2012 - A Year of Transformations: CCISCO

2012 - A Year of Transformations - CCISCO - Contra Costa Interfaith

Supporting Community Organization

PICO National Network

CCISCO is committed to building civic engagement and increasing public participation by those most affected by injustice and inequity in Contra Costa County We are a multi-racial multi-generational in-terfaith federationCCISCO helps everyday people win extraordinary victories by providing a vehicle for them to speak act and engage in public arenas We believe in the power of relationships and that by acting together on our common values we can imagine and create a new world Since 1996 we have been organizing a voice for jus-tice and equity in Contra Costa We are a multi-ethnic multi-generational interfaith federation of 25 congregations and youth institutions representing over 35000 families

CCISCO is a member of the PICO National Network and PICO California

PICO is a national network of faith-based community organizations working to create innovative solutions to problems facing urban suburban and rural communities Since 1972 PICO has successfully worked to increase access to health care improve public schools make neighborhoods safer build affordable housing redevelop com-munities and revitalize democracy PICO helps engage ordinary peo-ple in public life building a strong legacy of leadership in thousands of local communities across America

More than 40 different religious denominations and faith traditions are part of PICO With more than 1000 member institutions repre-senting one million families in 150 cities and 17 states as well as a growing international effort PICO is one of the largest community-based efforts in the United States Together we are lifting up a new vision for America that unites people across region race class and religion

ii

ldquoI have heard it said in social justice circles that community must appreciate in their ongoing fight for systemic fair treatment equality and accountability that they are not simply out numbered but more often they are out organized Finally an organization that organizes and teaches citizens how to stand up for itself fight the important battles and be successful CCISCO has added significant value to the

Richmond community and with an ambitious vision continues to contribute to its health and well-beingrdquo

Devone Boggan Director of the Office of Neighborhood Safety Richmond

ldquoCCISCO employs innovative thinking and strategies to address our countryrsquos mass deportation crisis caused by the entanglement of local law enforcement with federal immigration authorities CCISCO set itself apart through its vision effective organizing and ability to unite and

not divide the immigrant community with other communities of color This has not only resulted in local solutions that stop the further criminalization of immigrants but in solutions that address the source of criminalization for all communities of color -- mass incarceration

CCISCOrsquos sets a state and national example of how the immigrant rights advocacy can be strengthened and work towards justice for our entire communityrdquo

Angie Junck Supervising Attorney Immigrant Legal Resource Center

ldquoIt is such a pleasure to work with all the caring people at CCISCO I know when we put our thoughts and energy into an issue to help our communities together we can and do make a difference Thank You for all your hard workrdquo

Jim Frazier California State Assembly - District 11

ldquoI am currently working on a concept called the Moses Moment The Moses Moment is the sacred moment when the burning in our hearts intersects with a faith summons to address situations where human life is being limited by oppression and dehumanization The Moses

Moment is a response to that experience by speaking truth to power in particular the power that lies latent within common people to challenge the power assumptions of the status quordquo

This past year I witnessed a Moses Moment in the varied activities of CCISCO CCISCO an amazing collect of common people responded to the power assumptions of the status quo and engaged the community in powerful experiences of social transformation It was nothing less than the sacred to witness a shift in a move to build a jail into investing in people It was nothing less than sacred to witness a radical drop in gun violence as the people experienced their own sense of empowerment It was nothing less than sacred to witness massive voter turnout with the passing of Proposition 30 I am humbled to have been an eyewitness to a Moses Moment within the city of Richmond and Contra

Costa County Out of the Moses Moment experienced with CCISCO I now know as stated by the social scientist Cynthia Kaufman that a vision of the world that includes the possibility for change requires a major orientation in how we see the world

Reverend Dr Alvin Bernstine - Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church Richmond

iii

THANK YOU TO OUR MEMBER CONGREGATIONS

Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church-Richmond Easter Hill United Methodist Church-Richmond Reach Fellowship International-North Richmond St Markrsquos Catholic Church-Richmond Temple Baptist Church-Richmond Word Impact Christian Center-Richmond St Josephrsquos Catholic Church-Pinole Safe Return Project-Richmond Lafayette-Orinda Presbyterian Church Queen of All Saints-Concord St Francis of

Assisi-Concord Antioch Christian Center Antioch Church Family Community Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh First Baptist Church of Pittsburg Holy Rosary Catholic Church-Antioch Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church-Brentwood St Anthonyrsquos Catholic

Church-Oakley St Ignatius Catholic Church-Antioch St Peter Martyr Catholic Church-Pittsburgh

THANK YOU TO OUR MAJOR FUNDERS

The California Endowment YampH Soda Foundation James Irvine Foundation Robert Woods Johnson Foundation The San Francisco Foundation Walter and Elise Haas Sr Foundation Dean amp Margaret Lesher Foundation

PICO California Crescent Porter Hale Kaiser Permanente

iv

Table of Contents

2012 A Year of Transformations - Rev Dr Ronald Burris 6

2012 Community Victories 9

1 - Let My People Vote 10

2 - Invest in People Not Prisons 14

3 - Keep Families United 17

4 - Ceasefire Lifelines to Healing 20

5 - Freedom and Opportunity for Immigrant Families and Youth 22

6 - Keeping Families in Their Homes 24

7 - Building the Beloved Community 26

8 - CCISCO in the News 28

v

The past year has witnessed incredible transformations that are credible signs of the power of people of faith to transform the world from despair and disparity into hope and opportunity We have been blessed to wit-ness a great awakening of a great spirit of humility mercy and justice across our region and country We have seen those people most impacted by oppression and injustice link arms and work together to build a new future that is founded on freedom opportunity healing and redemption

2012 - A YEAR OF TRANSFORMATIONS

We witnessed the tenacious dedication of clergy and community leaders who walk every week in the neighborhoods most impacted by gun violence to deliver a message of hope and healing Once considered one of the most violent cities in the country Richmond is now being lifted up as a model for the region as cities across the Bay Area as homicides and injury shootings decreased over 30 in 2012

We rejoiced at the passage of the California Homeowner Bill of Rights this past July which provides some of the strongest legal protections in the country to ensure that families can fairly negoti-ate to save their homes

After more than a decade of fighting for freedom and opportunity for immigrant youth we celebrated the announcement of ldquode-ferred actionrdquo and CCISCO youth leaders launched CLOUD (Community Leaders Organizing Undocumented DREAMers) a new vehicle to tell their own stories and build a strategy to renew

our democracy and fight for citizenship for all aspiring Ameri-cans

This past year CCISCO leaders also helped over 1600 immi-grant youth in Contra Costa apply for their new legal status Across the region families courageously fought to stay together and we won agreements for new policies to stop the separation of immigrant families

We built a powerful and prophetic campaign that urged our pub-lic officials to Invest in People Not Prisons We are grateful that Contra Costa County was the first county in California to with-draw a proposed jail expansion and is now creating meaningful opportunities to strengthen our communities by investing in serv-ices housing and employment for people coming home from in-carceration

Finally against overwhelming odds we witnessed one of the most powerful expressions of faith in our shared destiny as

7

hundreds of volunteers worked tirelessly to breathe new life into our democracy and help expand the electorate and pass Proposition 30 which turns back decades of disinvestment in our children families and schools CCISCO and PICO leaders organized the largest volunteer-led civic engagement and alongside our allies in labor and community we helped to move over 16 million ldquoinfrequentrdquo voters to the polls on election day

We know that there are great challenges ahead and that there is a fierce urgency to continue all of the work we have begun We also want to take the time to celebrate and share the tremendous work of

hand heart and spirit and the thousands of clergy and leaders who allowed themselves to be instruments of Godrsquos peace healing and justice this past year

Regards

Rev Dr Ronald Burris Pastor Temple Baptist Church - Richmond CA and Associate Professor American Baptist Seminary of the West Berkeley CA

On behalf of the CCISCO Board of Directors

8

The past year has witnessed incredible transformations that are credible signs of the power of people of faith to transform the world from despair and dis-parity into hope and opportu-nity

2012 COMMUNITY VICTORIES

9

Moved Contra CostaCounty to allocate over $4035 Million

to be used for housing jobs and services for formerly incarcerated

people in Contra Costa County

We helped Contra Costa become the first county in the state of California to defeat a jail expansion under

realignment

With 250 volunteers we led the largest civic engagement campaign in Contra Costa - We touched 116000 voters we identified 28000 votes and we helped move 8000 people to the polls to help

pass PROP 30

We led over 80 night walks in Richmond and East county

with more than 2000 participants standing for Peace every week This

helped to decrease homicides and injury shoot-ings by more than 30 in

Richmond in 2012

We organized 8 DACA workshops with over 1600 people in attendance and we helped more than 200

