About Oakland Community Organizations

Building Community

We build the structure for people who trust one another to organize and work together. OCO leaders build relationships through one-to-one, face-to-face conversations with congregation and community members.
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Faith in Action

Leaders share common values from our diverse faith, racial, political, and social traditions. We bring these values into the public arena through action on concrete issues. Through relationships, research and action, OCO leaders live out the call to serve one another and to seek justice.

OCO leaders embrace these common beliefs:

That all people are precious embodying a dignity provided by the Creator

Because people are precious, each deserves to live in a world where all people are treated justly

Justice is made real when we integrate the spiritual and social dimensions of our lives

Organizing is a tool that brings together the spiritual and social aspects of our lives in concrete ways, creating a world of greater dignity and justice for all families.

Isaiah 58:6-8
This, rather is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke; sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless, clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own. Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your wound shall be quickly healed; your vindication shall go before you, and the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.

Model: Congregations Organizing Communities
For the past fifteen years, OCO has employed a faith-based model of community organizing that is shared across the PICO network. Through this model leaders build community organization based on the value, vision, and leadership of the member congregations. Core

leadership teams are developed at each church. These leaders do extensive one-to-one listening campaigns with families of the community. Leaders begin to develop possible solutions to these issues through research meetings with institutional leaders, whether from government, non-profit agencies or businesses. Public officials are then invited to a large meeting, called an action, where they are asked to make commitments to the community to help bring about the needed change.

It is in action that the community experiences unity and exercises the power of their organization. With the perspective of faith, OCO leaders evaluate and reflect on their own development as leaders, how well they have engaged the larger community, whether their relationship with institutional leaders has improved, and if concrete results are being seen. The factor bonding people of such diverse culture, language, and religious expression together is

Using this model, OCO has developed thousands of volunteer leaders over the last 25 years though Local Organizing Committees (LOCs) at their church or school. This community-organizing model has been effectively used in more than 40 congregations and now is being utilized by

several schools. Local actions involve between 50 and 1,000 people. Thousands of people have taken effective action in their neighborhoods on issues ranging from new stop signs to new affordable housing. Most OCO leaders remain involved year after year because they know and trust one another and care deeply about their families and community. Using this model, OCO has built its civic power at a citywide level and has been called the most powerful grassroots organization in Oakland.

OCO: Oakland for Everyone
We envision Oakland as a safe and vibrant city united in our ethnic, religious and economic diversity. We see Oakland as a city where all children and families have equal access to a first rate education; affordable housing and home ownership; skills training and good employment opportunities; quality health care; and safe, clean streets in vibrant neighborhoods. Our vision for Oakland is guided by our belief that dignity, respect and equality are a fundamental right of every family in this country.

For over 25 years, OCO has built its power through the work of thousands of leaders from member congregations that shared a common vision of a better Oakland for everyone. We are proud to introduce you to the families who have made a permanent difference in the way people live and work. We are proud to tell our story, and we invite you to join us today and in the future as we organize together to transform obstacles into opportunities for all people.

OCO History
In 1972, Oakland Community Organizations (OCO) was established as the organizing project of PICO founders, Fathers. John Baumann, S.J. and Jerry Helfrich S.J. From 1972-1977, Baumann and Helfrich focused on building neighborhood organizations in West Oakland,

San Antonio Fruitvale, Central East Oakland from 50th to 80th Streets, and Elmhurst area. Neighborhood after neighborhood worked on issues like junkyards, stray dogs, prostitution, zoning, crime and vacant housing. It was the 1,100 vacant houses in Oakland at the time that brought neighborhood leaders together and planted the seeds of OCO. On May 14, 1977 over 1,000 people gathered at Merritt College to officially give birth to OCO, articulating the faith values that today are the foundation of our organizing principles.

