IMPORTANT NEWS! No camp Monday, July 1st -OPR STRIKE

ATTENTION PARENTS & GUARDIANS: STRIKE UPDATE!

Open Letter to Oakland Community Members from Parks and Recreation Workers

It is with deep love for the youth and community of Oakland that we are preparing for an

impending strike that will shut down Parks and Recreation facilities sometime in the

next week. 

We are saddened and frustrated that the city continues to cut funds from park and rec

programs. We view these cuts as a sign of the disrespect that the city has for the services

we provide—services that create a beautiful landscape for all of the city’s residents to

enjoy; services that provide amazing sporting and leisure activities for hard working

residents. Services that give tens of thousands of inner-city kids diverse and rewarding

youth enrichment programs. As Parks and Recreation workers, we view these vital

services as the true violence prevention in the City of Oakland. Services include after

school programs, summer camps, basketball courts and pools. We are the violence

prevention that is proactive opposite to reactive when dealing with troubled youth. It’s

challenging work but we find it incredibly rewarding. 

In order to run these vital programs effectively we need adequate pay, health care, and

sick leave. We need to be able to support our own children while we are at work running

summer school programs for the community’s kids.

WE STRIKE BECAUSE:

· The City is running Parks and Recreation programs with temporary, part-time workers

with very little protection against unjust firings and disciplinary action. 

· For the last six years, city workers’ wages have been cut and our benefits have

decreased.

· Our programs and the people that run them make Oakland a breathtaking and

community oriented city!

We need your support! Contact the Mayor Jean Quan and City Administrator Deanna

Santana and tell them to stand with the community by giving city workers a fair and just

contract! Mayor Quan: (510) 238-3141, City Admin Deanna Santana: (510) 238-3301

Sincerely,

Your neighborhood park and recreation centers