Alright, so good afternoon, everyone.

Call to order the ad hoc.

Committee on reparations, clerk takes the role.

Supervisor Marquez present.

Supervisor Miley.

Present.

All right.

So we have uh three items, three three informational items.

And the first item is a commission work plan update.

Uh good evening, and thank you for uh the ad hoc committee meeting.

It's been a moment, so quite a bit of stuff to uh update you on, and we have a couple of guest speakers, so hopefully I can keep the agenda rolling for you.

Let me uh ask.

Uh so the agenda for uh today where we'll be doing the work plan, the operations and administration, and then uh we have an ask about the open seats, and then share our upcoming events in digital presence.

So I wanted to share that when we first started the work, and I think last time we spoke to you, we had 11 subcommittees, and we have now consolidated down to these three.

So we have an admin and budget, we have a listening session, and then we have our data research action plan report.

So now we've we're really focused on the internet, um, on these three groups, and you can see um the intersection is what we're calling the pillars of focus, and I'll share with you those four pillars, but under the each subgroup, you can see um the work in general buckets, so like the admin and budget is doing our budget, but also websites, social media, and any sort of progress and movement, uh, and then the data research, we're doing the harms report and the narrative and actually the action plan report we owe you, and then listening session is allies and partnerships.

So that's how the 11 committees came down to the three.

These are our four pillars, which also center um the listening sessions, the surveys, and the data gathering.

So these four are um split into how we are having the conversation with the community, so experience of harm and inequity, and there's a sample there, I don't have to read it to you.

Um, and then the community assets and resiliency.

So that's you know the trauma and the struggle, but then what are the the um positive and brilliant things our communities doing, and then the reparative needs and priorities, which obviously is part of the action plan, and then lastly, what's the vision in the future look like?

So everything falls under these four ways of looking at the work.

Um, and then our uh we have two consultants and uh doing project management is uh ECC, exceptional community communications that has been approved, and I would like to bring up um the CEO of CC.

Hello, so it's been a lot of movement, a lot of activity.

Um, we have a report.

I don't know if yes, my name's okay Letitia Henderson, and I am the principal consultant with exceptional community connections, but we do love working with the community and communications, but ECC for short.

So we've been working with our team of consultants.

We've been working with the commission since August in the formal capacity as their facilitators and project managers, and what I can say just in summary without going through all the specifics, that this commission is making steady progress on the implementation plan that they identified in January at their planning retreat.

And so the work that we our approach to the work has been situated across three phases.

Um the first phase was the initial launching the project, and a lot of the work we spent time organizing their subcommittees.

And as Chair Gore just mentioned previously, there were 11 subcommittees, and so we spent um the first phase just restructuring and looking at what is um a subcommittee structure that would support their workflow and implementation of their tasks, and so we have the three.

And so phase one was really just working with the commissioners to ensure that they were assigned to a subcommittee that you know that they were interested in and that reflected their skills, experience, and interests.

And then, of course, facilitating communication and dialogue between the three subcommittees and working with the co-chairs of each subcommittee to ensure that there's an agenda plan, they're clear around their task and goals for the month.

And so to date, we are now in the second phase of the workflow, and that is just organizing the work, the work plan, the flow, managing and tracking their milestones, and also really drilling into the details around the report and their recommendations.

And so to date, we have some of the milestones that have been accomplished between October and December.

Awesome.

Yes.

So this is the work plan.

Oh, yeah, I always say, they got me.

I do.

I say weird things like awesome sauce.

So this is the robust work plan that we've been working on.

So this was the plan that was identified back in January.

And you see, there's a myriad of tasks and milestones.

And so the work that we've been doing is ensuring that each of the subcommittees are clear on their tasks and that they of the in-between speed bumps or processes that need to be fulfilled, any gaps, that's where my team and I have gone to work as their technical assistants.

And that's look like creating agendas to strategic thought planning to scooping collard greens into cups with aluminum foil to make sure that there is a to-go plan for the food following the listening sessions.

But it's really a labor of love, and we're so honored to be supporting the commissioners in this way.

So where we are now, we have the October milestones that have been completed.

I can with full honesty and excitement say that each subcommittee has fulfilled their key task, up to about 80% of the task, which is amazing.

This has been a very short time period to work through, but they've been working together collectively, and evidence of that is things like they have a website, there are listening sessions that are happening.

So those are all signs that we that we say things are moving in the right direction.

The next major outcome in terms of a key activity and milestone is the draft report.

So there's a very rough draft, and I do mean rough because it's an outline, in outline form, but it is promising in that it exists.

The surveys that have been uh generated and created and um disseminated at the community listening sessions have been collected, and to date there are more than 70 that have been collected across the in-person listening sessions.

Um, with those surveys, that's going to support the feedback from the community members.

It's what's going to support the commissioners with identifying their recommendations according to their pillars and their and the guidelines that they're using for recommendations for reparations.

And then finally, we have the community listening sessions.

You all have attended those.

So four out of six to date have been completed.

Initially, when we started with the project, the commissioners already had one.

They were, there was a process for listening sessions underway.

And then we sort of had one, and then it was like we're gonna continue to plan as we go.

My team came on board and we said, let's just plan all six and let's work in concert with the Board of Supervisors and their staff and community partners, and let's just get this thing going.

And the commissioners have been, you know, working in alignment with that vision and moving at the speed of trust, moving in lightning speed to make these listening sessions happen.

