Abundant

Oakland

The Problem:

Oakland is a beautiful city filled with diverse, vibrant, and collaborative people. But we’re held back by a deep legacy of broken systems: inaccessible housing, overwhelmed schools, unsafe streets, and ineffective government that struggles to deliver core services. Too often local policy priorities are driven by the interests of the small minority of Oakland’s 400,000 residents. These groups, whether organized capital—business groups—or organized labor—unions—play an important role in our democratic process, but they need to be properly balanced with the needs of everyday citizens.

In addition to narrow interest capture, government staff is weighed down by well-intentioned but excessive or outdated procedures. As one example of many, Oakland schools will be asked to track 200 performance metrics this year. While we all agree OUSD needs to improve student outcomes, no organization—private or public—is capable of working towards 200 priorities simultaneously.  The combination of special interests and low government capacity result in outcomes like a school system that struggles to educate kids, public spaces that feel unsafe, and housing that is unaffordable for many residents

What we’re working on:

Abundant Oakland is our commitment to surfacing and supporting the leaders and ideas that can improve quality-of-life outcomes in Oakland. Abundant Oakland will push for change on behalf of people who believe in their city, want to raise families here and are committed to working for the long term to improve the Town they call home.