Akonadi Foundation is investing audaciously in people of color-led organizing, base-building and policy advocacy to end the criminalization
of Black youth and youth of color in Oakland.
The initiative invests in an ecosystem of movement organizations that are mobilizing directly impacted people to win and implement police free schools, reimagine school safety and school discipline, close youth prisons, and realize other critical efforts to transform youth justice in Oakland.
All in for Oakland grant partners have worked for decades to hold people in power accountable and cultivate the power and agency of young people and families who have been criminalized by the education and juvenile justice systems. And they are winning.
All in for Oakland is using the following approach:
Resisting.
systems of incarceration and punishment that criminalize Black youth and youth of color.
Reimagining.
the youth justice and youth development system, school discipline and safety in schools.
Restoring.
the freedom and futures of Black youth and youth of color.
In 2021, All in for Oakland grant partners will push forward on the following strategic priorities:
- Movement building and organizing – Organize directly impacted people to lead systems-change through culture and healing-centered base building.
- Research – Inform and advance strategy and power analysis of each campaign.
- Organizational capacity – Employ technical assistance to fortify leadership and organizational capacity.
- Policy advocacy – Lead policy campaigns aimed at advancing long-term systems change.
Oakland’s movement leaders and organizations are being summoned like never before to build and sustain power. We know that grassroots leaders and directly impacted people hold the solutions, and we aim to mobilize our peers in philanthropy to ensure that organizers and advocates have the resources and power required to win. Philanthropy has a major role to play in supporting these efforts. Targeted investments are critical to ensure that Oakland’s organizers build and maintain the power to win lasting change for our communities.