DREAMers apply for Deferred Action

After 4 years of campaigns to end the foreclosure

crisis our worked helped to lay the ground work for the

passage of the Home Owners Bill of Rights in California which was

passed this year

1 - LET MY PEOPLE VOTE HOW COMMUNITY ORGANIZING HELPED TO SAVE CALIFORNIA AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR THE FUTURE OF OUR DEMOCRACY

iexclA Votar mi gente Were out here to get our voices heard because we are the future and because we cant vote as DREAMers we have to cast our votes in the street and the people we are helping to turn out to vote are our voice

- Mikisli Reyes Karina Brenes and Juan Reyes - CLOUD -Community Leaders Organizing Undocumented Dreamers

On November 2 2012 Californians voted to approve ballot Propo-sition 30 marking the first time in over 30 years that Californians voted to approve a measure to raise revenue and invest in our public infrastructure This campaign represents a critical turning point in California history Despite broad acknowledgement that failure to pass Prop 30 would result in devastating cuts to our schools and universities all of the major public opinion polls pointed to a defeat the week before the election The measure had been battered by millions of dollars spent on attack ads financed by some of the wealthiest ideologues in America including Charles Munger and the Koch brothers

So what happened One of the largest community-led civic engagement efforts in the history of California helped to identify over 16 million ldquoinfrequentrdquo voters who came out in favor of Proposition 30 CCISCO helped to lead the largest volunteer effort in Contra Costa County and contacted 133000 voters and identified 27000 ldquoinfrequentrdquo voters to come out and vote for Proposition As a part of PICO California we helped to lead the largest volunteer-led civic engagement effort in California as a part of the Reclaim Californiarsquos Future alliance

After decades of investment in shrinking the electorate the Reclaim Californiarsquos Future movement demonstrated what is possible when everyday Americans work together and urge

11

ldquoWe won in passing Prop 30 but in reality we won so much more- Juan Zaragoza - CLOUD

people to vote their values Californians withstood one of the largest ldquovoter sup-pressionrdquo efforts to confuse and frustrate voters and instead they voted for a future founded on redemption and opportunity

CCISCO and PICO California clergy and leaders fought hard to ensure that this measure would be on the ballot and urged Governor Jerry Brown to negotiate with our allies supporting the Millionairersquos Tax and we celebrated this historic com-promise in April when over 300 clergy met with Governor Brown and launched our campaign to build a ldquoLand of Oppor-tunityrdquo in California We gathered the largest number of volunteer signatures to ensure that Proposition 30 would be on the ballot We then built our infrastruc-ture to run a highly effective and account-able civic engagement campaign that would focus on expanding the electorate and reaching out to voters who are tradi-tionally ignored by the political elites immigrants people of color Spanish-speakers and youth We invested in the training and develop our community leaders to tell their own story of opportu-nity to help inspire voters around the country

Over 300 people volunteered for the campaign in Contra Costa County and dozens of volunteers made thousands of phone calls every night utilizing a sophis-ticated pdialer system that allowed a volunteer to speak with hundreds of voters during a two hour shift Every weekend we walked precincts with historically low voter turnout to build relationships with voters across the county Entire families high school students immigrants DREAMers formerly incarcerated citizens voting in their first election all participated as a reflection of the beautiful mosaic of our community and democracy

In the end well-organized people power was able to prevail over the wealthiest people in the country through disciplined organization intense commitment and inspiring people to invest in our shared future On election day we contacted over 6000 voters in Contra Costa County alone and knocked on over two thou-sand doors in cities across the region

ldquoWe won in passing Proposition 30rdquo shared Juan Zaragoza a CCISCO De-mocracy Fellow ldquoBut in reality we won so much morerdquo Indeed community organizing and grassroots community

12

leaders helped to demonstrate what is possible when we invest in expanding the electorate and focus on the common good and our shared future

For a Summary of our civic engagement campaign see our Let My People Vote Page on Pinterest

13

2 - INVEST IN PEOPLE NOT PRISONS

ldquoA society that invests in bail reform human services housing and jobs for ex-offenders makes community based solutions an obligation and safe return and reintegration an expectation This is good news for the people of Contra Costa County In committing our souls and resources to investing in people not prisons we are following the leading of Jesus and fulfilling the gospel mandate to make lifting the lives of the least of these our highest priorityrdquo

- Reverend Kamal Hassan

Contra Costa County made history this year and attracted national attention as the first county in the state of California to defeat a proposed jail expansion during a period when 22 of the 23 largest counties in California have proposed jail expansions over the past two years AB 109 the new state realignment policy was developed to respond the revolving door to prison evidenced by the nearly 70 recidivism rate and the Supreme Court decree to resolve the prison overcrowding crisis Many counties have failed to follow the mean-ing of AB109 when instead of creating programs for people coming home from prison to reduce recidivism they instead have chosen to use AB109 funds to build more prison space

Contra Costa County is the first and only county in California to with-draw from a proposed jail expansion and is leading the way in pio-neering innovative strategies to improve public safety and reduce recidivism A broad movement of faith leaders formerly incarcerated residents civil rights organizations service providers and public safety officials aligned in Contra Costa to build momentum for this significant shift CCISCO and the Safe Return Project alongside the Community Advisory Board for the CCP the Re-entry Solutions Group the League of Women VotersRichmond Progressive Alliance and many other organizations have helped to build a powerful pub-lic voice for investing in people and redemption and not mass incar-ceration

CCISCO the Safe Return Project and our allies packed early morning meetings for over six months to advance an agenda to cre-ate opportunities for people coming home from prison After months of community involvement and testimony at these monthly meetings of the Contra Costa Community Corrections Partnership (CCP) State Senator Loni Hancock stated in September ldquoI hope everyone

realizes what a tribute to democracy this whole process has been I am in awe of this community and the testimony youve given and the fact that it is really coming together with such promise for develop-ing a whole new system The whole promise of AB109 is not to replicate the failed system of the state level but to build a new sys-tem that will break the cycle of crime and poverty and violence and put people on another track Everybody talks about it almost nobody has done it successfully and it sounds to me like Contra Costa is on the road to doing it successfully You will make history if you do that you will be a model for other places that are struggling with these tough issuesrdquo

Finally in early December CCP approved $4035 million dollars that will be invested in community partnerships to develop programs for prisoners in jail and those coming home including peer mentoring several one-stop information centers and a pretrial partnership between service providers and the probation department to lower the number of prisoners who are in jail but have yet to be sentenced

Contra Costa Public Defender Robin Lipetzky introduced the motion and helped to champion the measure which passed 6 to 1 with unanimous and broad-based public support

This is about the community stepping up and making its voice heard Public Defender Lipetzky stated to supporters and press af-terwards You answered the call you developed solid proposals based on real research and evidence This is a credit to your in-volvement and we are excited about moving forward

Formerly incarcerated residents played a critical role in shifting the perception about how to improve public safety and reduce recidi-vism Leaders of the Safe Return Project played a critical role in

15

ldquoI hope everyone realizes what a tribute to democracy this whole process has been I am in awe of this community and the testimony youve given and the fact that it is really coming together with such promise for developing a whole new system The whole promise of AB109 is not to replicate the failed system of the state level but to build a new system that will break the cycle of crime and pov-erty and violence and put people on another trackrdquo- California State Senator Loni Hancock

organizing a powerful voice to challenge the dominant narrative that says people of color are inherently violent and incapable of change

This is about people that look like me having a chance at redemption and opportunity Lavern Vaughn founding member of the Safe Return Project stated during the press briefing after the vote All of us have made mistakes and none of us are without fault We all deserve a chance to rebuild our lives

For a More in Depth Report See Invest in Peo-ple Not Prisons Building Strategic Capacity to end Mass Incarceration in Contra Costa County and California

For a Summary of the News Coverage on Our Jail Campaign See our Scoopit and Pinterest Pages

16

KEEP FAMILIES UNITED ENDING MASS DEPORTATION IN CONTRA COSTA

3

Another landmark in this process was the alliance between immigrants and criminal justice advocates CCISCO leaders built alliances that acknowledged the linkages between mass incarcera-tion and mass deportations and pushed a common agenda to reduce the prison population through bail reform investing in evidence-based strategies to reduce recidivism and stopping the incarceration of immigrants as a result of immigration holds

