[En español aqui]
 
Oakland Rising believes our most vulnerable communities need to be prioritized, protected, served, and lifted up NOW.

The health and economic crisis we are now confronted with has laid bare the consequences of the dismantling of the safety net and decades of growing inequality in the Bay Area.  Low-income families, immigrants, Black people and people of color were bearing the brunt of these inequalities and now, in this pandemic, are most impacted by the COVID-19 crisis as well. While there is uncertainty in terms of the scope and lasting impact of the crisis, there is an opportunity to lead a fundamental shift in the structure of society and our economy. In moments of crises, we have both an opportunity to reimagine what our city, state, and society becomes, as well as an obligation to respond to the immediate needs of our communities.

We need and deserve strong public institutions that support basic human rights and help ensure safety and prosperity for all.

Through our collective power we must prioritize our most vulnerable communities in order for us to survive this pandemic and we must commit to building a new equitable world that works for all of our families.

We must ensure everyone is healthy, able to shelter-in-place safely, and provided free healthcare. We must ensure we provide for everyone’s basic needs, like food and clean water. We must protect our essential workers, who continue to work at the front lines of the healthcare crisis. We must protect all workers by creating, enforcing and strengthening existing policies.  We must stabilize housing for all by creating permanent housing solutions. We must decarcerate our jails and prisons, including immigrantion detention facilities. We must find equitable education and childcare solutions. We must protect our undocumented community members to ensure their safety and honor their diginity. We must protect all our community from exploitation, surveillance, and criminalization of our people and move to a place of care and shared well-being.

We call upon our elected officials to step into proactive, values-based leadership to pass policies that move our communities from vulnerable to thriving.

The time is now to be bold and utilize our collective power to change how our city and county is run and advance smart, community-based solutions to ensure we are all sustained and thriving. The time is now to advance systemic change to ensure that we all are cared for and protected now and far into the future. The time is now to build partnerships to strengthen our communities.

Right now, we must find immediate solutions.