So I just want to thank both of you and your colleagues for allowing their staff to really be supportive and help us identify key partners in the community to host these sessions and also to you know ensure that the community is aware that this is a county initiative.

So that has been amazing.

To date, we've had more than 175 total attendees across the listening sessions.

Also, um community engagement and partnerships, and I'll leave it there.

More than 10 community organizations have expressed a willingness to partner with the commission.

And I think evidence of that we can point to the session that was held in West Oakland at Taylor Memorial.

That was in concert with a few community organizations, one namely being Delta Simotheta Sorority, Incorporated Berkeley Bay Area chapter, really going door-to-door, opening up the space for this listening session to happen, and the end result being 100 plus attendees.

And so I think that speaks to again the spirit of the commissioners and the energy that's being ignited now.

So as far as what's next, it's really continuing the momentum, updating this work plan tracker.

We are now approaching the end of the year, and so we're going to explore with the commissioners where which of these key tasks they would like to continue.

What are the new priorities for 2026?

And as you can see on page two, we have a list of our meetings, which is anywhere between seven to 10 hours a week.

But again, it's a labor of enlightenment.

It's a labor of joy.

Sometimes it's a labor of, but it's a labor nonetheless.

And so, yeah, that's that's all that we have.

And thank you so much again for the opportunity to serve.

I would just uh lift up that um ECC and Letitia's leadership really has kept us on task.

It was so important to have some project management to sort of put this list together, hold the agendas and keep us on point.

So her and Sean and Natrice have been outstanding partners.

Um I really want to uh reiterate how a big contribution that they've made.

The other big chunk that I hope didn't fly by is that she is actually managing the consultant who's doing this work.

So she's holding this whole body of work, which is the commissioners, and then the other informing change.

So I'm gonna give you a little bit of the structure of the report because obviously that's the deliverable that we need to have, but it's still under the ECC team.

So we have a general um outline of the report, and so you can see, you know, obviously an overview and then sort of some context of why reparations, then the commission and some key recommendations to help us funnel our work, and then the background in Alameda, which is the significant data that they're doing, and then lastly, we end up with some recommendations.

You see the pillars that connect to the work, so that we are making everything in alignment as we gather the information.

There's a more recent updated version, so there's there's another iteration.

I would also lift up in the fifth category.

There is that the mandate was to send or to share short-term, medium term, and long term.

So it becomes quite a matrix to give you the data on the listening sessions, the research on the community and the harms, and then to give it to you short, medium, and long term.

So we have it laser focused on the directive that we were given.

Overview on how we are doing that information gathering.

We're at the stage, what we're calling the domain is looking at the harms, using the California State Task Force is a huge matrix.

I was gonna do a screenshot, but it's just too intimidating.

Along with the UN five principles, and then the listening sessions.

And so we are in the part where we're doing the domain against the reparations and the data.

So this is sort of how the process on the report side is going along with the actions that you saw from our work plan.

Here's a little bit more detail so that you have confidence that we hope to have something by June 30th.

So this is like doing this till December, we're gonna do this till January and then March, and then we're gonna start writing.

So we've got to um close both the listening sessions and the additional pop-ups, and then get to really putting pen to pencil the last three, four months.

I'm sure informing change you'd want more time, and and same with ECC, but you know, we're still in the the listening and getting the community input.

So that's the report side of things, and so I wanted you to know that we were staying on task with that as well.

Um let me just pause for any questions so far.

Um let me start with my um appreciation.

This is impressive.

Um we were here maybe three months ago, I can't remember last meeting date, but this is significant progress.

So kudos to Letitia, the entire team, the commissioners.

I was um beyond impressed this past Saturday with attending the listening session myself, but uh seeing this timeline, the work plan, this is incredibly impressive.

So just thank you all for putting your heart and soul into this.

It it shows, and I'm just really excited about the work.

Um, my question is though, I uh we were talking to some of the commissioners this past Saturday, and there was a request to add an additional listening session to the city of Hayward, and that's something I definitely am open to.

But now looking at your aggressive timeline, we don't have to make a decision today, but um I would love to host one at the Hayward Library because that tends to be a place where there's a lot of programming.

We could also look at Glad Tidings Church or Pumisi.

There are options for Hayward, but I know Boapa has done a lot of work in Haywards.

I just really want to tap into the success you saw in West Oakland.

I think we could replicate that.

There's already a very strong face in Hayward.

So I don't want to um interfere with the timelines, but obviously January is out of the question.

We would have to have that already planned.

So maybe the end of it, I'm not sure, but just we could offline that, but just I just wanted to share that publicly.

That is something that um my office is interested in in hosting.

And I don't want to say let's not do new work because that's already been publicized.

So I want to be additive rather than having to pivot at this time.

No, we we actually have a process for adding uh different, and we're calling them pop-ups because we took a motion and we voted on six official, we were somewhere at 10 to 12, and we're like, oh, we won't be able to get those done.

But now we are adding on a commissioner now that we have good structure.

So we have a run of show, we have a slide deck, we have the uh note taker, we have the videographer.

Like we have the structure in place.

So any commissioner can do a pop-up.

So we did go to EOIDC, and there weren't a lot of young people, so two commissioners, and we have one here, and I hope to bring him up, um, are doing a dedicated to get that youth voice at EOIDC.

Uh the pop-up that I'm doing with our facilitator is at the Kaiser J.

That was not an official listening pop up.