As a result of the sustained community pressure Contra Costa Sheriff David Livingston voluntarily offered to remove a proposed expansion to the West County Detention Facility from the conversa-tion Responding to the powerful public testimony presented at

these meetings Livingston also announced his desire to change Contra Costas policy to cooperate with US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and its secure communities program Contra Costa currently holds undocumented immigrants in custody for ICE Livingston further stated I do not believe that it is in the inter-est of public safety to lock up low-level and non-violent offendersrdquo

At CCISCO we believe that families are the sacred foundation of our broader community We cannot build healthy and thriving com-munities when children are separated from their families through mass incarceration or deportations ldquoWhat can we hope of a society that is torturing children because they are being separated from

18

ldquoWhat can we hope of a society that is torturing

children because they are being separated from their

parents by massive deportations and incarcerationsrdquo

- Nora Gonzales

their parents by massive deportations and incarcerationsrdquo said Nora Gonzales one of thousands of mothers who organ-ized to stop the deportation of their hus-bands last year

Over the past year CCISCO clergy and leaders have won significant reforms to help keep families united and have helped to demonstrate the human cost of misguided policies such as the federal Secure Communities program Through-out the course of the year CCISCO lead-ers organized to help prevent deporta-tions that would separate children from their families and helped to keep the Gonzales family united

Through the course of this campaign over 300 community residents partici-pated in trainings that exposed the abuses of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) policies of detaining and deporting immigrants who came into contact with the justice system We dis-covered that S-Comm has led to the de-portation of over 82000 residents of Cali-fornia - more than any other state Con-trary to this programrsquos stated goal of prioritizing serious felony offenders the vast majority of those deported--about 68--are categorized by ICE as either

ldquonon-criminalsrdquo or lower level offenders Even US citizens survivors of domestic violence and immigrants arrested only for selling street food without a permit have been unfairly detained due to S-Comm Contra Costa county has the highest number of deportations in north-ern California According to ICE IDENTIAFIS interoperability report through May 31st 2012 78 of the deportations in-volved people with non-criminal or minor level offenses

Through this campaign we were suc-cessful in forging powerful alliances be-tween African-Americans and immi-grants which helped us build a shared agenda around reform criminal justice and immigration policies that lead to mass incarceration and deportations and foster a climate of fear and mistrust We collaborated with the Richmond Police Department to craft a new detainer pol-icy which insures that non-violent immi-grants are not deported and in Novem-ber of 2012 began negotiations with Sher-iff David Livingston after he reversed his position and acknowledged the negative impact of detaining and deporting Con-tra Costa residents

19

CEASEFIRE LIFELINES TO HEALING4

Over the past year CCISCO clergy and leaders have helped to build a powerful movement for peace and healing in Richmond that is spreading across the county We helped to lead over 80 night and day walks in Richmond and across the county with more than 2000 participants volunteering over 4400 hours to build a powerful voice to keep our communities alive and free The Richmond Ceasefire-Lifelines to Healing movement is a community-led move-ment that aspires to reduce gun violence reduce recidivism and build opportunity for those most impacted by gun violence It is a broad-based collaboration between clergy community leaders for-merly incarcerated residents law enforcement and justice leaders and service providers The strategy is focused on delivering a clear message of accountability and opportunity to those individuals most involved with gun violence

Over the last year we engaged over 1200 Richmond residents through small group meetings in a public dialogue about the ldquocost of violencerdquo We heard stories deep pain and trauma but we also heard a resilient spirit that was hungry for change Over 240 resi-dents participated in training to learn about the Ceasefire-Lifelines strategy Every week a dedicated team of clergy and community leaders meet with law enforcement to help build trusting relation-ships and craft a shared strategy to transform Richmond

This past year we launched the Ceasefire-Lifelines to Healing ldquocall-insrdquo in Richmond which is a central component of the strategy where law enforcement and community leaders meet directly with those individuals most involved and impacted by gun violence CCISCO clergy and leaders helped to lead over 80 home visits and helped to host over 60 participants in four call-ins over the past nine months At the call-ins participants hear a message of love oppor-

tunity and accountability from clergy community leaders directly im-pacted by gun violence formerly incarcerated leaders and service providers They also hear a clear message of accountability from law enforcement officials who are meeting with individuals in one of the first encounters with law enforcement where they are not under investigation Participants are also partnered with community advo-cates and able to voice their concerns and share their needs and everyone is provided an opportunity to receive guided development to help them develop a life map and develop a plan to build a new life

Over the past year we have witnessed a powerful transformation among many of the participants and throughout the community Since we began the call-in strategy there has been over a 50 re-duction in injury shootings and homicides in Richmond and there was not a group-related homicide for the last nine months of 2012

In the wake of the tragic gun massacres from Aurora Colorado to Newtown Connecticut we are mindful that over 60 of all gun-related homicides occur in urban areas Tragic loss of young life oc-curs on a massive scale everyday across America Our work in Richmond is evidence that we can impact the gun violence epi-demic and we need broad collaborations that provide focused ac-countability and opportunity in urban centers across America We are committed to continuing and deepening this work until a spirit of peace and healing reigns in Richmond and across our country

For a Summary of the News Coverage on Ceasfire See our Scoopit Page for Ceasefire Lifelines to Healing

21

FREEDOM AND OPPORTUNITY FOR IMMIGRANT FAMILIES AND YOUTH 5

Our faith calls us to work to welcome the stranger in our midst CCISCO has fought to help immigrant families inte-grate into our communities and realize their aspirations to be recognized for their contributions to the American dream Immigrant children and families have been at the center of this work As part of this work we are honored that we helped over 150 immigrants become new citizens this year through our part-nership with the You Me We initiative in Oakley and with our allies at the Interna-tional Institute of the East Bay and Catho-lic Charities In addition we also suc-ceeded in passing a new policy in the City of Richmond which stopped the predatory confiscation of vehicles

For the past ten years we have worked hard to support the passage of the DREAM Act which would provide a path-way to citizenship for immigrant youth In June of this year President Obama announced ldquodeferred actionrdquo for DREAM-ers which would allow them to have pro-tected status over the next two years CCISCO youth leaders celebrated the opportunity and immediately went into action and formed CLOUD - Community Leaders Organizing Undocumented DREAMers as a new vehicle to tell their

own story and build a strategy to expand the circle of freedom and opportunity to all aspiring Americans

Over the past six months CCISCO and CLOUD along with our partners at Catho-lic Charities and the International Insti-tute held eight deferred action work-shops with over 1600 participants where youth and families learned how to apply for their new legal status More impor-tantly CLOUD leaders were able to come out of the shadows and tell their own stories and dreams of being fully recognized as citizens They touched the hearts and minds of the broader commu-nity about the need for pathways to citi-zenship for all aspiring Americans and played a vital role in helping to lead the largest civic engagement effort in the county They are poised to help lead a movement to provide citizenship for 11 million aspiring Americans in 2013

For a Summary of our News Coverage on CLOUD and Immigration Reform see our Pinterest and Scoopit pages

23

KEEPING FAMILIES IN THEIR HOMES6

For more than four years CCISCO leaders have been leading the battle to hold the largest and wealthiest banks accountable for their predatory practices They have helped to spark a national move-ment which has awakened our consciousness about growing chasm between rich and poor and the need to develop common-sense poli-cies to hold banks accountable for their abuses In 2012 we called on California Attorney General Kamala Harris and State Senator Mark DeSaulnier to join us in this important fight and they listened CCISCO leaders met regularly with Attorney General Harris to help negotiate a significant increase in the multi-state agreement which resulted in an additional $8 billion in relief for California homeown-ers including principal reduction and State Senator DeSaulnier intro-duced one of the key components of the California Homeowner Bill of Rights which PICO California and our allies in the ReFund Califor-nia coalition crafted with AG Harris

In July of 2012 despite tireless efforts of Wall Street lobbyists to de-feat and weaken our efforts Governor Jerry Brown signed the Cali-fornia Homeowner Bill of Rights into law This represents the largest expansion of legal protections for homeowners in the country and allows homeowners to file legal action in banks defraud them during the loan modification process

