OAKLAND — Before celebrating the launch of a new college scholarship fund for Oakland-born, lower-income students, Vice President Kamala Harris spent a few moments Friday reflecting on the distinction between equality and equity.
Harris, born at a Kaiser hospital in Oakland and raised in Berkeley, where she was bused to a desegregated elementary school, noted that equality is a “good goal.” But true equity, however, extends beyond equal treatment to deliver resources based on disparate circumstance.
In Oakland’s case, those disparities have “persisted for generations,” she said, declaring that a new $50 million fund of donations raised by the local nonprofit Oakland Promise could help fill some of those gaps.
“From birth, thousands of children in this city will be given a nest egg, and as they grow, so will that investment,” Harris said, appearing alongside Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf and other elected leaders in downtown Oakland. “When they turn 18, this will be a down payment on their education and their future.”
Mayor Schaaf launched the Oakland Promise education initiative in 2016 to increase the number of high school graduates completing college by providing early start college savings accounts, financial planning assistance to families, and scholarships. In 2019 the initiative merged with the East Bay College Fund to become a nonprofit organization.
The new fund — called the Oakland Generation Fund — will expand on those programs. It will contribute to the fund that provides $500 college savings accounts for children born in Oakland to low-income families. It will also fund scholarships of $1,000 per year for low-income students in Oakland public schools who pursue a two- or four-year college degree or trade certificate. Oakland Promise expects around 30,000 students to receive the money by 2035.
Schaaf, a friend of Harris’ from before either worked in politics, made clear the $50 million is “not a promise, a goal or a pledge – you hear politicians make those all the time.”
“Thanks to the generous donations of this community, these $50 million are raised and in the bank,” Schaaf said to cheers from the audience.
Reflecting on her path to the vice presidency, Harris, former San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general, praised Oakland education leaders, saying her “journey was possible because, in this community, I had the blessing and good fortune of being in a place that believed in the potential of investing in its children.”
It was the latest leg of Harris’ tour of the Bay Area this week, during which she has promoted the Biden administration’s legislative proposals and sounded off on recent national developments, including a stop in San Francisco to discuss abortion rights.
The former Warriors’ practice facility in downtown Oakland where the crowd gathered Friday is still owned by the team, but was transitioned in 2021 into a new wellness center for Bay Area youth and a training ground for the professional development of local educators.
Teachers and students at Oakland Unified schools have had a bumpy year, however, after the district closed or merged 11 campuses due to low attendance. Backlash to the decision has continued for months with regular protests at the closed campuses.
Neither Schaaf nor Harris touched on the district’s strife at Tuesday’s celebration. But the vice president did credit Oakland’s educators for “doing the work” in encouraging youth to chase their goals: “The promise of America is only made real when we invest in the capacity, and the dreams, and the potential for people.”
Source: www.mercurynews.com