That's a that's a big pop up.

I see that.

But it's focused.

It's focused, it's it's the partnership is with the Oakland Chamber and the Urban League.

And so they have a particular focus on bringing the business community voice.

And so adding Hayward, for sure Berkeley, that request has been made.

Um and we've got um we're getting ready to do Castro Valley and uh District One.

So we have the flexibility for the commissioners who have an interest in either an area or a topic.

Uh, the other one I would lift up is um uh we have a commissioner who is our former incarcerated, formerly incarcerated, and commissioner um Jesse Burleson.

Yeah, um, he's pulling together his community, and we'll be doing a criminal justice pop-up.

Has there been conversation with the sheriff to potentially have one at Santa Rita jail?

So probation.

I might want to bring up, yeah, we have talked about Santa Rita, but let me bring up I've talked to Chief Ford and he's uh amendable for uh JJC, and I can talk to Yasinia and see if she's also I think that would be really important if we can make that happen.

Um, and then just want to also acknowledge um, you know, everything's about numbers and dollars, that's the reality we're in, but it was also just um really meaningful to break bread with folks.

I think it's so important to feed people.

Um we're all ripping and running meetings places.

There's just sometimes we rarely even drink water, right?

So just I don't know if we're advertising that, and that I don't think that's the draw.

I think people are coming because they want to come, but it was just a really really nice touch.

Yeah, we put free food on all of it and and the other uh we have a therapist who comes and we've basically have child care, so we have those three key elements that we thought would help.

You know, if you've got any reason that might keep you from coming, we have those services there too.

And keeping it tight.

I think you know, anything an hour and a half to two hours, you get more buy-in when people see something three or four hours, it's like, oh my gosh, this is a commitment.

So I think you guys have found just the right touch.

And like you said, the structure is really um, it was key.

Very well done.

Yeah.

Thanks.

Okay.

Yeah, I would just say, I've been very impressed with the progress, uh, particularly since the retreat, things have the momentum has steadily been building.

I've been, you know, you know, I attend most of your meetings, and I've gone to all three of the listening sessions as well.

So I've been kind of monitoring everything very uh carefully, and I've I'm very impressed with um the the commission consultants, the the county staff working with you, and everything is just really gelling well.

Um, so uh let's keep the momentum going.

And I think you you have met with um uh Mills College at Northeastern.

Yeah, we have uh well I'm in touch with um Ashley Ashley Adams, um, and they uh so yes, we're in touch with her and with Eric from the policy.

Both of the both of those two, we're in conversation about um doing something in Berkeley.

Um they have a reparations project task force, which Mills and North Eastern have since um transitioned, so um, but they still have the work there, and they're also supporting the um Berkeley Unified School District Task Force Reparations Task Force.

So we're in conversation with the community partnership uh with them for sure.

Yeah, yeah.

Like I said, been very impressed.

Yes.

Thank you.

You know, I do want to lift up um when you speak about the momentum and the information.

Uh both of your staffs have been excellent, but I'd be remiss if I didn't point out the director of equity who who has been communicating with the internal department.

And I can't even start to navigate that labyrinth.

But once she started, and thank you so much, Josephine.

When she started, like, hey, people here's the the love and the positive, what can we do to help?

So that's allowed us to continue that sort of momentum and awareness.

I think we have a very, you know, if I look at all the commissions that are set up.

We have a very high visibility and awareness, and that's you know, thanks to the uh county staff that's really been significant.

So um it has been what you are feeling has been a real team effort.

So thank you.

Um, I will move us along to um the budget.

And so I'll bring up vice chair Larry McClendon.

Thank you, uh Supervisor Marquez, Supervisor Miley.

Uh it's been my honor to uh be the steward of the funds that you uh provided us to carry out this uh amazing work.

You heard both from uh Chair Gore and our um amazing consultants, technical assistants.

Um they've you know, our ECC has been incredible uh organizing us, keeping us on task.

Also want to lift up the library.

Uh I know that we went down this road and we didn't know if we were going to have a particular department who uh could service and Supervisor Miley, you suggested the library.

At that time, I was like, I don't know what the library can, you know, I was just like, okay, um, but I would say uh, and I want to just take the time to give them a lot of praise for how they've been able to partner with us, facilities, billing, etc.

Uh I have a background, I'm I'm I currently work for government, and I haven't uh had a uh experience so smooth and transparent.

So I just want to lift up uh both Aaron and Deb for the amazing work that they do.

Uh, they will also be um answering questions regarding the billing.

Also, want to acknowledge our commissioners in the room today, Commissioner Nose and Commissioner uh Garlander, Dr.

G, who's behind us, who's constantly moving this work forward.

Um, so again, I have the pleasure of uh counting the coins for the commission.

And so uh this is a high level overview.

There's a detailed budget that we're keeping track of in SharePoint that is in a Google Doc.

So that is accessible to the public.

Uh, if you go on SharePoint, you click the link, you will see invoices in real time when we were able to pay them, etc.

So this is designed to be high level, not uh granular in any way.

Uh so uh, due to your generosity, uh you were able to get our budget up to 500,000.

Uh to date, we've been able to build 155,038.

We have a remaining balance of 34 961 that we uh are planning on spending down.

Our goal is to be fiscally responsible and spend that down before the end of the fiscal year.

So uh Chair Gore uh talked about a bunch of different uh things that this commission is doing to uh really spin down the budget.