The California Homeowner Bill of Rights has already contributed to a significant decrease in unnecessary foreclosures and Contra Costa Countymdashonce the epicenter of the foreclosure crisis in the Bay Areamdashexperienced a 44 decrease in notices of default in 2012 We are now working alongside the Attorney Generalrsquos Office and our allies to help empower homeowners to take advantage of their new rights In addition we worked with Oakland Community Organi-zations and our allies at East Bay Housing Organizations and Com-

munity Housing Development Corporation of North Richmond to sup-port the development of a new mortgage buyback program in Oak-land (ROOT Restoring Ownership Opportunities Together) We hope to expand this innovative model to Contra Costa County in the coming year

It was more than four years ago when CCISCO leaders first gath-ered at Holy Rosary Church in Antioch to discuss how the commu-nity should respond to the foreclosure crisis engulfing Contra Costa From that first meeting our actions grew and our voices spread across the country After all these years of organizing and putting pressure on government and bank officials Governor Jerry Brown just signed into law landmark legislation that reforms banks foreclo-sure practices and creates a fairer foreclosure process for Califor-nias homeowners This legislation finally brings accountability to the banks for harmful foreclosure practices and allows homeowners to protect themselves from the commonplace violations that banks have exhibited in this foreclosure crisis

25

BUILDING THE BELOVED COMMUNITY STRENGTHENING MULTIRACIAL ALLIANCES 7

At CCISCO we are committed to building a beloved community where all people have a seat at the table of plenty We recognize that there are many divisions which continue to plague us and thwart our ability to come together around our shared values We are com-mitted to working for racial reconciliation and equity and that means creating spaces where people can see each other as children of God and fully human It means listening to each otherrsquos struggles respecting one anotherrsquos differences and knowing that the only way we can change this country is if we do it together In the hope of hearing each others stories and getting to know each other on a deeper level we organized a series of dialogues and trainings to be-gin this process and brought in Rev Alvin Herring of the PICO Na-tional Network to help lead a powerful daylong training in April

One of the most powerful moments of the event came when Andres Abara from the Safe Return Project and Andreacutes Velasco from St Paulrsquos Catholic Church talked about building unity between the Afri-

can American and Latino communities and reflected on the scripture from first Corinthians in the Christian Bible which states If one part suffers every part suffers if one part is honored every part rejoices with itrdquo Through our organizing Andres and I have built a fabulous relationship and somehow God has brought us together to be a symbol for the need of unity in Richmond Andres and I share a name and we share a common destiny When my brother Andres is hurt I suffer When my brother Andres loses his freedom and is separated from his family I suffer When my brother Andres finds op-portunity and work I rejoice This is how we need to live There are too many who would try to divide us with fear but our faith our hope and our love are stronger than that We are one Richmond We are one communityrdquo We are committed to continuing this dialogue to build a powerful and unified community where we are able to grow into our best selves and where everyone is valued and treated with dignity and respect

27

ldquoThere are too many who would try to divide us with fear but our faith our hope and our love are stronger than that We are one Richmond We are one communityrdquo

- Andres Abara

Throughout 2012 CCISCO took new strides in devel-oping story based narrative strategies as a central part of our organizing We instantly saw what it meant for our work to building messaging frameworks with leaders to prepare them to speak with media and to understand what communications strategy firm Smart Meme calls the ldquoBattle of the Storyrdquo The results of this work can be seen throughout this report and in the fol-lowing pages where we feature the media coverage of our civic engagement campaign our Invest in Peo-ple Not Prisons campaign with our Keep Families United work related to immigration reform and with Ceasefire LIfelines to Healing

During the year CCISCO was featured in over one hundred different stories published through print tele-vision web and radio media outlets Beyond amplify-ing these stories on our social media channels we also began curating our stories based on our major cam-paigns which helped reporters to better understand the complex issues we work on and this also served as a repository that the community could turn to as the stories about their lives their struggles and their victo-ries poured in

CCISCO IN THE NEWS

28

Let My People Vote

Formerly Incarcerated Men Encourage Others to Vote - By Rachel Witte - Richmond Confidential

Johnny Valdepena a 46-year-old Richmond resident who has spent more of his life in prison than out of it will vote for the first time next week It wouldnrsquot have happened he says without a lot of help and encouragement ndash and now he and his fellow Safe Return Project members want to spread that encouragement to others On a recent Saturday morning at Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church volun-

teers from the Safe Return Project and CLOUD CCISCOrsquos group of undocumented youth community activists gathered for the ldquoLet My People Voterdquo canvassing effort The aim of the day To encourage Richmondrsquos infrequent voters to show up to the polls on Nov 6

Valdepenarsquos path to participating in the democratic process was not an easy one His first arrest came at 15 he said and the next 30 years of his life were spent in and out of the prison system a revolv-ing door of six-month stints partnered with brief moments back on the street His gang affiliation and involvement in selling drugs inevi-

29

ldquoI go back in and try to pull the people out of darknessrdquo he said ldquoThe hurt the lost the gang membersrdquo He said he tells them ldquoYou remember when I was right there with you Look at me nowrdquo

- Johnny Valdepena Safe Return Project

tably placed him back behind bars and at one point Valdepena served 11 years straight for armed robbery

After doing time at Folsom Solano San Quentin and Lancaster by the end of 2008 Valdepena said that he had had enough

He called his brother

ldquoI want to clean uprdquo he said ldquoIrsquom over this I want to put it behind me and move forwardrdquo

After detoxing on his brotherrsquos couch Valdepena found salvation and faith at church services But his time in prison was not yet through

ldquoMe and my brother were watching Smackdown on a Friday night and the gang unit knocked on the doorrdquo he said Valdepena had vio-lated his parole when he failed to make an appearance at the parole office upon his most recent release from prison The officers took him back to San Quentin but this time for the first time Valdepena asked the prison for help He received counseling services and par-ticipated in a detox program He was ready for a second chance

Adam Kruggel executive director of CCISCO said he sees the im-pact that Valdepena can have on those who have been through simi-lar circumstances which is why the group is focusing its canvassing efforts on neighborhoods where voter turnout is low and many resi-dents have had their own experiences with law enforcement

ldquoWe think that there is a growing movement across the state and county where voters are saying we need to invest in alternatives to incarcerationmdashinvest in restoration and healingrdquo Kruggel said ldquoAnd Johnny is a powerful symbol of that movementrdquo

Since his release in 2009 Valdepena has taken the helping hand he was given in prison and extended it to Richmond and the neighbor-hood where he was once a criminal He said his opportunity for a second chance has inspired him to help others realize their own abil-ity to create change


Valdepena preaches a message of hope and change something he said draws him to support President Obama Many people in Rich-mondrsquos neighborhoods complain about needed improvements he said but nobody goes out and votes Who better to teach them about the importance of exercising that power than a formerly incar-cerated man he said

Come Election Day as he casts his first ballot Valdepena will have overcome some tough challenges mdash something he also appreciates about the president he said

ldquoAdversity is something I respectrdquo he said ldquoI truly believe when peo-ple tell you you canrsquot do something you need to use it as a stepping stone to show them you canrdquo

These days Valdepena lives in constant appreciation of his faith family and freedom mdash and his vote

ldquoIt does make a differencerdquo he said ldquoand my voice does need to be heardrdquo

30

Undocumented Youth Organize for Immigration Reform by Julie Brown - Richmond Confidential

Yazmin Martinez spent her Saturday morning in the Iron Triangle walking sidewalks littered with garbage and weeds knocking on doors and asking residents who donrsquot normally vote to show up at the polls this November She was encouraging voters to exercise their civic right because she cannot

Martinez is one of an estimated 5000 undocumented immigrants in Richmond according to a 2010 study by the Public Policy Institute

of California While Martinez doesnrsquot have a say in elections that doesnrsquot stop her from being politically active Martinez said that be-cause she cannot vote does not mean she canrsquot encourage other people to vote for the things she believes in

Shersquos not walking these streets alone Martinez recently joined a new group that is organizing undocumented youth who want to pursue comprehensive immigration reform

Days after a recent presidential decision to offer some undocu-mented immigrants immunity from deportation and work permits

31

Deferred action CLOUD organizers say is a step in that direction But the bigger-picture goal is permanent immigration reform

ldquoWe donrsquot want to just settle for thisrdquo said CLOUD member Jesus Gonzales 22 ldquoWe want real comprehensive immigra-tion reform So not only I can benefit but my parents my sister mdash anybody who deserves to be hererdquo

