Growing our Board As you likely know, the Council just turned 30 years old! We’re expanding our purview to work across the entire Bay Area and we are experiencing growth and transition at both the staff and governance levels. We’d like to introduce you to our wonderful new board members! Robert Phillips Robert [...]
New Look, New Website, Same Council Today we’re proud to unveil our new look. After thirty years we thought it was time to rethink our our image, as many of you have suggested. So here it is! As of today we have a fresh new logo, our first ever Style Guide, a whole swag of [...]
Holding Investors Accountable in Oakland This is an excerpt from a new report by the Urban Institute featuring some of our work, get it here. Following the foreclosure crisis, Oakland, CA, faced a serious problem with vacant buildings. Vacant properties, particularly if not well maintained, can affect the safety and quality of life in a [...]
Building the Prison to School Pipeline Campus-based Support Programs for Formerly Incarcerated College Students College can break the cycle of recidivism and transform formerly incarcerated individuals into community leaders and role models, according to a report from UC Berkeley’s School of Law. But what is being done locally to ensure that justice involved students can [...]
A Year In Reflection from our CEO, David A Harris On June 15, 2017, Urban Strategies Council celebrated its new CEO, David A. Harris with a reflection on his first year at the Council. Our iconic founder, Angela Glover Blackwell, led a conversation with David and we wanted to share some highlights from his vision [...]
Thoughts on the Unnatural Occurrence of Cheap Housing First posted on Shelterforce online/print. CDCs and affordable housing developers have an opportunity to prevent displacement, preserve affordability, and improve the habitability of neglected housing. An under-maintained apartment building in Oakland, California. Photo courtesy of Steve King The term NOAH, or “naturally occurring affordable housing,” [...]
In this episode of "Beyond the Headlines," ABC7s Ama Daetz sits down with local black leaders to talk about important issues affecting our local communities. The interview includes our CEO along with Sheryl Evans Davis of the SF Human Rights Commission, and Professor Zahrah Farmer of Laney College.
How We Create Opportunities For Youth In May, delegates from Urban Strategies Council attended the Aspen Institute’s Opportunity Youth Incentive Fund Convening in Boston, Massachusetts. At the Council, we’ve been focused on opportunity youth (people aged 18-24 who are disconnected from school and work) for the past few years. This interview with our CEO David [...]
Learning from Boston, in the spring One of the things I’ve grown to appreciate, is the value that each of us has in the lives of each other. Shortly before our trip to Boston to meet with other Opportunity Youth partners, I began to express to colleagues, family, and friends that I would be going [...]
Victories in Probation Terms, Jobs and Funds for Justice The Justice Reinvestment Coalition of Alameda County (JRC) is continuing to achieve real wins for justice and opportunity in our county. The changes brought about by this coalition are critical in establishing just policies that ensure formerly incarcerated people have a chance to thrive, get quality [...]