Um a lot of this money has been going to the listener sessions.

Our technical assistance consultants, uh, the food uh supervisor Marquez had mentioned it is uh very unique when you can go in and get food food, not just some sandwiches, you can some collard greens, something, you know, so some substance.

So uh I'm gonna move to the next slide.

Um just a high level buckets of where the funds have uh gone, what the libraries helped us build down uh to date, so our technical support, 73,886 promo is a little less than 10k, uh food and refreshments, uh, a little over 5,000 transcripts.

So one of the areas that was super important is making sure that we capture uh the folks who do show up to these listener sessions, their words, verbatim as much as possible, because uh you tasked us with uh producing a report, and it wouldn't be uh good steward of us if that report embellished on people's words.

So we wanted to make sure that uh we spend the money on note takers and and making sure that transcript uh really captures the voice.

Uh our amazing lovely website, uh, which we didn't set out for it to be this much, but given that uh it has some really amazing features that um and let me just kind of talk about that a little bit because that is a little higher than what we estimated.

But not only the design, the look and feel, but when community members come to our website, they're booking their uh reservation with us.

We're not sending them to Eventbrite, we're not sending them to a third party where they're collecting their information and sharing their information and using it.

All of that is internal data that this commission is able to use.

So that's a big difference in just kind of, you know, a website that sends a person to Eventbrite.

I have nothing against Eventbrite.

I know this is a public meeting.

Um, but uh the reason that website needed to have those components uh because we want to make sure that we're the owners and stewards and the counties, the owner and steward of the information.

Um, and then of course, the most powerful thing on here, which is uh on the lower end is capturing the photos and videos in real time.

And so we have consistent vendors, um, we have some amazing vendors.

Uh our fellow commissioners really source those vendors, um, our the uh Office of Racial Equity really leaned in to make sure that we have vendors who are reflective of the mission.

Um so uh I'm very proud of who shows up to these listening sessions um every time we we throw them.

Uh we have the facilitator.

You both have been able to see Tracy in action, uh guiding people through those questions.

Uh venue is really low because uh, and I would also I want to lift this up because I'm counting the coins and and myself and Aaron, we're processing the invoices.

People are being super generous regarding this mission, and they're either discounting or they're trying to give the stuff for free, and I'm telling them like we got a budget, like you know, let's spin, but even our vendors uh have been very generous and and uh what they charge us for what we're doing.

Um, we talked about a therapist early on, which is uh key because there's some uh vital emotions that pop up in that room when people are reliving their um lived experience regarding um reparations and discrimination, all right.

With the remaining balance, uh we are planning on finalizing all of our district uh sessions.

Uh Chair Gore mentioned one of the uh pivots or additional things that we are doing is that each commissioner has the ability to do pop-ups.

Those pop-ups are funded with the money that you entrusted uh in us.

So each commissioner also has access to everything up there, if that's a note taker, videographer, et cetera.

But there we are using each of those budget line items to make sure that we get out to as many people as possible.

We are in the process of talking to and coordinating with Black Joy, which I think is going to be a very uh big opportunity for us.

Uh we're probably going to spend a big chunk of that for uh surveying and outreach and and branding.

Um, and then that amazing report, it only needs to capture words, but it needs to look really amazing because that's going to live with the county and making sure that that branding is on point.

So uh that's going to be a big chunk of this remaining balance.

Um, and then we have a little bit of the contingency in there uh just for when things come up.

And then uh commissioner uh Burliston, uh, I haven't met with him yet, but um uh my anticipation that uh going to um the Santa Rita and other places is gonna have some cost to it too.

So uh when I get with him, I'll be able to kind of flesh that out a little bit too.

Um, and then just overall uh review and next steps from the admin and budget committee.

We're all we uh there's a couple different subcommittees meet.

Uh the budget and admin committee meets every Monday.

It's supposed to be for 30 minutes, but it's like two hours.

Uh, but uh because there's a lot of moving parts and there are things that we're talking about and um and we're managing and being good stewards of the dollars that you guys give us to what the county entrusts us in.

So uh we want to complete the final district listening sessions so that voted upon listening sessions, making sure that they have what they need.

Um, and the reason this is here is because we're now uh adding more money into the digital uh social media consultant.

So I think supervisor Miley or Marquez said, oh, we should probably promote child care, we should promote the food.

So we're gonna do more social media posts uh alongside, you know, telling people to come to the listen session, but child care.

Oh, bring your kids, we got somebody to watch them, right?

So you got food, we got everything built in, uh, the expansion of the pop-ups and outreach, uh, finalizing the data.

The data is going to be one big chunk because uh if we are successful and we start to get more people to take our survey, there's gonna be more information and process, and so uh we're gonna ramp up dollars in that area, uh release public facing material.

Uh Aaron uh worked with the designer from the library again, library is awesome.

Um, and uh we have some amazing materials that you and your staff are gonna start wearing um either weekly, so I'll just let you know you gotta promote the brand.

And then um, and then allocate rest of the uh funds to priority areas, primarily in engagement areas and uh what we mean by that is the unincorporated areas.

We uh are building a strategy that's gonna uh have a little bit more human capital, so we're gonna have to stipend people to go out to those uh areas to get information and data.

And so I'm uh done from my portion.

I'm gonna pause for any questions.

Aaron and I are happy to answer any budget questions.

Thank you, Vice Chair, for the tremendous work and um just being so prudent and transparent and making everything accessible to the public.