Carlos Martinez and Jose Juan Reyes decided to form Community Leaders Organizing Undocumented Dreamers or CLOUD to advo-cate for teenagers and young adults who want to apply for ldquodeferred actionrdquo While counseling youth through the process of applying for deferred action CLOUD is also training its members to volunteer and help others apply In two summer events that drew around 600 people the group provided information about deferred action and screened possible applicants

ldquoI got really inspired by seeing the work that they were doingrdquo said Jaquelin Valencia a 20-year-old leader in CLOUD ldquoI like community organizing and I think thatrsquos what got my attention I want to do what theyrsquore doing I want to informrdquo

More than 40 ldquodreamersrdquo attended a CLOUD meeting in late Septem-ber to hear about the application process Heather Wolf the director of Catholic Charities of the East Bay and an immigration attorney led attendees through the dense and complicated paperwork

ldquoWhen I came here I felt like I had no help from anyone I know that feelingrdquo said Horatio Torres a 19-year-old CLOUD member who said he wants to help his friends and family learn more about de-ferred action ldquoI feel like people need to help because sometimes theyrsquore scared to askrdquo

Yazmin Martinez was seven years old when she crossed the Mexi-can border in the trunk of a car She was lying next to her two-year-old brother she said Her parents were in the front At one point on the drive she said an Immigrations and Custom Enforcement vehi-cle started tailing them She said the officers pulled them over and pointed guns at her parents The officers didnrsquot know there were chil-

dren in the car until Martinez looked up At that point ldquothey actually stopped and let us gordquo she said

ldquoI didnrsquot really know what was going onrdquo Martinez said ldquoWe were just following my parents I knew they just wanted the best for us It was tough And then when we got here mdash the language barrier mdash the whole transition was very hard But we were able to overcome itrdquo

The memory brought tears to her eyes and her voice wavered

ldquoRight now we feel that wersquove been growing up hererdquo she said ldquoWe deserve a chance to be recognized and not be in the shadowsrdquo


ldquoWe donrsquot want to just settle for thisrdquo said CLOUD member Jesus Gonzales 22 ldquoWe want real comprehensive immigration reform So not only I can benefit but my parents my sister mdash anybody who de-serves to be hererdquo

For Martinez family is her biggest reason to fight for citizenship more so now than ever before She gave birth to a baby boy in June Unlike Martinez three-month-old Giovani Cruz is a citizen

ldquoI donrsquot want to be afraid of being deportedrdquo Martinez said ldquoI want to be able to work hard to give my baby everything he deservesrdquo

Reyes and Carlos Martinez formed CLOUD in partnership with Con-tra Costa Interfaith Supporting Community Organization which is leading a campaign to get unlikely voters to the polls in November Volunteers from CLOUD and CCISCO are making phone calls on weekday nights and knocking on doors Saturday mornings to en-

32

courage Latino residents to cast a ballot in favor of Proposition 30 which would raise sales tax and income tax for taxpayers making more than $250000 and direct the money to public schools and public safety

ldquoProposition 30 is really a critical measure about investing in our fu-turerdquo said Adam Kruggel executive director of CCISCO ldquoWe are fo-cused on really empowering encouraging all people of color to vote especially folks who donrsquot traditionally participate in the demo-cratic processrdquo

While raising taxes for public schools and safety is a different matter than immigration reform CLOUD members like Yazmin Martinez still hope Prop 30 passes Martinez graduated from Richmond High School with honors in 2010 and had filled out applications to UC Ber-keley UC Davis and San Francisco State But she never applied It was too expensive and not being a citizen she didnrsquot qualify for fi-nancial aid

ldquoMy only choice was community collegerdquo Martinez said

CCISCO is targeting all Latino and Spanish-speaking voters in Con-tra Costa County and has a goal of talking to 30000 voters county-wide

ldquoWe want to actually be able to document that we moved 6000 vot-ersrdquo Kruggel said

In the Iron Triangle Martinez scanned her clipboard for the next ad-dress on the list and looked up It was a house guarded with an iron fence and dogs As soon as she stepped closer one of the dogs ran down the stoop and barred its teeth defending its territory with a piercing bark

ldquoHellordquo Martinez called No one came out

ldquoHellordquo she called again This time a woman opened the door

ldquoIs Alisa hererdquo Martinez asked

ldquoShersquos outrdquo the woman responded

Martinez kept going

ldquoWe were just trying to spread the word about Proposition 30rdquo

After explaining the proposition to the woman and pleading with her about expensive tuition not only in her case but every child and stu-dent in California Martinez left the woman with a couple pamphlets and moved on to the next door

Walking down the sidewalk Martinez admitted that she was intimi-dated walking around a new neighborhood knocking on strangersrsquo doors dogs barking at her But she kept walking forward One foot in front of the other mdash stepping forward for her son for her parents who havenrsquot seen their family in Mexico since they crossed the bor-der and for her dream to go to college and become a pediatrician

ldquoThank God wersquore getting this opportunityrdquo she said ldquoWe will take advantage of it We will keep fightingrdquo

33

Jonathan Perez 19 told the board at the meeting that he him-self benefited from opportunities aimed at re-integrating ex-offenders

A little over a year ago I was locked up in Martinez When I got out I knew I wanted to do some-thing different but I didnt know how he said Im living proof that if you give people the opportunity they will change

Invest in People Not Prisons

Supes Approve Budget Allocating State Realignment Funding - San Ramon Express News

The Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to approve a $207 million budget to support state inmates re-routed to county jails under Californias realign-ment plan The more than $20 million will ex-pand some departments and cover operational costs associated with the hundreds of addi-

tional low-level offenders that would previously have been housed in state prison and are now under county jurisdiction under state Assembly Bill 109

This afternoons vote comes after six months of debate among the members of the countys Community Corrections Partnership or CCP about how to allocate $19 million in state realign-ment funding The prolonged negotiations mean the countys public safety departments will re-ceive the funding only now that the fiscal year is halfway through

34

The CCP executive committee includes the countys public safety and criminal justice department heads including Sheriff David Liv-ingston District Attorney Mark Peterson Public Defender Robin Li-petzky and Probation Chief Philip Kader

The committees newly approved budget allocates more than $15 million to hire new personnel and for other costs related to AB 109 inmate caseloads

In addition $52 million of the spending plan is earmarked for part-nerships with community organizations aimed at reducing recidi-vism or the rate of inmates returning to jail

Members of community groups such as the Contra Costa Interfaith Supporting Community Organization or CCISCO and the Safe Re-turn Project as well as several community leaders from Richmond packed CCP meetings over the past six months to voice their sup-port for solid investment in programs that keep offenders off of the streets such as one-stop service centers providing education hous-ing and employment resources to ex-offenders

At Tuesdays Board of Supervisors meeting several community lead-ers and residents again urged the board to approve funding for such programs

You need to invest in people not prisons Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin said Its been said over and over again that we have to address the roots of crime and that means to address the roots of recidivism by providing opportunities

Jonathan Perez 19 told the board at the meeting that he himself benefited from opportunities aimed at re-integrating ex-offenders

A little over a year ago I was locked up in Martinez When I got out I knew I wanted to do something different but I didnt know how he said Im living proof that if you give people the opportunity they will change

Supervisor John Gioia who agreed with the need for investment in community anti-recidivism programs commended the CCP for draft-ing a budget that takes into consideration the needs of the countys various public safety departments

However not all of the countys law enforcement and criminal justice departments received the funding they requested

District Attorney Mark Petersons office did not receive any of the $11 million requested to fund the added workload for AB 109 defen-dants The board rejected that request vowing instead to make fund-ing for the district attorneys office during the CCPs budget 2013-2014 Fiscal Year budget ldquoIt was disappointing although Im happy the Board of Supervisors unanimously believes its a priority and should be made a priority Peterson said of the decision

The board also said it would set aside funding in the upcoming CCP fiscal year budget for law enforcement departmentsDuring the course of the CCPs budget negotiations since June the sheriff also compromised agreeing to table a proposal to expand the West County Detention Facility in June by roughly 150 beds Roughly $27 million of the budget has been set aside for the expansion in the event that recidivism programs are not successful

I dont agree with everything on the budget but I think it gets us fur-ther towardreducing the recidivism rate Livingston said Tuesday

35

Once Behind Bars Group Advocates for Prisoners Coming Home by Julie Brown - Richmond Confidential

When the door opened at West County Detention Facility for Tamisha Walker it was dark After six months in jail Walker was free But she was alone No one was there to pick her up All she had was a bus ticket and a bag

ldquoYou just get on a busrdquo Walker said ldquoAnd itrsquos a long lonely riderdquo

