions that close education & economic opportunity gaps. https://urbanstrategies.org/donate/

12/07/2018

Showing up! Standing up! Speaking up!
Coming to you real-time from Washington D.C. at the Opportunity Youth United national Community Action Team convening where Oakland youth leaders are contributing to a national discussion on advocacy campaigns to increase opportunities for out-of-school/out-of-work youth in America. #OpportunityYouthUnited #YouthBuildUSA #OakProud #TownBiz #ReppingThe510 #CommunityActionTeams

12/05/2018

Toward Understanding Racial Disparities in Arrests - Public Policy Institute of California

Interesting and timely read from our friends at the Public Policy Institute of California on racial disparities in the justice system. How is it that the prison population in CA is 4,180 per 100,000 residents for African American men compared with 420 for white men? Check out their interactive tool to do your own investigating. #JusticeReform

The number of arrests made in California per year has dropped dramatically since its peak in 1990, but African Americans continue to be significantly overrepresented among those arrested. New work by PPIC tracks these changes.

11/29/2018

New Initiative Encourages Community-Generated Efforts to Prevent Domestic Violence | California Health Report

Urban Strategies Council President and CEO, David Harris is quoted in this article from the California Health Report. The Council and it's partners, A Safe Place Oakland, BAWAR, Family Violence Law Center, and the City of Oakland - Local Government are part of a statewide effort to address and prevent the prevalence of intimate partner violence. Thank you Prevention Institute and the Blue Shield of California Foundation for selecting us to contribute to this critical work.

A new initiative to combat domestic violence in California is supporting several high-risk populations — including refugees, immigrants, low-wage workers, Native Americans and rural residents — to develop their own community-based strategies for prevention.

11/29/2018

Alameda County eliminates some criminal justice fees that saddle inmates

Props to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors for taking a step toward addressing poverty and homeless among the reentry population by eliminating upwards of $6,000 in fees, fines, and court costs. With 71% of state prison inmates being minorities, the legal fees hit people of color especially hard, according to a report from the Berkeley-based East Bay Community Law Center. We encourage the Board to pass this ordinance at its December 4 meeting and be an example for the rest of the state to catch on to. @SupervisorWilmaChan @SupervisorNateMiley @SupervisorRichardValle @SupervisorKeithCarson Alameda County Supervisor Scott Haggerty #EastBayCommunityLawCenter

The Alameda County Board of Supervisors has moved to stop assessing and collecting fees from those on probation and those seeking representation from a public defender, as well as those who are tak…

11/16/2018

My Brother’s Keeper Alliance Announces Winners of Community Challenge Competition - Obama Foundation

The Council could not be more proud of or humbled by its selection as one of the Obama Foundation’s 10 national impact sites. We look forward to our next two years of producing meaningful outcomes through our participation in this powerful cohort. Thank you, President Obama, and your staff for selecting Urban Strategies Council and Oakland!!
#TheTown #MBKA #YouthViolencePrevention #MaleMentorship #TheMentoringCenter #Alliance

Obama Foundation also announces MBK Rising!, a national convening marking the fifth anniversary of My Brother’s Keeper CHICAGO—Today, My Brother’s Keeper Alliance (MBK Alliance), an initiative of the Obama Foundation, announced the winners of its inaugural MBK Community Challenge Competition. ...

11/15/2018

#TBT to Tuesday’s presentation to Oakland Police Department’s Chief Kirkpatrick and members of the San Francisco Police Department by our youth fellows on their community violence research. #ParticipatoryResearch #AuthenticVoice #ListenUp #UrbanEquity #UrbanStrategies

11/14/2018

Thank you, The California Wellness Foundation for convening your grantees for a few days of sharing ideas and tools, and for bringing Dr. Manuel Pastor to deliver a keynote. #HealthEquity #UrbanEquity #Stateofresistance #powerup2018

11/10/2018

Today’s DVP Project Briefing has been a powerful, passionate day of acknowledging community trauma and healing as it relates to the planning of the City’s new Department of Violence Prevention.
#Enough #UrbanEquity #NoMoreTears #OaklandUnity #DopeEra #DataBasedDecisions #RestorativeJustice

11/09/2018

Managing Your Distress in the Aftermath of a Shooting

The Council grieves with the families and friends of victims from California's most recent mass shooting.

We're sharing a resource from our partners at The California Wellness Foundation on managing distress after a shooting. We're also involved in many multi-sector efforts to prevent gun, domestic, and CSEC violence.

https://www.apa.org/helpcenter/mass-shooting.aspx

You may be struggling to understand how a mass shooting could take place in a community, even a workplace or military base, and why such a terrible thing would happen.

