PLAN is Stabilizing!

As many organizations adjust to the impact of coronavirus spread in our communities, Bay Area PLAN made a call to action to help us stabilize in June 2020. We are so pleased to announce that through the generous support of our community and our philanthropic partners, we accomplished our goal! We raised over $19,000 this summer to support our operations.

A special thanks to East Bay Community Foundation, Californians for Justice, Community Vision, East Oakland Building Healthy Communities and the Jongco Family for contributing to our re stabilization fund! We continue to aim to keep our East Oakland Leadership Center in Eastmont Mall because we are committed to stay in East Oakland!

It’s not too late to help us stabilize for the coming weeks. Just like you, we are looking at the deep divide in our country and preparing to support our parent leaders and communities to stand for our values. This is why we are excited to relaunch our monthly donors Leadership Circle. We need every contribution possible to continue to develop the leadership of parents to transform schools.

We are grateful to our community for your support. Together, we are getting closer to building strong public schools everyday! 

COVID-19 Updates for our community!

Here’s a rundown of what PLAN has been up to this fall! 

• Hired 2 new parent organizers! One organizer who speaks Arabic and the other is the organizer who is organizing the Black families we work with.

• Successfully conducted 10 phone banking sessions between Oct 2-7th connecting with over 300 families in 3 languages! 

• School Site Council trainings were conducted to develop the leadership of parents at the school side level

• Parent meetings have been happening every week in English, Spanish and Arabic 

• The Summit and Forum of parents with over 100 participants in total.

The Black Cultural Zone Trusted Voices Campaign

What is it about?

• Bay Area PLAN is proud to partner with The Black Cultural Zone to launch The Black Cultural Zone Trusted Voices Campaign - a communications effort aimed at providing the community with updates on what is happening with the reopening of schools in Oakland.

What will be achieved?

• The Black Cultural Zone representative, Nehanda Imara, Bay Area PLAN parent organizers, Adrian Grays, Talmera Richardson, and executive director, Pecolia Manigo, came together for a conversation about what it will take to reopen schools safely. We are advocating for the rights parents have at this time and are sharing various resources available for parents.

How you can get involved!

• We must make sure that parents have a choice in keeping their children home and continuing distance learning. We are also concerned about the challenges faced by SPED children and families, and how racism is still showing up throughout zoom classes. Watch our zoom conversation to learn how you can become involved in the campaign! 

Updates on the Thriving Family Fund

Since the spring, PLAN has been working to support families with resources to help them make it through the pandemic. Through the Thriving Families Fund, we’ve offered $500 to our PLAN parent leaders and their families as they face short-term emergencies. We’re proud to share that so far we have redistributed over $45,000 to our community members. 

We are thankful that even during this difficult year, PLAN has still shown up and shown out for our families and parent leaders!

Learn more about the Thriving Family Fund here.