SoBEO Interview with Dr. Clifford Thompson

State of Black Education Oakland (SoBEO), a collective co-founded by our founder Dirk Tillotson, is gathering information from the Oakland public education community about the state of Black education in Oakland through a survey we developed. (We would love to hear from you, please take five minutes to complete it!) With the 2024 election right around the corner,…


Black Every Month: SoBEO June Newsletter

Juneteenth is different this year. A pivotal moment in US history, yet so often overlooked, is now a national holiday. Here in Oakland, we have a brand new Black Panther Party museum opening on Juneteenth, right where the life of the legendary Huey P. Newton was taken. But don’t get it twisted. Juneteenth did not free us. Freedom, then as now is…


The Oakland REACH is taking on the digital divide #REACHforMore

By Lakisha Young, Executive Director, The Oakland REACH There’s no doubt this has been a really hard time for black and brown families in Oakland. But WOW, yesterday, was awesome. And we really needed it. The Oakland REACH came together – in partnership with a block of black-owned businesses on MacArthur Boulevard – to distribute…


A Fremont High teacher fights for her students’ future and their access to the internet

Saying Fremont High School in East Oakland serves a high-needs student population is a severe understatement. That was true before COVID-19 exacerbated inequities and made life that much more difficult for students, and educating them that much more challenging for their teachers. “You have kids who are homeless, you have kids who are unaccompanied minors,…