Women

Trade jobs fair helps give young women skills for the construction field

As about 270 young women stepped off the school charter buses and onto the Drywall and Lathers and Carpenters Training Center in Hayward California, they excitedly talked about the different workshops set up for them. Students crowded the booths, all anxiously waiting to receive their construction goggles and begin the day. This year marked the 3rd Annual Women Can Build Career Skilled Trades Fair, an all-day event for women to gain hands-on experience and learn about the opportunities available in the…

African American Female Excellence Program hosts first Black Girl Power Conference

The chant of “Black girl power!” chant echoed throughout a room filled with purple balloons and ribbons early Saturday morning. More than 100 girls and their mothers, teachers, mentors—and one father—filled an auditorium on the Mills College campus for the first Black Girl Power Conference hosted by the African American Female Excellence Program (AAFE). The AAFE is a new initiative from the Oakland Unified School District’s (OUSD) Office of Equity. The initiative’s goal is to increase the academic achievement of…

In Oakland, women take the lead as Airbnb hosts

Cynthia Mackey, a 56-year-old self-employed digital marketer, loves to talk about Airbnb. She laughs and smiles, growing excited as she talks about the joy that comes from opening up her home in Oakland’s Adams Point to a world of strangers. Mackey started hosting for Airbnb, an online international marketplace for booking accommodations, in July, 2013. She purchased her 3-bedroom home 18 years ago with her brother. They used to rent out the basement in-law unit. But when her brother moved…

Thousands turn out for Women’s March Oakland to support women, human rights

Despite the gloomy weather, tens of thousands gathered at Madison Park near downtown Oakland on Saturday to participate in one of the three branches of Women’s March Bay Area, a demonstration to support women and human rights. The three Bay Area marches—in Oakland, San Francisco and San Jose—are among the more than 600 locally-organized “sister marches” of the Women’s March on Washington, which is now expected to draw as many as half a million participants. The marches are nonpartisan and…

Bay Area not immune from post-election attacks on immigrants, Muslims

A truck driver in Millbrae chased a Hispanic woman down the street screaming slurs. A university researcher living in Albany, California, was confronted with swastikas on her way to work at UC Berkeley. A mosque in San José received a letter threatening to “cleanse” Muslims from the country. All of these incidents took place after the election—and in each case, the perpetrators explicitly linked their racial hatred to the election of Donald Trump. Following Trump’s November win, the nation has…

#TriviaSoWhite: Exploring trivia culture in Oakland through the eyes of women of color

“What is the name of the type of whiskey that is named after a fast sailboat?” It’s Wednesday night at Room 389—trivia night, to be exact. Scattered throughout the dimly-lit watering hole are teams of no more than six, some clustered at the bar and high-top tables, some standing with answer sheets in hand, and others fortunate to be sitting at a booth. It’s round IV—the final round—and a team called Joan and The Scammers are contending for the number…

Sandra Johnson needs a job: Finding work after incarceration

Sandra Johnson needs a job, desperately. The formerly incarcerated 59-year-old Oakland woman is now a City College of San Francisco student, but needs to find work as well.

In June, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously in favor of establishing a new re-entry hiring program that aims to create 1,400 county job opportunities for the formerly incarcerated.