Parent Voices California and Parent Voices Oakland remain committed to revolutionary hope and the communal work of prioritizing families with the highest needs to achieve the educational and economic justice we are owed.
We know that so many future wins are possible when parents, labor, and community stand united against systems of white supremacy, and the exploitation of our racial and gendered capital—and no electoral outcome will change our outlook. As this country, and the State of California, lean further into fascism and right wing policies to protect it, we remain undeterred in our commitments to each other and our communities. We understand that now is not the time for incrementalism, for thinking or for playing small and we are emboldened by our vision for high quality child care and expansive social safety nets within systems that are rooted in racial, gender, reproductive and economic justice. Parent Voices remains committed to making change at the local level by boldly re-building political and organizing infrastructure outside of the neoliberal status quo.
We are real people–not sound bites, a meme or a partisan clip. Our communities consist of working class Black, brown, Indigenous, and white working class people who have endured generations of harm and economic divestment in critical institutions needed to maintain a thriving community. The outcomes from this November 2024 election are a real threat to our communities and the previous systems of support that we’ve built in spite of that. Our stories matter. And we will not be silenced or erased.
Consider the story of Cassie, a 10 year old who woke up the day after the election terrified because she fears her mother, abuelo, and tia – all with mixed immigration status – may not be there when she comes home from school. These are conversations that no mother should ever have to have with her daughter. In the absence of a political agenda to protect our immigrant brothers and sisters, Parent Voices vows to do everything in our power to create spaces for power, for community, and to fight against an agenda of demonization and hate.
Harm is real, and in these unnecessarily trying times this harm is lasting. In the first Trump Presidency, Parent Voices activated new systems of solidarity for our children, our families, our neighbors, our co-workers and our communities to appropriately address specific needs. We know that we will face new and very real dangers from emboldened fascism, venture capital, corporate corruption and Project 2025 policies that may defund the Department of Education, Head Start, educational access, Title I funding, and increase environmental injustices that will target our communities first. Parent Voices is prepared to fight for our most marginalized, standing in power, dignity, love and justice with every new challenge this administration will present us in the next 4 years.
We know the care we need, and we know the care we are owed. Yet, from this state’s genocidal existence and supremacist history, we also know that California is not a bastion of resistance and morality. And from the state’s latest positions to maintain the CA Constitutional amendment for slavery and involuntary servitude (prop 6), block minimum wage (prop 32), block rent control (prop 33), and expand felony sentencing for misdemeanor crimes (prop 36)–we see how neoliberalism continues to block meaningful material improvements for our multiracial working class communities. As we envision and enact new systems of care, Parent Voices will hold our local lawmakers accountable, pressing them to support policies that end–not deepen–the injustices for Black, brown, and Indigenous people, womxn and birthing people, 2SLGBTQ+, and the underserved communities we work in.
Time and time again, when parents, labor and community move as a united base, we have seen that they can win. Parent Voices Oakland’s saw Measure C victories and millions secured to fund the Alameda County Family Rescue Package. Movements that center Parent Power brought us wins including a new equitable family fee schedule that went live on October 1, 2023. This new family fee schedule means eliminating $100 million/year in fees for families earning at or below 75% of state median income (SMI) and capping fees at 1% for those earning more. We know there is power in listening to community, and we know the power of centering communal needs with the intention and the care that these moments require.
We must be a sanctuary for each other now, because the ones we can count on are us. And with decades of organizational relationships built and consecutive community wins, Parent Voices has an opportunity to be the antidote to Project 2025’s attack by leading in power and solidarity. We have winning formulas for local victories changing material conditions of our working class and most marginalized communities. Parent Voices can be a national model of how caring for community and those with the highest need is a winning platform.
The fact is, no election result will ever deliver liberation for our communities, nor for the communities around the globe suffering under the weight of American imperialism. With fascism looming, we know that NOW is the time to provide care for each other, build power, and hold space to be imaginative and transformative in the solutions for our communities. We can keep us safe, and there is work to be done, but this work begins NOW–JOIN US!
Mary Ignatius, PVCA Executive Director
Clarissa Doutherd, PVO Executive Director