Jeff Rutland knows the lonely freedom Walker spoke of Hersquos reminded of it every time he sees a released inmate walk down MacDonald Avenue from the Richmond BART station in a gray sweatsuit with a paper bag He once walked that same path

ldquoYou see that lookrdquo Rutland said ldquoI know the struggles and hard-ships they facerdquo Which is why two years ago last month Rutland and Walker brought their experience to the just-started Safe Return Project to help people coming out of jail or prison

36

ldquoIt makes better policy when people who have been directly affected by the issues are at the tablerdquo said Eli Moore a program director with the Pacific Institute which started the Safe Return Project two years ago with Richard Boyd of Contra Costa Interfaith Support-ing Community Organization (CCISCO) and Devone Boggan of the Office of Neighborhood Safety

ldquoWe are the voice at the tablerdquo Rutland said ldquoNot only for the reentry community but for the community at largerdquo

Before the Safe Return Project when Contra Costa County and Rich-mond were discussing prisoners coming home and developing a strategic plan to better serve the incarcerated the critical voice of someone who knew reentry firsthand was noticeably absent

ldquoThe idea came from a fundamental recognitionrdquo said Adam Krug-gel executive director of CCISCO ldquoWe were unequipped to under-stand the challenges that people coming home facerdquo

After receiving a grant from the California Endowment the group put out a job announcement specifically seeking those who had spent time in jail mdash a curious posting that caught the eyes of Rutland Walker and a handful of others Rutland was just a month out of prison when he responded to the ad He filled out the application be-cause he was ready to make a change But he surely didnrsquot imagine himself sitting in boardrooms two years later with the district attor-ney the sheriff and the chief of police talking about prison policy

ldquoI donrsquot think anybody knew what would happenrdquo he said ldquoBut it moved forwardrdquo

Clarence Ford was the youngest person at a September basement meeting at the Richmond Civic Center but that didnrsquot stop him from speaking up Officials were discussing the five stages of arrest in-carceration and reentry and the 24-year-old wanted to make sure that an education component was included to help offenders under-stand the judicial process He was speaking from personal experi-ence

ldquoItrsquos like a foreign languagerdquo he told the room

Ford is one of the newest members on the Safe Return Project He went to jail when he was 20 and got out a year ago With the support of his mother Ford is a full-time student Going to jail he said gave him time to sort out his values and see who he wants to be He joined the Safe Return team because he shares their goals such as a one-stop center for people coming home to help with job training housing and other needs But he also wants to make sure the younger voice is represented ldquoIf Irsquom not there then things are going to continue to be the way theyrsquove always beenrdquo Ford said

Looking ahead the Safe Return Project has big plans Eventually the group wants to become independent from its parent organiza-tions CCISCO and the Pacific Institute Walker and Rutland said they would like to create a support group for formerly incarcerated people that will not only be a platform to support each other emotion-ally but with networking and education They also see the need for a service providers meeting a round table where people coming home can leave with someonersquos business card to call And they want to expand their Ban the Box campaign to the county and then the state Walker said

The initiatives the Safe Return Project commits to run on a philoso-phy of restorative justice The grouprsquos members each of who has committed a serious crime served their sentences and want to change They hope to heal the community and give back And at the same help themselves

ldquoTheyrsquore coming back to their community and trying to make things rightrdquo Kruggel said ldquoTheyrsquore very honest and forthcoming about the mistakes theyrsquove made in the past and are very committed to their communities to make things right I think thatrsquos the heart and soul of restorative justicerdquo

37

Sheriff Withdraws Jail Expansion Plans - KPFA 941-FM Berkeley - CLICK TO LISTEN TO STORY

Opponents of a controversial plan to expand jails in Contra Costa County are celebrating a victory after County Sheriff David Living-ston backed off his plan to build 150 new jail beds The jail expan-sion plan was opposed by many activists who want money to go to services for former offenders returning to the community instead of to county jails They say the jails should free non-violent inmates awaiting trial and undocumented immigrants held on behalf of the Federal ldquoImmigration and Customs Enforcementrdquo agency They want

the county to spend more on services investing in their words in ldquopeople not prisonsrdquo

Busloads Protest Plan to Expand Jail by Chip Johnson Chronicle Columnist - San Francisco Chronicle

MARTINEZ -- The very idea that Contra Costa County residents would support a $6 million county jail expansion with funds from a state law mandating counties to provide alternatives to incarceration was met with stiff opposition at a meeting Thursday in Martinez Three busloads of it to be exact Activists from Richmond and else-where on the western side of the county packed a hearing room in a

38

county building to defeat a proposal from Sheriff David Livingston to add 150 beds to the West Contra Costa County Detention Facility in Richmond which already houses more than 1000 male and fe-male inmates

The forces aligned against the jail expansion plan were so over-whelming that Livingstons proposal never even made it to a vote of the Community Corrections Partnership the county entity set up to recommend how to spend the money that Sacramento is giving to local governments in exchange for transferring thousands of in-mates from state prisons to the counties

Livingston capitulated when the talk turned to creating a new com-mittee - and another layer of bureaucracy - to guide the plan-ning process Lets hold on the expansion if it helps to move the discussion forward Livingston suggested

Activists holding signs and wearing stickers saying Invest in people not prisons were joined by clergy members and officeholders past and present including former state Assemblywoman Loni Hancock and Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin

Livingston is a member of the Community Corrections Partnership The panel also includes representatives of the courts the district at-torney and public defenders offices and the county probation and health departments Richmond Police Chief Chris Magnus also serves on the panel The committee has been given a $19 million state grant to build a government and community-based network that can provide comprehensive rehabilitative services to probation-ers and parolees released back into the community The nations prisons and jails have become institutions of higher criminal learn-ing Rehabilitation and reform just arent part of the program if they ever were So any plan that keeps violent offenders locked up and

provides nonviolent offenders with an opportunity to aid in their own rehabilitation is a better plan that what we have now

Not much support - Although Livingston reserved the right to reintro-duce the jail expansion plan at a later date it appeared support would be hard to come by in the Community Corrections Partner-ship and nonexistent in the community It was a significant turn-around for anti-jail-expansion activists who said the sheriffs plan ap-peared to be a done deal a little more than two months earlier Activ-ists said Thursdays decision was a victory for efforts like the Safe Return Project in Richmond which employs recently released proba-tioners and parolees as community organizers and researchers Without a jail construction project more money will be available for such groups

Alternatives to jail - Adam Kruggel who heads the Contra Costa In-terfaith Support Community Organization credited such efforts with reducing the rate of homicides and injury shootings in Richmond by nearly 50 percent in the past nine months He noted that the county reserves 140 beds in the Richmond lockup for the federal Immigra-tion and Customs Enforcement agency to house suspected illegal immigrants Taking back those beds would be one way to provide for any influx of county inmates he said

If the realignment money that the state is giving to counties goes for providing jobs housing health and education services it wont be necessary to build a bigger jail Kruggel said I think ultimately the issue here is what kind of community do we want to have said the Rev Kamal Hassan pastor at Sojourner Truth Presbyterian Church in Richmond If we want a community where people can grow be rehabilitated welcomed back and go on to lead productive lives Hassan said incarceration does not get us there

39

We are building a community-based coalition for peace Rev Eugene Jackson CCISCO Organizer

Richmond Ceasefire Lifelines to Healing

Volunteers Hit Richmond Streets to Keep the Peace - By Roger Roberts Contra Costa Times RICHMOND -- The 25 peace activists gathered in New Hope Missionary Baptist Church on Fri-day night listened as a 78-year-old grandmother gave them their marching orders

Stay on message out there resident Bennie Singleton told them Ceasefire ceasefire alive

and free Now lets go show that we are here and we care

With that the group hit the streets passing out brochures and talking to everyone they encoun-tered over the next hour as they toured the tiny crime-plagued community of North Richmond

Fridays outreach was part of a volunteer effort that has been building momentum since late last year when the city was awarded a $370000 grant from CalGRIP a statewide initia-tive to address gang violence at the local 40

levelThe grant helps local anti-violence workers clergy and volun-teers implement Project CeasefireLifelines to Healing which previ-ously helped reduce violence in cities such as Boston and Chi-cago

Ceasefire isnt a program its a movement a campaign said the Rev Eugene Jackson an organizer at Contra Costa Interfaith Sup-porting Community Organization one of the coordinating agencies Jackson said more than 1000 residents have participated in dozens of nightwalks through all the citys neighborhoods since Septem-ber He said the effort revolves around meetings at local community centers with parolees and other high-risk populations rapid re-sponses to saturate streets with activists after deadly shootings and walks through communities to spread the message that violence will no longer be tolerated We are building a community-based coali-tion for peace Jackson said

