This year we entered our 10th year of building community power and winning big. As a collaborative of nine racial, economic, and environmental justice organizations, we operate from our values of inclusion, fairness, transformation, love and liberation. Over the last decade, we have built a base of over 62,000 supportive voters – that’s over 25% of all Oakland voters! And when we mobilize our base, folks turnout to vote at a rate 10 percent higher than the average Oakland voter. That is what flexing political power looks like, and it’s HUGE since many races are decided by just a few hundred votes. Using this model, we were able to help pass expanded renter protections for Oaklanders in 2016 (Measure JJ) and so much more.

Help us celebrate at our anniversary party — the Oakland Progressives Party + Townie Awards — on June 28. Together, we can speak up for and take charge of the issues impacting our lives.

Highlights from the past 10 years:

2009:

• Joined the California Alliance and ran our first campaign with a Daily Team and Local Ask.

2010:

• Won ranked choice voting implementation – won an early 2010 campaign to get RCV implemented starting in Nov 2010.
• Talked with 18,000 people about completing the Census. Used the predictive dialer for the first time.
• Won Prop 25 to return the state budget vote to a simple majority rather than a 2/3s vote.
• Defeated Prop 23, keeping environmental safeguards in place, slow pollution and create clean tech jobs.

2011:

• Began organizing around ban the box and labor peace as part of the Army Base Redevelopment Jobs Agreement.
• Won the Foreclosure Fee on banks.
• Began organizing around the Millionaire’s Tax, which became Prop 30 in 2012.

2012:

• Army Base Redevelopment Jobs Agreement – passed what’s considered one of the strongest Community Benefits Agreements in the country to guarantee that the army base redevelopment project, slated to bring 4,000-8,000 jobs to Oakland, would include local hire, ban the box, job training, and more to benefit Oakland residents, especially working class people of color and immigrants.
• Won Prop 30, which generates $6-9 Billion per year by levying an income tax increase on the wealthiest Californians to fund education, healthcare, and public services.
• Defeated Prop 32, which marked the third attempt in 14 years to prevent unions, which represent 2.5 million workers in California, from using annual dues payments to contribute to state and local candidates or campaigns for ballot measures.

2013:

• Passed the City Budget Public Participation and Transparency Ordinance, which established minimum thresholds for the city to engage residents and be transparent in the design and decision making of the bi-annual budget moving forward.
• Won the Local Control Funding Formula to bring more equity and self-determination to our schools.

2014:

• Won Prop 47, which converts 6 non-violent felonies into misdemeanors and bring millions of dollars back into the state to go towards re-entry services and public safety. Prop 47 won by 74% in Alameda County and 59% statewide, demonstrating the importance of the East Bay in delivering a tipping point of the progressive victory statewide.
• Won Measure FF by 82%, increasing Oakland’s minimum wage and providing workers with paid sick days.
• Won Measure DD, which Oakland Rising helped create and place on the ballot during 2013-14, won by 61% and mandates that citywide redistricting happen through an independent commission instead of through City Council.
• Won the Tenant Protection Act by passing a policy through City Council to outlaw harassment and neglect from landlords as methods of evicting tenants.

 2015:

• Won the 1400 jobs policy, which is a county policy to fill 1400 jobs with people who had been released from prison thanks to resentencing provided by the win of Prop 47.
• City budget – we won some small investments in our community, but our budget still reflects a disproportionate investment in policing.

2016:

• Won Measure JJ, the Protect Oakland Renters Act, with 77% of the vote and provided immediate protections to tenants amidst skyrocketing rents and profit hungry landlords.
• Won Prop 55, which extends the income tax on the wealthiest 2% of Californians and brings millions of dollars per year to fund our schools.
• Won Prop 56, which imposes a tax on tobacco products to fund health care and tobacco usage prevention programs.
• Won Prop 57, a criminal justice reform that prevents young people from being charged as adults for some crimes, and establishes more pathways for adults to be eligible for early release.

2017:

• Used our polling results to contribute to a big win for people over corporate development by halting the A’s stadium relocation to Laney College, which would have displaced students, immigrants, and working class residents of color.
• Continued to build our base of more than 62,000 voters to support Prop 13 reform and bring back $11 Billion/year into CA by making corporations pay their fair share of property taxes. Filed our proposition language, and hoping to qualify for the Nov 2018 ballot.