May 14th marks the first day of campaign season at Oakland Rising. Our focus this primary season will be mobilizing our base to turnout the vote on June 7th and become part of the Million Voters Project to engage and turnout 1 million voters in 2016 and beyond. Entering our seventh year as a member of California Calls, originally the California Alliance, our work is part of a statewide effort to deliver the votes needed to close the 3 to 5% gap that often means the difference between victory and defeat. California Calls originated with the uniting of people concerned about fiscal tax policy’s impacts on the state budget and funding of social programs. Successes of the Alliance include reducing the needed votes to pass the state budget from a 2/3rds majority to a simple majority. This important victory allows the legislature to pass a budget that isn’t held hostage by the conservative minority party in Sacramento.

Who will be mobilizing voters? On May 10th we will be hiring Voter Outreach Workers for our Daily Team, many of whom reside in East and West Oakland, with priority given to previously incarcerated residents. As our Daily Team solidifies commitments from people in their neighborhoods to vote on June 7, our identified voters will then receive a call on Election Day to remind them to vote. As part of our work with Bay Area Rising, we’ll also educate voters about various tenant protection ordinances underway in Oakland, Richmond, and Alameda.

TAKE ACTION! Volunteer to Get Out The Vote
Saturdays, May 28 and June 4 from 9:30am to 2:30pm
Join us for precinct walking. RSVP to [email protected] 

The effort in Oakland to respond to displacement pressures includes fortifying and expanding rent control to provide more adequate protections to the majority of our residents (60% of Oaklanders rent). As part of the Protect Oakland Renters coalition, Oakland Rising is gathering signatures to qualify the Protect Oakland Renters initiative to the November Ballot. The initiative responds to the lack of significant action from the City Council to address the housing crisis. To qualify, we need 35,000 signatures by the first week of June.

TAKE ACTION! Volunteer at an upcoming Signature Gathering Mobilization
Saturdays from 9:30am to 2pm
May 14 at Causa Justa :: Just Cause — 3268 San Pablo Avenue, Oakland
May 21 at Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment — 2530 International Blvd, Suite A, Oakland