More COVID-19 funding in Oakland will be directed toward black and Latinx communities, thanks to a Wednesday vote by the Oakland City Council, which declared a local health emergency for black residents affected by the pandemic.
The policy resolution also directs the city administrator to develop a race and equity-based plan to tackle COVID-19 in Oakland, and to prioritize opening COVID-19 testing sites in ZIP codes most impacted by the pandemic.
Black and brown communities across California continue to bear the brunt of the pandemic's impact, well out of proportion to their numbers across the state.
"In these last two months, we have seen Black community leaders innovate and serve their community in a manner that would have made the Black Panthers proud," Councilmember Lynette Gibson McElhaney said in a statement. "If we are to have even a modicum of a chance to address these unjust racial inequities, the City Council must unite to support the leadership of those living the daily reality of these disparities."
Oakland has fed many of its residents' families through the Oakland Unified School District during the pandemic, with 1.5 million meals for students so far, 208,000 meals given to adults, and 214,000 meals served to non-student children at city schools between March 16 and May 15, according to OUSD.