Fellow Oaklanders,

Here’s your chance to engage and listen to some of our wisest residents – our youth. Join us for our Virtual Town Hall tomorrow night at 6 p.m. , where we turn over our platform to Oakland’s young leaders.

In partnership with at least nine community-based organizations, youth leaders from across Oakland have set an agenda to discuss the School-to-Prison Pipeline.

They will share remarks, offer testimonials, and make their calls for action to city leadership.

As listeners selected by the organizers, I’ll be joined by OUSD Superintendent Kyla Johnson Trammell , and Guillermo Cespedes , Chief of the Department of Violence Prevention for the City of Oakland.

Here’s a link for YOUTH to pre-submit their questions .

Our Virtual Town Halls can be viewed on our social media channels Facebook , Twitter , Instagram , and YouTube (with closed captioning).
To dial in by phone: (669) 900-6833 , 413825986#

Residents can also sign up for my newsletter by clicking here .

We hope to see you on Thursday at 6 p.m.
Earlier this year in pre-COVID times we planned to launch #OaklandStories , an interview series that shares the remarkable stories of remarkable Oaklanders.

I sat with incredible guests, including “There There” author Tommy Orange , musician Fantastic Negrito , Allen Temple Rev. Dr. Jacqueline Thompson , Unity Council founder Arabella Martinez , and chef and restaurateur James Syhabout to talk about our community, our strengths and challenges, and our shared vision to build a stronger Oakland.

I also interviewed Stanford professor Dr. Jennifer Eberhardt to discuss her book “Biased” and the ground-breaking work she’s conducting withing our OPD to uproot racial bias from policing.

This week, I’ll hope you’ll enjoy my discussion with Dr. Eberhardt – which took place in late 2019 – and covers many of the critical issues of racial justice and policing the nation is addressing today.

You can watch and listen to Dr. Eberhardt’s #OaklandStory here .

Each Monday, we’ll share a new #OaklandStory on our social channels.
Lastly, I want to thank Oaklanders again for continuing to show how a city’s residents come together to help one another in challenging times.

Our Summer Food Service Program provided more than 120,000 meals in June to Oakland children from low-income households.

More than 20 sites throughout Oakland, including community-based organizations, have participated in the weekly food distributions since original shelter-in-place went into effect in March.

If any family or friend needs more information to access food this summer, please send this link .

In the meantime, let’s continue to wear masks, wash hands and give our Lake a break .

Be well – and please join us Thursday night at 6 p.m. for our youth led Virtual Town Hall,
Libby