Um I probably have this in the inbox somewhere, but I'm not recalling.

So if there's any way the commission can re-up um the flyer for the remaining listening sessions that are confirmed, as well as the link to the survey, so we could add that to our social media, as well as I do a monthly newsletter, so I'm happy to disseminate that, but just want to make sure I'm using your media toolkit.

Awesome, thank you.

We will send that over.

And I gladly wear any swag you give me.

So looking forward to that.

Just make sure you ask me my size because that does fluctuate.

Oh, so the size was a thing that I, you know, because I go to the community and they don't have three X's.

So I got every size, we got every single size.

Yes, yeah, up to four X.

So love for the big guys.

Um have you done any um communication with DNAACP?

Not no, not in Oakland, not yet.

Because you know, we do have Cynthia Adams in WCP, North County, and then Freddie Davis, uh South County.

So just another thought, you might want to reach out to WCP as well.

Um, and I appreciate you, you know, specifically in the commission once again being very um very judicious and uh with with the funding that's been allocated to you and you utilizing it extremely well.

I mean, like I told Deborah, um, you know, I'm very impressed.

You know, you guys make me proud.

You really do.

You make me proud.

Well, yeah, we appreciate you.

Yeah.

So keep up the good work.

Awesome.

Um I'm going to uh give you some early uh results that we have from the surveys, and then I would love to bring up our two commissioners who actually serve on the um uh the listening session subcommittee.

So this is our uh informing change um consultants, and this is uh I'm just gonna walk you through real quickly.

So so far, this is the survey, so we're not lifting up the transcripts or the stories yet.

Uh that this is the quantitative versus the qualitative.

So you can see here we've got 86 surveys, um, and the majority came from the Taylor Memorial.

Um, and so you can see um, you know, 45, more than half have come from that event alone.

Um, and then uh the supervisor districts.

We we are about to go to district one, um, but you can see that we've held um two in district four.

So that's uh the distribution that you're seeing there.

Um the um how did people hear about the event from another organization?

Uh and so that speaks well to the partnership and the allyships that we are developing, and then family and friends, so word of mouth.

Uh so those are our two biggest components there.

Uh and I would lift up social media.

We've just started kicking in.

Uh so uh and the investment there should start to show up well, but just so you can have a sense of, you know, how's the word getting out there?

Uh the fourth exhibit here.

The virtually everyone, uh, when asked uh to uh to uh click on um which of these do you think uh are most meaningful scholarship and grants and direct compensation.

So those are both like in the 98th uh percentile, and then after that, it's increased funding in programs at county agencies, and then the public acknowledgement apology, which is interesting because you've done that, but they didn't know that.

So there's an education component to work that's being done and making sure the community knows about that, and then memorial and commemoration.

So that's kind of the culture building part.

Um, if you follow up, you know, uh strongly.

Oh, sorry, there's a typo there.

So anything in the blue is strongly support.

So it's not a lukewarm, you know, how you're like strongly somewhat, somewhat opposed, strongly support is the blue there from the surveys.

Uh other areas where we said you could just have an open-ended response, you can see uh taxes have come up by all four sessions, but some sort of tax incentive breaks, what have you, or you know, um uh no taxes where you have uh vacation from taxes, um housing and land consistently comes up because of so much of the redlining and um uh the way that the county then um executed eminent domain, so land consistently comes up, and then the policy systemic stuff equity centered community engagement that fits with um the recommendation of doing um events in the community and then training for policy makers.

So that's interesting that that showed up more than one time, um, and then service and education that perhaps a way uh now again open-ended is um having reparation be free, college and high school, uh quality education, medical services, health care, uh community health centers, and mental health.

So those were the write-in ones uh where people could just provide open-ended conversations, and then additional topics.

Um uh we talked about the talks model, um, some other work that the commission has done to date, funding, additional um scope of work there, community engagement, um reach out to the the high schools and college, which I think you'll see in um some of the on the upcoming commission pop-ups, um, and then teaching children how to trace their lineage, which um goes along with the state policy that was or excuse me, the space is the state bill that was passed.

You know, there were two bills that the governor ultimately signed.

One is to stand up the uh reparations agency, and the second was to do a study on how to trace your lineage.

So I think that's coming straight from that whole whole um legislative policy that happened, and then trauma and health, you know, emphasizing trauma.

Um it says it was a missed topic.

Uh we have a lot of slides uh that talk about um the this topic, but we also have a therapist, and we always get one really compelling story that just you know really kind of um for me uh chokes me up on terms of what a family or a person has experienced, and then connecting it to everybody's everyday life, you know, make the clear connections, don't be too wonky, don't get like ground it to the community experience, and then um recommendations to the other locations.

So um, Supervisor Marcus had this in here before you even mentioned it, but it was like you know, specifically Hayward.

We're doing a lot of Oakland and Berkeley as coming, but it uh a community member suggested Hayward, and then um to host interesting enough, some more sort of digital uh a site, a community site, education site, have you know uh parks, third spaces.

We are looking at how to collaborate on the Black Joy Parade that's coming, and they have a series of events, so so we are quite plugged into what the community is doing.

Um I think that finishes uh this part on the data and uh go yeah.

Yeah, if you have questions, and I would like to have the two commissioners from the sub.

Okay, go ahead.

Oh, yeah, so once again, uh this looks really good.

Um I'm trying not to get ahead of the commission.

