Alameda County Ad Hoc Committee on Reparations - June 5, 2026
Alameda County Ad Hoc Committee on Reparations - June 5, 2026
The Alameda County Ad Hoc Committee on Reparations met on June 5, 2026, to review the final report and recommendations from the Reparations Commission, discuss the transition to a permanent structure, and consider next steps for implementation. Chair Miley and Supervisor Marquez were present. The meeting was initially delayed due to technical difficulties with Zoom and reconvened on Microsoft Teams. All agenda items were informational; no votes were taken.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Johnny Richardson (on behalf of his mother, Johnny McCormick) spoke on a non-agendized item regarding the AC Renewed program (Measure A one). He stated that his mother was approved for the program but it was canceled nearly a year later due to budget issues. He reported that the contractor assigned to the project was willing to work within the budget, but he felt stonewalled by Habitat for Humanity, the program administrator. He requested an advocate from the Board of Supervisors to address the situation. The committee noted the issue but could not take action since it was not on the agenda, and staff indicated they would follow up afterwards.
Discussion Items
Report on Four Priorities and Action Plan
- Deborah Gore presented the Commission's final report, summarizing four key priorities to be presented to the Board of Supervisors on June 30: (1) Accept the report (160 pages, 12 phased recommendations derived from 43 original commissioner submissions); (2) Establish a more permanent structure—transition from an ad hoc committee to a standing committee and from a Reparations Commission 1.0 to a Reparations Commission 2.0; (3) Conduct equity alignment—review all county departments and agencies doing racial equity or disparate impact work to identify gaps and align efforts; (4) Operationalize an office within the Office of Equity, with the library continuing interim staffing support.
- The report includes community quotes, data, and a section for each of the 12 recommendations organized in three phases (short-, medium-, and long-term). The back of the report contains all 43 original commissioner submissions.
- Discussion on Community Advisory Council (CAC): The Commission proposed creating an external community advisory council for ongoing engagement. Supervisor Marquez recommended sequencing: first transition the commission to its new structure, determine staffing and funding, then consider the CAC. Chair Miley agreed, noting that a CAC could create complications under the Brown Act and would require additional resources. He suggested keeping the structure simple and focusing on the commission and committee first. However, the Commission decided to include a dotted-line reference to a future CAC in its presentation but not to commit to immediate implementation.
- Digital Campaign: Deborah Gore introduced the "Show Up for 6-30" digital campaign to encourage community members to sign a letter of support and attend the June 30 Board of Supervisors meeting. Eight to nine letters had been received so far.
- Bridge Funding: The Commission emphasized the need for continued funding to support the work beyond the current allocation (approximately $500,000, with about $50–60,000 remaining). They noted that without dedicated staffing, the work cannot be sustained. Chair Miley and Supervisor Marquez agreed that funding is critical but declined to specify an amount, instead framing it as a commentary for the Board.
- Action Plan Report Finalization: The Commission will finalize the report by mid-June for distribution to supervisors two weeks before the June 30 presentation. Edits must be submitted by Friday. The Board letter, memo, slide deck, budget summary, and the report will be made available to the public and the Board prior to the June 30 meeting.
Key Outcomes
- The Committee directed staff to finalize the report and supporting documents for the June 30 Board of Supervisors meeting.
- The Committee agreed to present a recommendation to transition the ad hoc committee into a standing committee and to evolve the Reparations Commission into a 2.0 version (potentially reducing from 15 to 7 members, one per supervisor plus two at-large).
- The Committee endorsed a phased approach to implementation, emphasizing that the equity alignment work should first assess existing county programs before determining priorities.
- The Committee acknowledged the need for interim staffing and funding but deferred specific requests until the Board considers the recommendations on June 30.
- Public comment on a non-agendized item was heard but not acted upon; staff will follow up.
- The meeting was adjourned after approximately one hour and forty minutes, with Chair Miley and Supervisor Marquez thanking the Commissioners for their work and committing to incremental progress despite budget challenges from federal cuts.
Meeting Transcript
All right, good afternoon. Let's go to ad hoc committee to order. Clark want to take the roll. Supervisor Marquez. Present. Chair Miley. Okay. You have any instructions you need to provide? All participants, please state your name for the record prior to your presentation. If you wish to speak on an item not on the agenda, please wait until Chair Miley calls for public input on non-agendized items only matters, but then the committee's jurisdiction may be addressed. To notify the clerk that you wish to speak for in-person participants, please vote a speaker card and hand it to the clerk. The speaker cards are at the front of the room, and I am the clerk for online participants. Please use the raise hand function when we are on an item that you should comment on. For dialed in participants, please dial star nine to use the raise hand function. Dialing it again allows you to lower your hand. The clerk will call your name when it is time for public comment. If you are in person, please come to the podium to speak. If you're online or dialed in, the clerk will call your name and allow you to unmute. Thank you. Alright, thank you. All right. So we have a number of lengthy agenda. So everything is informational. So let's start with item one. Good afternoon. I'll be presenting all the items, and actually, since this will be the last meeting before we get to the uh an agenda item for the June 30th. I'm hoping to be able to get your input and feedback on how we will be presenting the materials at the time. So this is the order that we as the commission were thinking would be helpful to agenda to have it be a set matter. So start with the report, and we can go over that. Oh, actually, uh so I'll review a memo which summarizes the same priorities that we will be asking the board of supervisor to consider. Uh and then we'll go over the digital campaign that we hope, which we are now calling show up for 6 30, which is June 30th, and we have a digital toolkit. Uh then we'll go over the structural um recommendations we have about going from an ad hoc committee to a committee, uh commission uh from the first commission to commission 2.0, and then perhaps a community or advisory group that would be an external group. Go over the funding, and then uh it's time to review the final action plan. So this is the the way that we would like to present to the um the board of supervisors. So the four key matters that are in the memo that hopefully you'll have uh you have a version of it. Um, so the first priority is to accept the report. So the report is currently about 160 pages. Uh, there's a draft we've sent to your staff. So if there's anything missing in there or that you'd like to add, uh probably have maybe a week to get any edits or comments. Um, but the general outline has followed the the uh last format that we shared with you. So that's priority one, except the report priority two is requesting a more permanent structure. Go from the ad hoc committee to a committee, and then go from commission 1.0, reparations commission 1.0 to a reparations 2.0. Uh and then priority three is to do uh equity alignment. That is to look at all the departments, the agencies, the commissions, who are doing any kind of racial equity or um uh disparate impact district treatment work. Um that would allow us to see all the good work that's being done by staff and departments and lift that up and create alignment as we go into the next phase. And then priority four is what we're calling operationalized the office with either within the office of equity, um, but to have right now we are fortunate to be um supported by the library, they can still hold that until we are able to find the office of equity to where to permanently hold it. So those are going to be the four priorities that we want to move forward. I'm gonna pause there. So um the report you says 160 pages. About and how many recommendations total?
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