Fresh off our panel event “Changing the Initiative Process” with Alex Lee (state assembly members), Nicole Derse (50+1 Strategies), Shawn McDougal (CDP), and Chris Chew (Cooperative 4 the Community) we decided to send a letter of support for the Clean Money Act. The act aims to replace corporate contributions from Read more…
Hella People Power Organizing Over a period of six months in 2019, we collected nearly 45,000 signatures across the city from Oaklanders who understand the transformative potential of putting the budget in the hands of the people. The campaign was an amazing example of the power of grassroots organizing. Together, Read more…
Early Monday morning KPFA hosted the Community Democracy Project and At-Large Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan on their UpFront segment with Cat Brooks for a discussion on the city administration’s proposed budget cuts. The cuts include reducing Fire Department services and layoffs to other departments. CDP member Blake Hihara woke up early Read more…
Our phones buzzed at 6:20 AM with a message, “What a beautiful morning to #defundopd!” Then came another promising donuts! It was time to paint the People’s Budget in front of Lake Merritt for the city to see how Oaklanders actually want our money spent. What’s the People’s Budget? The Read more…
Flipping the Power Structure The People’s Budget is a form of participatory budgeting that puts residents in charge of how the city spends its money. The United Nations considers participatory budgeting a democratic “best practice” and the New York Times called it “revolutionary civics in action.” Our People’s Budget Initiative Read more…
Last Monday, we joined Moms 4 Housing at the #ReclaimMLK march. We were stoked to see so many of you all out there with signs and drums and smiles and babies. Moms 4 Housing is “a collective of unhoused and insecurely housed mothers, organizing to reclaim vacant homes from real estate Read more…
The politics of spectacle—driven by the posturing and performance of elites—reinforces mass passivity rather than mass engagement. VOLUNTEER NOW Just as patriarchy relegates women to the private sphere while men dominate the public sphere, corporatocracy pushes us to focus on our individual affairs while public affairs are dominated by the Read more…
We have wrapped up our first month of signature gathering thanks to our awesome volunteers and members! Each day we gather signatures is an opportunity to share the vision of people power in Oakland, connect with our community, and exercise teamwork and communication. Best of all it directly supports getting the Read more…
The Community Democracy Project is an all-volunteer campaign working to turn the power structure right-side up by putting the budget in the hands of the people.On January 18, 2017, in response to the Anti Police-Terror Project’s call to #ReclaimMLK with 120 hours of direct action, the Community Democracy Project hosted a Read more…
THANK YOU PEOPLE’S COMMUNITY MEDICS! THANK YOU PEOPLE’S COMMUNITY MEDICS!!! We are so grateful to have been able to host a workshop by the People’s Community Medics for a second time this past week. This time around they empowered us to treat victims of tear gas and blunt force trauma, Read more…