Earlier this fall, Jakada Imani was appointed to the Port of Oakland Commission. Oakland City Council will be voting on his appointment on Tuesday, October 18th. In this blog, Jakada shares his vision for the Port and invites the Ella Baker Center Community to support his appointment. I am stepping up to become the newest and youngest Commissioner for the Port of Oakland and I hope I can count on your support.  The Port Commission will play a key role in determining the future of our region’s economy, while working to heal a legacy of too much pain and too little promise for West Oakland.  I am writing to share my vision for the Port’s potential, my experiences growing up in Oakland and working in West Oakland, and to ask for your support. The Port of Oakland is the largest enterprise division for the City of Oakland. It supports thousands of jobs in the region and nationwide. It is also adjacent to West Oakland, a community that has long suffered from exceedingly high rates of air pollution, unemployment and neglect. The task of strengthening the Port is inextricably linked to improving the lives of the residents of West Oakland. Most Port leaders have been aware of this link, and some have worked to address it. For decades West Oakland residents have been told that the Port is working to reduce harmful emissions and improve air quality, yet children in the surrounding neighborhoods still suffer from disproportionate rates of asthma. Port expansions and renovations have come with the promise of jobs and economic development opportunities for residents of our city, but time after time we have seen more broken dreams than promises kept. As the nation’s fifth busiest port, in the state with the eighth biggest economy in the world, the Port of Oakland represents hope. Hope for both our city’s most vulnerable residents and our region’s displaced workers. And hope for our city’s recovery and the region’s struggling economy.  Over the next few years we have the chance to leverage the development of the Oakland Army Base and the governance of the Port in general to begin to honor past promises, clean up the environment, and create economic opportunities for generations.  But this is not a given.  Without effective leadership rooted in experience, vision and values, we risk watching the promise of collective gain become a zero sum game, again. I am an Oakland native and a life-long Oakland activist. I have spent my entire professional career working to improve the lives of the people of our city and our region. As a youth organizer and educator, I worked to empower young people to be a part of solutions to the problems of violence, incarceration and joblessness. As an aide to Councilmember Nadel, I focused most of my attention in West Oakland, and I worked to  build community infrastructure that could effectively win jobs and create health and wealth for residents in the district. Twelve years ago, I joined the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights to organize for peace, justice and opportunity for communities of color and low-income Californians. Four years ago I became the Ella Baker Center’s Executive Director. I manage a staff of 25 employees and a budget over $2.2 million. Under my leadership, Ella Baker Center has doubled the organizational reserve funds, grown annual organizational budget by 20 percent and continued to win real change for real people. In the last two years I created and launched the Soul of the City Campaign to increase civic participation among young adults in Oakland and engage hundreds of residents in community service projects to improve our neighborhoods and schools. I also founded Heal the Streets which trains dozens of young people from the community and strengthens the voice of youth in the development of local violence prevention strategies. I also co-founded and helped lead Oakland Rising, an alliance working to shift the electorate of Oakland to reflect the population of the city. We do more than talk the talk; we walk Oakland, organize Oakland, and fight for Oakland. I have spent the last 6 years of my career working to create an economy that puts our planet and its people before profit, while broadening prosperity. One of my most proud achievements at the Ella Baker Center is creating the Oakland Green Jobs Corp and helping to pass the nation’s first Green Jobs Act. That legislation put $125 million into green job training programs across the country. I helped pass dozens of bills in the California Capitol and forged relationships with the leadership of both houses of the State Legislature. In the last two years, I also helped lead two successful statewide campaigns. Last fall, I was a leader in Communities United Against the Dirty Energy Proposition/No on 23, a successful campaign that brought together community, organized labor, businesses, venture capitalists, and environmentalists in a large, diverse coalition that defeated Texas Oil. No one thought that we could beat Big Oil, but we pursued smart coalition politics, building relationships that yielded results – and we did the work and won. Many of my efforts have focused on creating pathways out of poverty.  My commitment to do this work was born out of personal experience. I grew up during the height of the local crack cocaine epidemic.  Drug addiction wreaked havoc in my family and community. The “war on drugs” only made matters worse.  I’ve lost loved ones to drugs, to bullets, to homelessness and to prison. My family went from stable to struggling to barely getting by. I am the only one of my three brothers that has been able to work and live in the city where we were born. Today, as a father of four, I want to make sure my children never wonder about their day-to-day survival. I want them to feel secure in their home, their community and this city. After 10 years of West Oakland living, two of my four girls have asthma. I know that we have a long way to go, but they strengthen my resolve to never give up. If given the opportunity to serve on the Port Commission, I will bring the same passion and commitment to this job as I do to all of my work to lift up Oakland’s communities. I would love to have your support, to partner with you, and to work together to bring Oaklanders the clean environment, healthy and economic opportunities we all deserve. Please join me Tuesday, October 18, at Oakland City Council Chambers, 1 Frank Ogawa Plaza (3rd floor). The meeting begins with ceremonial presentations and public comment at 5:30, and the official agenda at 6:30. My appointment, alongside the re-appointment of Commissioner Victor Uno, is item #12. Please come prepared to stay for the evening. If you are unable to attend, please call Council President Reid and your Councilmember to urge support. Find out whose District you live in here. Make one call to voice your support for my appointment. Thank you. Council President Larry Reid – 238-7007 Jane Brunner – 238-7001 Pat Kernighan – 238-7002 Nancy Nadel – 238-7003 Libby Schaaf – 238-7004 Ignacio De La Fuente – 238-7005 Desley Brooks – 238-7006 Rebecca Kaplan – 238-7008