FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tuesday, February 19, 2019
MEDIA CONTACT: Irene Rojas-Carroll / irene@bayrising.org / 510 439 6648 cell
Please attribute the following statement to Kimi Lee, director of Bay Rising and OUSD parent:
“We all want the best opportunities for our young people, no matter their zip code or what they look like.
“But OUSD’s top administrators are lining their own pockets and giving consultants cushy salaries with our public money instead of giving our students the education they deserve. Meanwhile, corporations are also profiting by privatizing our schools through charters, making housing unaffordable for teachers, and cheating California schools out of billions of dollars per year with Prop 13 tax giveaways. Their decisions are hurting students of color most of all.
“That’s why we support Oakland’s striking teachers, and why we also call on California voters to make corporations pay their fair share with the Schools and Communities First Initiative of 2020. Together we’ll win the schools our students deserve.”
Spokespeople representing Bay Rising and our member organizations are available to speak to media:
- Kimi Lee, Director, Bay Rising; and OUSD parent organizing solidarity schools and strike support particularly in D6 and D7 (East Oakland)
- Parent leaders with Parent Voices Oakland
- Clarissa Doutherd, Director, Parent Voices Oakland; on OUSD early childhood education
- Miguel Quezada, Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice (CURYJ); on OUSD’s cuts to Restorative Justice programs
- Terence Long, Communications Director, Ella Baker Center for Human Rights; on OUSD’s cuts to Restorative Justice programs
- Representatives of the Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN); on OUSD’s cuts to API Student Achievement (APISA) and Restorative Justice programs
- Kristi Laughlin, Senior Campaign Director, East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy (EBASE); and OUSD parent
- Camilo Sol Zamora, Housing, Land & Development Campaign Co-Director, Causa Justa::Just Cause; on housing unaffordability that is hurting our teachers and school communities
- Kevine Boggess, Political Director, Coleman Advocates for Children and Youth
- Jessamyn Sabbag, Director, Oakland Rising
- Emily Lee, Director, San Francisco Rising
###
Bay Rising builds progressive political power among working-class people and communities of color through our civic engagement network of over thirty grassroots organizations in the Bay Area. Bay Rising is the regional alliance founded by Oakland Rising, SF Rising, and Silicon Valley Rising. Bay Rising is a convener of Bay Resistance, which has compiled the fundraisers and volunteer opportunities set up by teachers, parents, and community organizations here.
The Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN) brings together a collective voice to develop an alternative agenda for environmental, social, and economic justice. Our work focuses on Asian and Pacific Islander communities.
Causa Justa :: Just Cause builds grassroots power and leadership to create strong, equitable communities. Over the past five years, CJJC has brought together thousands of Latino and Black residents of San Francisco and Oakland to fight for housing and immigrant rights.
Coleman Advocates for Children and Youth believes that all children and families deserve access to high quality education, living wage jobs, family-supporting benefits, affordable housing, and a voice in the decisions that affect us. Coleman Advocates builds more effective, equitable, and supportive public schools in San Francisco and beyond.
Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice (CURYJ) unlocks the leadership of young people to dream beyond bars. We look to young people to lead the way by transforming their community and investing in their healing, activism, and aspirations.
The East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy (EBASE) advances economic, racial, and social justice by building a just economy in the East Bay based on good jobs and healthy communities. We address the root causes of economic injustice by developing strategic alliances among community, labor, and people of faith to build power and create change with low-income workers and communities of color.
The Ella Baker Center for Human Rights works locally, statewide, and nationally to shift resources away from prisons and punishment and towards opportunities that make our communities safe, healthy, and strong.
Oakland Rising educates and mobilizes voters in the flatlands to speak up for and take charge of the issues impacting our lives. We are a multilingual, multiracial collaborative with deep roots in East and West Oakland neighborhoods, proving that everyday residents working together have the power to change the way our city is run.
Parent Voices Oakland is a parent-led grassroots organization focused on child care advocacy in Oakland, California. We campaign for affordable, accessible, quality child care in the City of Oakland, across Alameda County and throughout the State of California.
San Francisco Rising is an alliance of long-standing (10-45 years old) grassroots organizations organizing African-American, Latino, Chinese, and Filipino communities in San Francisco for housing & worker rights, environmental & racial justice, and youth & women’s empowerment. We seek to build the political power of our communities to win lasting change on a broad set of issues.
