OPDC stands in solidarity against racism, discrimination, and the violence – physical, psychological, economic and social – that has been perpetrated against Black Americans. We are committed to diversity, inclusion, and equity, and we oppose discrimination or harassment of any kind.
Over the past 40 years, we have built more than 340 units of affordable housing in Oakland and continue affordable housing work both for sale and for rent. We embrace fair housing and view our housing work as a response to historic systemic oppression by helping Black families build wealth and stability. OPDC celebrates the legacy of Black residents who developed programs like JobLinks, now our Financial Opportunity Center, and School 2 Career. They have helped thousands of people find employment, repair credit, build wealth, and connect with social services and provided hundreds of under resourced high school students the support they need to excel academically and professionally. OPDC’s mission is to build a better Oakland and help neighbors thrive. Our vision is a community where a diverse mix of residents and visitors flourish. We can do more to ensure that our programs serve all members of our community, and we can do better to get diverse input.
OPDC has formed a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee comprised of board members and staff. We commit to an organizational overhaul to impact at least these areas: 1) staff diversity/organizational culture; 2) board and committee diversity and leadership development; and 3) community outreach/engagement/programming to include Black and Brown resident involvement to design program delivery to meet their needs. Our goal for the Diversity Equity & Inclusion plan is to ensure that at OPDC people feel heard, supported, and valued. We recognize that this anti-racism work requires a long term commitment to constant, ongoing reflection, learning, and evolution.
As a first step, the committee will convene roundtables and community listening sessions to get input from the community and express “We don’t know what we don’t know, we want to learn more, we want to know more.” We aim to cultivate new diverse board candidates and new members of committees within the organization. We also hope to identify concrete investments OPDC can make to support anti-racism work here in our community.
We welcome new voices to the table, and we will listen. We need new voices to do our best work.
As the community development organization for Oakland, we are committed to listening to the community to learn how we can do more to help combat systems of oppression and inequality, and to dismantle structural racism. Our purpose is to lift the community voice, and to ensure everyone can be heard. We need to do better to fully realize that for all members of our community.
We invite you, the community, to reach out to us for any support you might need, or feedback you’d like to provide. Our contact email is questions@opdc.org.
As an organization committed to racial equity and social justice, we cannot stay silent about the arrest of the Black Lives Matter protester on Saturday August 15th by Pittsburgh Police. This arrest happened in our neighborhood, around the corner from our office at the intersection of Forbes Avenue and South Bouquet Street. Although we would have concerns if this happened anywhere in the city, OPDC is compelled to speak up about injustices in our community.
We condemn the Police tactics in that incident and call for an immediate end to their use. We appreciate the response from Mayor Peduto formally banning jump-out arrests of protesters by non-uniformed officers in unmarked police cars and making changes to the Special Response Teams, and hope that these verbal commitments are reflected through action as well.
Black, Young and Educated are protesting peacefully for police accountability in an effort to make our city a safer place for Black people. Police actions against protesters highlight the need for this movement and a drastic change in policing in this country. We can only build a better Oakland if that Oakland is a safe place for everyone no matter their race.