The 2008 presidential election brought to light the power of the youth voting block as young, first-time voters helped usher in the historic election of the nation’s first African American President. Subsequently, the youth vote has plummeted, with 2014 seeing a historic low. Oakland Rising is teaming up with other civic engagement groups in California as part of the Youth Voter Engagement Project to turn this trend around. With a goal of collectively contacting 73,360 young voters of color and ID’ing 46,162 as committed to voting, the Youth Vote (YVote) program utilizes three key elements:

Last week, I got to go back to Ghana – one of the places that has formed the person I am today. Not only had it been 14 years since I was last there but it also was an opportunity to spend time with my family. Ghana has a long history of political revolution.

This coming Saturday, October 1st, Oakland Rising along with Black Lives Matter Bay Area, BYP100 and Allen Temple AIDS Ministry will host a BLM Election Town Hall and Candidate Forum in deep east Oakland, District 7. With the highest density of Black and Brown residents and voters in the Town, we strategically partnered to hear from candidates and learn about key issues on the ballot.

The work that we do is made most meaningful when we have an emotional connection to it. That was especially true with Oakland Rising’s most recent campaign that focused on voter registration. At Oakland Rising, our work has focused on talking to occasional voters and turning them into people who reliably vote every election cycle.

We are looking for volunteers for our Fall Election Campaigns! Oakland Rising is knocking on doors in East and West Oakland, phone banking, and texting to get out the word for the fall election. We are focusing on Props 55, 56, 57 and Measure JJ. Join us! Talking to people not really your thing? No worries, we have volunteer opportunities for campaign prep, data entry, and social media organizing.

On August 9, 2016 I had the opportunity to attend the BlackPAC training in New Orleans with two Oakland Rising Daily Team members: Ariel Kelly and Tim Deweaver. BlackPAC is an independent 527 working to harness the political power of Black voters, which will be ever more important given the political climate of this upcoming election cycle.

This Monday we honor American workers by celebrating Labor Day. We at Oakland Rising have beenwatching with anticipation the outcome of Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez’ bill to expand overtime protections to California farmworkers. The bill passed yesterday and is now awaiting Governor Brown’s signature.

In mid-August Race Forward convened racial justice leaders from across Oakland for an event called Advancing Racial Equity in Oakland.

With 77 days until the election is over, Oakland voters have a lot to be excited about on the ballot. Locally, the Town will be looking at strengthening protections for renters to ​combat the tidal wave of displacement sweeping through our communities.

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.