For the next eight years, OCO operated successfully as a neighborhood based organization, bringing people together around local and citywide issues. During this period, major victories were achieved:

Housing Rehab programs renovated 400 once-vacant houses.
OCO citywide campaign led to a district election of council persons.
Port of Oakland initiated a minority hiring program.
Developed over 100 units of housing affordable for first time homeowners.
Supported the City’s implementation of the "Hire Oakland First Program" that is still in existence today.

In 1985, with the support of PICO, OCO began the transition from a neighborhood-organizing model to a congregation community-based model of organizing. Using this model, OCO developed strong local organizations in seven congregations. In 1987, OCO gathered over 2,000 people for our first citywide action, launching a campaign to address Oakland’s drug epidemic. Our accomplishments in the l980s include:

Police established the "Beat Health Unit." Operating throughout the City, the Beat Health Unit quickly demolished its first crack house and forced the closing of 1,000 more.
The city, county, and state adopted new enforcement, treatment and prevention measures to address the drug epidemic.
OCO was formally recognized by the White House for its citywide anti-drug campaign.
Mayor Harris signed "Covenant with OCO" creating community-based policing and opened the first police substation for rapid drug enforcement.

In the 1990s, OCO leaders turned their attention on the root causes of poverty in Oakland and focused on developing sustainable solutions for complex problems, organizing between 2,000 and 2,500 people for major citywide action that resulted in:

Aviation High School, a pilot school-to-work transition program, which prepared high school students for real jobs in the transportation field.
$6.6 million in new street lighting, creation of the first charter school in Oakland, and a major truancy reduction program.
Through the Hope Campaign, secured class size reduction to 20 students in kindergarten through 3rd grade and 15 homework centers serving 600 students.
Brought a new grocery store to West Oakland and $8.2 million to revitalize Gateway (Acorn) Shopping Plaza that also employed 50 local residents.
Organized and opened three charter schools serving 800 students.

At the beginning of 2000, OCO researched and developed one of the only community-driven school reform efforts in the United States. However, other issues were not left behind. In November of 2001, OCO brought 3,000 people together to urge Mayor Brown to address housing, education, and safety concerns of our families. Results in this millennium include:

Developed and passed the New Small Autonomous Schools (NSAS) Policy and helped to secure $300 million local school bond money for the construction of new small, autonomous schools.
OCO reform partners, BayCES, awarded $17 million in Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation funds to support New Small Autonomous Schools.
Opened fifteen new small schools from 2001 to present, serving 3700 students with more schools planned for the coming years.
Restructured two Oakland High Schools; Castlemont High School is reconfiguring into Small Learning Communities, and Fremont High School is restructured into five new small interconnected schools within a school.

For a more complete "History of Our Work," in this millennium please click on our issues page.

PICO: A Network that Helps Us Build Community & Power
OCO is a member of the Pacific Institute for Community Organization (PICO) network. PICO is a national network with faith based organization at work in over 45 cities in 12 states across the United States. As a member of the network, OCO receives consultation and technical support. Our staff and leaders receive training and professional development, every year through PICO’s weeklong national leadership training retreats.

Many of the concerns of OCO families can only be properly addressed at the state and national level. Through PICO and the PICO California Project we are able to join with all of our sister organizations to build the power we need to address these issues. Since 2000, OCO joined 16 sister organizations as the PICO California Project for a series of actions involving 10,000 people that gained the following results:

$50 million for after-school programs;
$9.2. Billion for school repair and construction;
$30 million for parent/teacher home visits;
Approval by the federal agency, Health and Human Services, to support California’s waiver request to add 300,000 parents to Healthy Families;
$50 million for primary health clinic infrastructure;
Changes to application process making Medi-Cal coverage available to 500,000 more people;
$400 million annual state share of the tobacco settlement commited to health care programs
$10 million increase in funding for primary care clinics;
$20 million increase in the State’s Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program;
$2.1 billion Prop 46, successful statewide affordable housing bond,supported by get-out-the-vote campaign to 100,000 infrequent voters to support Prop 46

To view a list of the members of PICO, with chapters around California and the United States, please click here.