And there are signs the effort -- along with ramped up police patrols and operations in North Richmond by the Office of Neighborhood Safety -- is having an impact

There have been 10 homicides in Richmond this year fewer than the average pace of deadly crime in Richmond in the past decade Last year the city saw 26 homicides a total boosted by a summer spate in violence that resulted in 18 killings in June through August Most of the gun violence police say is triggered by long-simmering feuds between rivals in north central and south Richmond neighborhoods

We are cautious about where we are now with the number of homi-cides because the streets can heat up very quickly said Richmond police Capt Mark Gagan But the good working relationships among community groups is cause for optimism

There have been three homicides in North Richmond this year a 4000-resident enclave divided between city and unincorporated Contra Costa County territory There have been no killings here since May 14 when 22-year-old Orlando Yancy was killed in a drive-by shooting

Soon after Yancys death the Office of Neighborhood Safety launched its Summertime Gun Violence Interruption Initiative a strat-egy focusing the agencys resources in North Richmond

North Richmond is a containable theater a small place with just five ways in and out said agency director DeVone Boggan Along with Ceasefire out here doing their work we think by focusing our re-sources here in the summer months we can decrease gun violence throughout the city

On Friday playing children scattered around the cul-de-sac of the Las Deltas Housing Projects as the two-column line of volunteers trouped in led by the Rev Alvin Bernstine a longtime anti-violence advocate

Adults emerged from their apartments to greet the group A few joined them to walk and spread the nonviolence message to their neighbors

One of the marchers was Adittya Raj 53 Raj wore a shirt embossed with a picture of his son-in-law Edwin Martinez

Martinez a 22-year-old Contra Costa College student was shot and killed in central Richmond in January while sitting in the passenger seat of his sisters car

41

Edwin loved everybody he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time Raj said He would be happy to know that we are out here making a difference

African-American Elder Plays Key Role in Violence Prevention Efforts - By Monica Quesada - Richmond Pulse

Bennie Singleton quietly entered the church Richmondrsquos Garden of Peace Ministries looking for other ldquonight-walkersrdquo With a household of children and grandchildren waiting for her at home there were plenty of other things Singleton could have been doing on a Friday night mdash but the 78-year-old grandmother just had to come out and walk ldquoWe are tired of going to funeralsrdquo said Singleton ldquoWe are tired of children killing each otherrdquo

For more than a year now Singleton has been involved with Cease-fire a group of concerned residents clergy and police who are work-ing together to stop violence especially gun-violence on the streets of Richmond Their main activity is a weekly Friday night walk through problematic areas of the city where they distribute informa-tion and do their best to get young people and other community members on board with the idea of a citywide ceasefire

On this particular Friday the walkers were at Pullman Point a townhouse-style apartment complex in central Richmond with a his-tory of street violence Once there the walkers formed two-person teams and canvassed the entire grounds It was a quiet night with only a few people out on the sidewalks but each person the group encountered was given a few words and some literature

Singleton was more quiet than usual With the Ceasefire flyers held close to her heart she walked strong and steady through the neigh-borhood while we spoke ldquoI donrsquot really like people to know what Irsquom

doing I get embarrassed if people give me a complimentrdquo she said ldquoI like to do things in the backgroundrdquo

Nonetheless Singleton has shown herself to possess the character to act and responsibility to lead when necessary

ldquoI wish there were a lot more Bennies in [Richmond] because the city would already be a better placerdquo said Rev Eugene Jackson an organizer at Contra Costa Interfaith Supporting Community Organiza-tion (CCISCO) and one of the leaders of Cease Fire ldquoShe represents the fact that even though you are a senior you do not stop serving She has a place and a purposerdquo

Singleton said the Reverend is an important source of encourage-ment for young people because like other elders with deep roots in Richmond she carries the memory of a time when the cityrsquos reputa-tion was not so tarnished by negativity and community violence

No Jim Crow But No Less Racist

Singleton still introduces herself as Bennie Lois Clark Singleton Clark her maiden name is one she has been unwilling to let go ldquoI use [the name] now more than anything because [my parents are] responsible for what I amrdquo she said ldquoThey made me who I amrdquo

Clark-Singleton was born in Louisville Arkansas in 1934 Like thou-sands of other African Americans in the south during the Jim Crowe era the Clarks looked to the north and the west as places that could offer more opportunity They migrated to California after being re-cruited to work at the Richmond shipyards during World War II

Back then in the 1940s Richmond was a racist town Still a child Clark-Singleton remembers seeing Ku Klux Klan marching down McDonald Avenue Nevertheless she still preferred Richmond to the

42

segregated south because she was able to attend an integrated school

ldquoI really liked thatrdquo she said ldquo[because] whatever they taught those white kids in that class I could learn it They couldnrsquot exclude merdquo

Even though the schools were integrated they still did their best to track African-American children into trade classes like machinery or woodshop or domestic courses for girls like sewing or cooking But Clark-Singleton was raised in a family that valued education and her parents managed to force the school to give her a college-prep edu-cation

ldquo[My father] was a strict disciplinarian who pushed us to get our edu-cationrdquo said Clark-Singleton about her father Benjamin F Clark Sr

Clark-Singleton started working at the age of 17 at the US Navy as a clerk She got married a year later and had her first child at 19 years old A life of family and work distracted her from studying However when her father started attending night school she also went back to school and eventually earned her college degree ldquoThat man is not going to outdo merdquo she recalled thinking at the time about her father

When Clark-Singleton and her husband James Singleton were go-ing to buy a house in Richmond they were told that only whites could buy the house Unwilling to accept the limitations being im-posed on them they packed their bags and headed south to Los An-geles

ldquoMy dad always had us in situations where we were just people with other people We always lived in a mixed neighborhoodrdquo Clark-

Singleton said ldquoI have never felt inferior to anybody because of my colorrdquo

But Los Angeles turned out to be no fairytale for the young couple ldquoIt was worse than Richmondrdquo she said

Ten years later the family was back home in Richmond The Single-tons now with three children bought a house at Atchison Village in 1971 Her husband died that very same year and Clark-Singleton has been living in the home ever since the matriarch and main pro-vider for a growing family She continued working in the banking in-dustry until 1997 when she retired Today her family has expanded to include five grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren

Like Father Like Daughter

Benjamin F Clark Senior was a loving but strict father who would take his six children to the movie theater every weekend to see a western although he usually fell asleep ldquoMy dad [would] sleep eve-rywhererdquo said Clark-Singleton ldquoAnyplacerdquo

Clark-Singleton and the other children didnrsquot know at the time that their tired dad was not only busy working multiple jobs ndash he was a welder and the owner of a grocery store among other things ndash but helping others in the community Clark was a man of service

It wasnrsquot until her fatherrsquos funeral that Clark-Singleton ldquofound out all the things that he was doingrdquo she said

Among those things was his involvement in the Civil Rights Move-ment He also helped to start and manage the cityrsquos first farmerrsquos market and fought for improved schools in Richmond After retiring he would take care of senior citizens and sick people visiting them feeding them and cutting their hair

43

ldquoI see myself in himrdquo said Clark-Singleton ldquoI see a need and I just do it I donrsquot like wasting timerdquo

Like her father before her retirement didnrsquot stop Clark-Singletonrsquos drive to remain a productive and helpful member of her community and she soon began looking for volunteer opportunities Her first stop was the Literacy for Every Adult Program where she volun-teered as a teacher but soon came to feel that education wasnrsquot her strong suit So she switched her focus to neighborhood improve-ment efforts in Atchison Village and the Iron Triangle

At the time the area around McDonald Avenue and 8th Street werenrsquot being regularly cleaned and city properties like the Nevin Community Center and Park had become dangerous areas hot spots for criminal activity So Clark-Singleton and other neighbors got organized and began attending city council meetings to de-mand more attention be paid to their neighborhoods

ldquoWhat do you mean no street sweeping What do you mean you canrsquot ticket the carsrdquo Clark-Singleton remembered her reactions to the cityrsquos justifications ldquoWe would go up there en-masserdquo

After applying lot of pressure the city finally took them seriously They got their streets cleaned and the Nevin Community Center back from drug dealers and drug addicts It was a victory for grass-roots democracy and a good indication that residents in Richmond could change their circumstances if they were persistent enough

ldquoIt takes a lot of people concerned enough to do somethingrdquo Clark-Singleton said

