Ella Baker Center

“He is an incredible bridge-builder,” Esperanza Tervalon-Daumont, the Executive Director of Oakland Rising, an organization that works on social justice issues, with which Imani was also involved.

"Movements are bigger than organizations, and they are bigger than individuals,” said Jakada Imani."

Jakada Imani was sworn in as the newest member of the Oakland Port Board of Commissioners Tuesday night, joining a seven-person governing body in charge of the city's largest economic engine.

This Thursday, Ella Baker Center will celebrate its 15th anniversary. I sat down with Imani, 39, who was born and raised in Oakland, to talk about the nonprofit's mission, how it has evolved, and what he sees as the organization's key priorities moving forward.

Van Jones —who cut his teeth as a grassroots activist using hip-hop as a tool to engage youth in social change around issues like police brutality, education, and incarceration via his organization, the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights—turned his attention to green jobs as a way of alleviating dual issues of America’s environmental neglect and chronic joblessness in urban America and beyond.