You know, I've always tried to just stay in my lane, don't get ahead of you.

Let you do your discharge responsibilities, and I know your uh Lisa's office and my office have been attending the meetings and working with you.

Um but I know like with tracing your lineage, uh, your ancestry, you know, you know, the more and temple, we might want to see if there's any collaboration we can do with the more Mormon Temple, because they've got all that research up there that is open to the public to utilize just a thought.

I don't know if if the commission has been interviewed by the the post, because I think getting an article in the post, um, or an ad in the post, or both, I think might be good about the work you're doing, about maybe the upcoming um listening sessions or even um it doesn't even have to be just one ad or one um article, it could be a series of articles.

I can't believe Paul Cobb wouldn't jump on this.

Um, you know, his paper goes to a lot of the African American churches.

Uh I just think that's a I mean we we might be missing an opportunity there as well.

Um, and as I said, I the stuff that's coming in out of the listening sessions.

I'm I'm very eager to jump on it, but I don't want to get ahead of the um commission because you're doing such a great job.

I want to see obviously what you come up with as an action plan.

And then when we get to that uh that final report that you submit, you'll submit it to the committee first.

You know, this the journey won't be over once you submit the final report to us.

Because depending on what you give us, you know, we might want to have some additional follow-up or whatever before we send it to the board.

So I don't want just what once again, I don't want to get ahead of myself, but this is I just I think this is beautiful work, yeah.

Yeah, great.

Uh I would like to take this opportunity then to bring up our two, if you would like, but for sure I'd like to bring up um Commissioner Philip Gardner.

So um, yeah, I'm Dr.

Philip Gardner, I'm one of the um members' um commissioners.

I also sit on the listening session.

I want to um highlight something about last Saturday's listening session that I think um that Marquez has already raised.

Um our summation was there should have been more butts in the seat, but the dynamic of the session itself, people taking a break, eating, and then conversing with one another, that's what a listening session is.

That was that was that that's the way it should be.

Um I want to encourage you both to come to the next one so we can do that again.

Um I also want to say, and and I'm getting ahead of myself to um Supervisor Miley.

Um there have been so many requests for listening sessions or what we're calling pop-ups.

Getting a report to you in two or three it it what has become clear.

You asked the question about the NAACP.

I work with folks with a 100 black men.

There's there's a lot out there.

If we took six more months, so and I haven't, you know, I'm I'm sure I'll get in trouble for that, but um anyway.

Um so thank you for your support.

Um, let me just leave it at that.

Okay.

I just want to say one of my staff always tells me a closed mouth, don't get fed.

So, and and Deborah knows that um uh if you if you approach the the committee and you need additional time, you might be able to get that, but we're not gonna, you know, we she wants to keep you on test.

I'm trying to stay on that because well if you want an extension that's what we know I know.

So get it submitted.

I'm not trying to get ahead of the commission.

We'll let you do your your work, and then if you feel you need more time, let us let us know.

Let us know.

Let me ask though it's coming oh because of the incredible work have we been able to engage philanthropy or any other individuals that may be inclined to support the work I have um as you can imagine there's been a big pivot to immigration uh so some conversations that I've had um in particular San Francisco Foundation they they're doing a um a database of all of both the cities uh well I think we're the only county but there are a lot of cities and there are a lot of legislative and groups that we we actually I am attending the uh ARRT group which is a state group uh the CJAC there's quite a bit of things that are plugged in um but the foundations have not and some of them frankly actually have a target on their backs where they have been targeted.

I spoke to the Tides Foundation they have a federal audit going on to try to slow them down and I uh talked to the East Bay Community Foundation so we find ourselves in a precarious times yeah but we we were asked well not asked um informing change Michael Arnold uh we wrote to serve on a panel they have an upcoming conference coming April 26th in San Francisco and so we submitted to be on that panel uh to be to um run a panel uh that we're calling reparations in California led by the Alumbia County reparations commission so there are opportunities that are being presented so that'll be interesting I mean it's April so it's a bit late but we're in conversation with those um black foundation executives right now and so I I think the amount of follow-up that they had like be sure and submit be sure and submit I was like okay that hopefully we'll get selected and that that's there that's from all over the country coming to San Francisco in April.

So we're we're having those conversations for sure.

Yeah.

Okay let me um so I have I do have this ask um so this is by district and who you all appointed we have two open seats don't be mad at me Bert because he has been diligent um but we need to fill these two seats um and we you know it was um based on uh time constraints or um change of uh commitment because of time commitment so however you can uh looking at the four in particular um because there is so much work to do now we're at the part where we're responding and doing the pop-ups that um we desperately need commissioners uh to fill those two seats um i have suggested uh somebody in a younger demographic you know maybe an up a coming rising uh leader uh 20 to 30 ish uh so if someone could look into that and then we do have a commissioner who's only attended one meeting um so if we could just if we could get your support on making sure we fill those seats because this last six months is gonna be a push so thank you um okay so this is where I was gonna lift up the amount of digital presence so you can see we do have the website and it does have the activity where you can literally register for an event so that allows us to get head counts um and understand where the interest is uh then we have a LinkedIn very active um you can see there uh we have been um recording uh different community members as well as commissioners so you can see uh commissioner uh fortunato uh bass there uh I can't seem to get you to get recorded Supervisor Miley but it does help um so that's our LinkedIn presence and then our Facebook you know still is very powerful and you can see the group picture we took there um and that was posted by Commissioner Tam.

