Dear East Bay families and friends:
Good news!
As you may be aware, in late spring we were surprised to hear that our longtime funding for East Bay programs would not be renewed by the City of Oakland. We advocated, worked with our allies, and brought supporters to urge the city to continue its support of our families. Then, in the nick of time, thanks to leadership from Oakland City Council President Rebecca Kaplan and unanimous support from the City Council, funding was restored!
We thank Kaplan for her advocacy, and we thank all of you who called, emailed, and showed up for late budget hearings, to express your support for OFC and for LGBTQ families in Oakland. We are beyond grateful that we will be able to continue our over twenty-year history of providing high quality resources, support, advocacy, and community for LGBTQ families and our allies. Since a majority of our staff and board call Oakland home, it feels right in every way.
For July and August, our East Bay-based programming will be on a summer break. We’ll return to programming with our can’t-miss Oakland LGBTQ Festival Family Garden!
Please save the date to join us on Sunday, September 8th. The Family Garden will be open 11am to 4pm; we’ll share more details as we near the event date. Note that entry to the Festival area is fee-based, benefitting Oakland Pride.
Meanwhile, here are some ways our East Bay families can stay connected over the summer:
- OFC-East Bay LGBTQ Families Google Group
- A Google Group for East Bay families to share ideas, insights, and pop-up playdate logistics.
- Visit tinyurl.com/OFC-EastBayLGBTQFamGoogleGroup to join up!
- ourfamily.org/eastbay
- A page with a list of places families could self-organize meet ups for pop-up playdates. (Not formally vetted by us – just some places we’ve enjoyed ourselves, or held events in the past, or have had recommended by good folks.) Let us know what other ideas or resources will help folks stay connected and have fun doing it!
We’re already looking forward to seeing you in the fall!
Looking forward,
Your friends at Our Family Coalition