Richard Boyd moved to Richmond six years ago and met Clark-Singleton at an Atchison Village neighborhood council meeting

Hersquod decided to get involved he said because of the amount of vio-lence he witnessed on his block Through Clark-Singleton Boyd got involved with CCISCO where he now works as a community organ-izer

ldquoBennie is by the book When we get off track she pulls us back she keeps us focusedrdquo Boyd said ldquoWhen shersquos around we listenrdquo

Today Clark-Singleton keeps on helping community-organized pro-grams dedicating almost half of her week to two volunteer pro-grams Ceasefire and Safe Return another program organized by CCISCO the Pacific Institute and the Richmond Office of Neighbor-hood Safety The program aims to help parolees integrate back into the community

Cease Fire is the program to which she dedicates the most time and energy motivated by the young people in whom she still sees hope ldquoThese are children starting outrdquo she said ldquoThey still can make choices and decisions that can alter their livesrdquo

When she walks on the streets of Richmond with the other Ceasefire volunteers she approaches young people as if she were a grand-mother or an aunt ldquoI speak to them with respectrdquo she said ldquoAnd if they need a hug I give them a hugrdquo

She also has a wish for Richmond youth ldquoI hope [young people] will see [Richmond] as the city I grew up inrdquo she said ldquoWhere people trusted each other and you could go out all overrdquo It shouldnrsquot be too much to expect said Clark-Singleton After all she said ldquothere are more good people in Richmond than there are bad peoplerdquo

44

For More Information Contact CCISCO at

EAST COUNTY202 G St Suite 1 Antioch CA 94509 phone (925) 779-9302 fax (925) 779-9303

WEST COUNTY1000-B Macdonald Ave Richmond CA 94801 phone (510) 232-1393 fax (510) 232-3287

MAILING ADDRESS PO Box 883Antioch CA 94509

Find us online at

CCISCOorg

Facebook - facebookcomCCISCOCA

Twitter - twittercomCCISCOCA

Pinterest - pinterestcomCCISCOCA

Scoopit - ScoopitCCISCO

Rebel Mouse - RebelmousecomCCISCO

CCISCO is committed to building civic engagement and increasing public participation by those most affected by injustice and inequity in Contra Costa County We are a multi-racial multi-generational in-terfaith federationCCISCO helps everyday people win extraordinary victories by providing a vehicle for them to speak act and engage in public arenas We believe in the power of relationships and that by acting together on our common values we can imagine and create a new world Since 1996 we have been organizing a voice for jus-tice and equity in Contra Costa We are a multi-ethnic multi-generational interfaith federation of 25 congregations and youth institutions representing over 35000 families

CCISCO is a member of the PICO National Network and PICO California

PICO is a national network of faith-based community organizations working to create innovative solutions to problems facing urban suburban and rural communities Since 1972 PICO has successfully worked to increase access to health care improve public schools make neighborhoods safer build affordable housing redevelop com-munities and revitalize democracy PICO helps engage ordinary peo-ple in public life building a strong legacy of leadership in thousands of local communities across America

More than 40 different religious denominations and faith traditions are part of PICO With more than 1000 member institutions repre-senting one million families in 150 cities and 17 states as well as a growing international effort PICO is one of the largest community-based efforts in the United States Together we are lifting up a new vision for America that unites people across region race class and religion

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realignment


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Richmond in 2012






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CCISCO IN THE NEWS

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Let My People Vote





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iv

Table of Contents











v










7




Regards



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9





realignment


pass PROP 30




Richmond in 2012






passed this year







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- Nora Gonzales






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- Andres Abara



CCISCO IN THE NEWS

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Let My People Vote





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Martinez kept going





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Table of Contents











v










7




Regards



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realignment


pass PROP 30




Richmond in 2012






passed this year







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- Nora Gonzales






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- Andres Abara



CCISCO IN THE NEWS

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Let My People Vote





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Martinez kept going





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Table of Contents











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7




Regards



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9





realignment


pass PROP 30




Richmond in 2012






passed this year







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- Nora Gonzales






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- Andres Abara



CCISCO IN THE NEWS

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Let My People Vote





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Martinez kept going





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Find us online at

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Regards



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9





realignment


pass PROP 30




Richmond in 2012






passed this year







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- Nora Gonzales






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- Andres Abara



CCISCO IN THE NEWS

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Let My People Vote





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Martinez kept going





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Find us online at

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Regards



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9





realignment


pass PROP 30




Richmond in 2012






passed this year







11







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16


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18




- Nora Gonzales






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- Andres Abara



CCISCO IN THE NEWS

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Let My People Vote





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Martinez kept going





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Find us online at

CCISCOorg









Regards



8



9





realignment


pass PROP 30




Richmond in 2012






passed this year







11







12



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16


3





18




- Nora Gonzales






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27


- Andres Abara



CCISCO IN THE NEWS

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Let My People Vote





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Martinez kept going





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Find us online at

CCISCOorg







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realignment


pass PROP 30




Richmond in 2012






passed this year







11







12



13












15






16


3





18




- Nora Gonzales






19









21







23







25





27


- Andres Abara



CCISCO IN THE NEWS

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Let My People Vote





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Martinez kept going





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Find us online at

CCISCOorg












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- Nora Gonzales






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- Andres Abara



CCISCO IN THE NEWS

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Let My People Vote





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Martinez kept going





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Find us online at

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- Nora Gonzales






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Let My People Vote





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Martinez kept going





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Find us online at

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Let My People Vote





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Martinez kept going





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Find us online at

CCISCOorg








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- Nora Gonzales






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- Andres Abara



CCISCO IN THE NEWS

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Let My People Vote





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Martinez kept going





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Find us online at

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- Nora Gonzales






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- Andres Abara



CCISCO IN THE NEWS

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Let My People Vote





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Martinez kept going





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Find us online at

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- Nora Gonzales






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- Andres Abara



CCISCO IN THE NEWS

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Let My People Vote





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Martinez kept going





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Find us online at

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- Nora Gonzales






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- Andres Abara



CCISCO IN THE NEWS

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Let My People Vote





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Martinez kept going





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Find us online at

CCISCOorg







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- Nora Gonzales






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- Andres Abara



CCISCO IN THE NEWS

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Let My People Vote





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Martinez kept going





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Find us online at

CCISCOorg










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- Nora Gonzales






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- Andres Abara



CCISCO IN THE NEWS

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Let My People Vote





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Martinez kept going





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Find us online at

CCISCOorg











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- Andres Abara



CCISCO IN THE NEWS

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Let My People Vote





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Martinez kept going





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Find us online at

CCISCOorg














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- Andres Abara



CCISCO IN THE NEWS

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Let My People Vote





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Martinez kept going





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CCISCOorg













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- Andres Abara



CCISCO IN THE NEWS

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Let My People Vote





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Martinez kept going





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CCISCOorg












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- Andres Abara



CCISCO IN THE NEWS

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Let My People Vote





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Martinez kept going





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CCISCOorg











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- Andres Abara



CCISCO IN THE NEWS

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Let My People Vote





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Martinez kept going





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CCISCOorg












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- Andres Abara



CCISCO IN THE NEWS

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Let My People Vote





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Martinez kept going





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CCISCOorg











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- Andres Abara



CCISCO IN THE NEWS

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Let My People Vote





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Martinez kept going





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Find us online at

CCISCOorg










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- Andres Abara



CCISCO IN THE NEWS

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Let My People Vote





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Martinez kept going





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Find us online at

CCISCOorg









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- Andres Abara



CCISCO IN THE NEWS

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Let My People Vote





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Martinez kept going





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Find us online at

CCISCOorg








CCISCO IN THE NEWS

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Let My People Vote





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Martinez kept going





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Find us online at

CCISCOorg






Let My People Vote





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Martinez kept going





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Find us online at

CCISCOorg





















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Martinez kept going





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CCISCOorg












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Martinez kept going





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Find us online at

CCISCOorg




















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Martinez kept going





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CCISCOorg

















Martinez kept going





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CCISCOorg













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CCISCOorg



















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CCISCOorg











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CCISCOorg

















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CCISCOorg











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CCISCOorg















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CCISCOorg

























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CCISCOorg


















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CCISCOorg




















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CCISCOorg





















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CCISCOorg



















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Find us online at

CCISCOorg










Find us online at

CCISCOorg






Documents

2012 - A Year of Transformations: CCISCO