So and then lastly, our Instagram, which um has the the most followers.

I mean, it'm only at 144 um but we're really creating the momentum of that digital presence, where um like vice chair um McClendon pointed out that we could say, hey, there's you know, food by this caterer or this event.

So I think this is really starting to take off.

This I I would say we really just stood this up late November, December.

Um so we do have quite a digital presence, and this is where we will also be pushing out a survey.

So you can do the survey digitally.

So hopefully, you know, that 86 you see now, we clearly want hundreds.

I think we initially had set a goal of like 500, which might have been a little ambitious, but um we can yeah, you know, but same thing.

If we do that digitally, now we always, you know, we're cautioned.

Uh we have a uh what we call the DAR data research, um, data, what's the A data something research analysis?

That group um is building the survey.

Um we're talking about canvassing and doing different ways to get that um get the input from the survey.

So, you know, that that'll be a whole digital effort coming as well, in addition to the listening session.

So wanted to just share some of the media presence we have.

And then lastly, um this is um so the talk of the town, so uh I'll say that um Tracy Webb, who she and I have done lots of events over the years, but um her network, which got us to both Dave Clark and Paul Cobb.

So we this is really her and her network and me and my contacts sort of saying what is it, especially the chamber, Kathy at the chamber, like what would you guys want to see?

And that's when it like let's do Kwanzaa, let's hook it to and the Monday that we're doing, that's Ujima, which is the economic unity day of Kwanzaa.

So it's all tying together, and then at the J uh Henry J.

Kaiser Center was a connection as well, and they we're getting such a steep discount.

They we're almost gonna have them donate the whole venue, but we're pretty close to almost having no fee there.

So so a lot of things came together in order to do that.

And then Dave Clark also then said, I'm gonna do a talk of the town on reparations.

He invited, he invited um Paul Cobb.

So invited Paul, invited me, and he invited Tracy.

So that's on the 17th.

We did a press release.

Thank you both for your staff who like you know turned it around.

Um and so that was all sort of organic, source through relationships, source through um the work.

They could see the work that we had done, they could look at our social media, they could see that there was a presence.

We were more than just you know, um putting up a bunch of words.

So that's how how this has come together, and I and I do think uh I do know Paul as well, and so I think we we'll probably get a little bit more of uh coverage given that you know he's going to be on the talk of the town with us.

So and he's a pillar in the community.

And I think I'm correct in saying that the Oakland Post might be the oldest black media Northern California.

I don't think I can go all the way to Southern California, but in Northern California, so we know that the Oakland Post is a powerful and respected voice.

So I wanted to share that.

Okay, let me just pause.

Yeah, this is fantastic.

You know, I know Dave Clark real well.

He had a um Crisha.

So I'm happy that you've made that connection with Dave, and I know Tracy and Paul as well.

Um, you know, Tracy's in the same book, uh what's it called?

Book club or whatever with my Tony.

So yeah, so I just think this is really good that you're yeah, because I guess I'm not I'm trying not to get ahead of the um the reparations commission.

And the reason I tend to pull back is I don't want it to be about an eight miley.

I want you folks to be out there driving this, you know, this this truck, this train, this plane, whatever, and not necessarily me.

So that's why even as you're listening sessions, I don't say anything.

I just come there to listen and observe.

Um, and you know, have and if I can't make it, because I've been all three so far, um at birth there, and hopefully I'll be able to make uh the the other two um and we'll see where it goes.

This one on the 17th.

So we'll be able to watch this.

Yes great 10 a.m.

on next next Wednesday, I think.

Oh great, yeah.

Uh and it's on it's on TV.

Yep.

Talk of the 10 at 10 o'clock all right this is great we'll promote it on our social so you'll start to see see it coming forth but you know we gotta do the um uh yeah we'll do the talk of the town then we'll do um the Kwanzaa and then we have our January listening session and they uh and so we've we we're really there'll be quite a bit of stuff that um people can plug in at different levels at different times different audiences as well so you know we we have had folks who have uh come to multiple events and that's fine um I think it's actually quite helpful so um yeah so we're we're rocking and rolling I want to just add your branding and the banner is working because I met a woman who was there just to get books didn't even know it was occurring and she stayed the whole time and she's like how can I get involved so I believe Supervisors Tam did exchange contact information with her but you know she she shared that was great Saturday.

They were so plugged in I it was you know it was the first time that they we had hosted in their area and the turnout was you know um lukewarm but they were very enthusiastic and supportive so that was also great for us.

Yeah I think it was great because you've had survivor Marquez, Bass, myself and Tim yeah at your sessions yes that's great.

That's great.

So this is this is good stuff and I work with uh Bert in my office and talk to my staff to see if we can fill your seat yeah because you know we lost Lori and and then Haley.

It's like come on now.

I know and CJ was a big loss we are talking to that cultural zone and the 40 by 40 effort so you know because that's the four organizations BCZ or Black Cultural Zone Roots we have not done a health specific um Brotherhood of Elders network and the EO IDC.

So we have the OADC bo the the four in the 40 by 40 um hosting something with them.

Great yeah so you're you get you're on it we actually build it as well oh yeah yeah I know Dr.

Noha.

Yeah Dr.