10/31/2018

Northern California Convening for Justice Systems Impacted Students:November 3rd, 2018

It's not too late to reserve your free spot at the East Bay Consortium's convening for justice systems impacted students THIS SATURDAY (11/3) on the campus of UC Berkeley.

Registration and Breakfast are from 8-9 a.m. in the Dwinelle Lobby (https://access.berkeley.edu/155-dwinelle)

The Opening Panel begins at 9 with workshops and a resource fair throughout the day. Lunch is also provided.

Join us and the whose who on the topic of support for our justice impacted students in Alameda, Contra Costa, and Solano Counties.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/northern-california-convening-for-justice-systems-impacted-studentsnovember-3rd-2018-tickets-50091161011?aff=eemailordconf&utm_campaign=order_confirm&utm_medium=email&ref=eemailordconf&utm_source=eb_email&utm_term=viewevent

#UrbanStrategiesCouncil
#EastBayConsortium
#UCBerkeley
#UrbanEquity
#UndergroundScholarsInitiative
#CorrectionsToCollege
#RestoringOurCommunities
#StreetScholars
#NewDREAM
#OpenGate
#RISERestorativeIntegratedSelfEducation
#EducationTransitionSupportServices
#ProjectRebound
#WayPassWomensAftercareProgram
#AlamedaCountyProbation
#LuminaFoundation
#EAforBMOC

+ Join us for informative workshops, panel discussions with formerly students, and a resource fair + Learn and discuss the role of policy in creating and resolving barriers that impact the postsecondary success of formerly incarcerated college students + Learn about campus-based programs throughout....

10/24/2018

Our Women in Data Science (WiDS) - Advancing Women of Color in Data Science event was awesome! Special thanks to our presenters for lending their incredible talents and female touches to the technical content Insight Center for Community Economic Development, Beneficial State Foundation, Cisco Data and Analytics City of Oakland - Local Government, . #WiDS2018 #WiDSOakland #UrbanStrategies #TheFutureIsFemale

10/17/2018

Women in Data Science - Advancing women of color in data science

Urban Strategies Council is hosting Oakland’s first Women in Data Science event on 10/22/18 at The California Endowment! Registration and lunch are free but space is limited so please register via the link below to help advance Women of Color in data science.
Presenters include the Insight Center for Community Economic Development's Anne Price, The City of Oakland - Local Government's Chris Hwang, Cisco Data and Analytics's Manjula Shivanna, Beneficial State Foundation's Symone Jackson, and our very own Rania Ahmad.

See you on 10/22/18!
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/women-in-data-science-advancing-women-of-color-in-data-science-tickets-50918305021?aff=utm_source%3Deb_email%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_campaign%3Dnew_event_email&utm_term=eventurl_text

#StanfordWiDS
#WiDS2018
#WiDSOakland
#UrbanStrategiesCouncil
#Insight
#BeneficialStateFoundation
#CityofOakland
#Cisco

Women in Data Science (WiDS), Oakland, is part of the global Stanford University’s initiative that features local events around various data science discipline areas. The idea is to coordinate events that exclusively feature female speakers working in the field of data science. Early this year, Ra...

10/12/2018

Oakland is a finalist in the Obama Foundation's national My Brothers Keeper Community Challenge Competition and yesterday we had our site visit. It was a day of both pride in sharing our City and seriousness in highlighting the disparity and challenges our proposal seeks to address. Thank you to our partners from the Alliance for BMOC, the East Bay Community Foundation, the Honorable Mayor Libby Schaaf, and our featured partner in the application, The Mentoring Center. We obviously want the grant, but the process of bringing philanthropy, government, and our strong nonprofit partners together for creative solutions is a win. #MBKA #AllianceforBMOC #Mentorship #ViolencePrevention #BuildSomething #UrbanEquity

10/03/2018

The Council is hosting a Women in Data Science panel and luncheon on Monday, October 22 from 11 a.m - 3 p.m. and you're invited! WiDS is a first year program out of Stanford University and our very own Rania Ahmed is a WiDS 2018 Ambassador.

Join Rania and the powerful list of Women of Color in data science that she has pulled together for an enlightening experience. Panelists include, the Insight Center for Community Economic Development's President, Anne E. Price, Director of Data and Evaluation for The Oakland Promise, Chris Hwang, Digital Engagement Manager with Beneficial State Foundation, Symone Jackson, and Technical Leader at Cisco, Manjula Shivanna.

The event is free, but space is limited so sign up through the link below to secure your spot.

#WiDS2018 #WiDSOakland #StanfordUniversity #InsightCenter #OaklandPromise #BeneficialStateFoundation #Cisco #WomenPower
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/women-in-data-science-advancing-women-of-color-in-data-science-tickets-50918305021?aff=utm_source%3Deb_email%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_campaign%3Dnew_event_email&utm_term=eventurl_text