Noha's she's bad one of my yeah one of my friends in advisors just put it that way yeah so there's up there there is a lot there um you're not gonna make me go down that get an extension uh there is a lot of good work to do um and we are limited by you know the commissioners who can engage on the topics that's meaningful to them um as well as um what the community wants to do so it's it's trying to meet both of those demands but I think see my fault the way I'm approaching this is just me once you submit the final report then that's when I'll take yeah take over at this point the show is your show yeah yes and Nate Miley's not gonna you know interfere yeah so that's just but if you know if you want me to do something so you can put on your you know your social media I'll I'll do that but the if it helps but otherwise oh it all of it helps I want to just be in the background and observing and I know we ask I ask you every time do you want to say no I don't want to say no okay any other topics or another sure I can take it just that all of this work has culminated in these wonderful ways and I want to thank Deborah as well because she has been through every up and down cycle of this work and has found a way to move us ahead and do it in a way that has integrity and the intentionality of the commission intact and and in a way that is is community um centered and so I just wanted to say thank you to Deborah.

That concludes our report and our agenda.

And if there's anything y'all need uh we can give you some time back.

Yeah, well, I just want to co-sign with Deb a librarian.

She is now the librarian.

Yes.

She's no longer she's no longer answering.

But I want to co-sign that uh because I know Deborah uh shared a few times with me um some things that um she felt a little frustrated about.

But the point is, she's hung in there.

This devra gore.

Oh, yeah.

I'm not talking about Deb.

So but she's hung in there.

And she's got a great team.

And like I said, you folks make me so proud.

I mean, be an African American and see the work you're doing and the way you're going about it so responsibly, methodically, intelligently.

I mean, it's I I'm just really proud of you.

So I can't wait to see what you produce, and then, you know, and we'll we'll go from there.

But I but the journey won't be over once we get it.

I mean, the you know, we I'm not even sure where we'll be in the journey, but we'll get there when we get there.

Yeah, I would add that when you all were able to give us some financial resources, that was the tipping point because then we could engage in, you know, the quality of the work, the vision we had.

So that that was really pivotal.

So that is huge.

Thank you for being able to I know that was not easy.

Um, and that we we we are able to even nationally, I'm I'm quite at quite a few tables about reparations, and people like how'd you get funding?

How'd you get funding?

Because it just a lot of the efforts are are being done by community CBOs, you know, and it just made a world of difference.

You can see, right?

The quality of project management and the data and how we meet the community and now you know Larry who runs the financial if I showed you our financial worksheet, it's like month by month, 17 tabs, like we're not messing around, right?

We've got some professional folks.

Um, and we're we're gonna have a retreat in January, because that'll be one year.

We had a retreat in January.

Well, we're not calling it a retreat, we're calling it our uh annual check-in.

Because it's one year since where we were before and where we are now, and then how we can finish strong the next six months.

Do you know the date?

31st at New York 5th.

Okay, great.

Look at that on our schedule, Bert, yeah.

Yep.

Okay.

So that that'll be another, you know, let's get focused, let's figure out how we're gonna finish, you know, run through the tape as it were, uh, because it does feel like it's our fourth quarter as a mixing all the metaphors.

Um, but it does feel like we we we want to be sure to be on the same page, be focused with the resources that we have and deliver to you a very strong um draft action plan that you know we hand off something that's.

And as we continue to track that, you know, Supervisor Marquez and I through our offices with our staff, um, you know, when we get to adopting a budget for 26, 27, depending on where you are and what you're anticipating, you know, if additional resources are needed, and we're aware of that we'll be able to approach, you know, our colleagues about that and see if we can get some resources because you know, we just had two colleagues just this week contribute money to the Russell City Fund, you know.

So, I was Marquez and I've already done that, and we had two other colleagues do that just this week.

So, um, I think you know there's there's desire on the part I think of the board to be supportive.

Um so I just I just don't want to say the the spigot is closed, but I don't want to say the speak it's open either until you let us know you really do need those resources.

And it's just great once again to see that you're so you know you're you you're so stewards of the of the funds and you're doing a great job.

Um I think what we could have done if we had more money.

I no, I'm okay.

Let's close it.

So before we uh uh because we have to find out if there's public comment today, um this committee is an ad hoc meet committee.

Do you do you anticipate when you think you want to give another update to us when so that um Supervisor Marquez and I can figure out a date and a time?

For the next, yeah.

Oh, so had had you circled.

Oh, for sure.

Seems like March 13th.

We were talking about why we had it.

Might be at a pivotal point.

Is March two?

March 2th or a quarter, March, okay.

So we'll uh we'll work together to figure out a date in March.

March.

Okay.

Yes.

All right, and four o'clock generally works well.

Yeah, and and we the Wednesday because then we go right into our commission.

So maybe that Wednesday in March, okay.

Then we just wipe out the evening.

No.

Okay.

All right.

All right.

So before we conclude, uh Tisa, do we have any speakers, public speakers on any of these items today?

We have no speakers for public comment.

Okay.

And no speakers in the chamber, no speakers online.

No, no speakers.

All right.

Well, I want to thank Supervisor Marquez and her staff and everybody for all the work you're doing on this.

Thank everyone, and especially D2 and D3 team also.

Thank you.

Um District Director Ronnie Lachey, Bert, Tanya.

It's a lot of um moving parts with scheduling and just no, obviously we're all committed to the work, so just it's really amazing to see this the synergy and the positivity and the leadership and the collaboration.

And we're not always gonna agree, but I think there's um a significant level of respect and um centering community.

So thank you.

Thank you