The election is 8 days away! No matter what your feelings on the Presidential race or the state of our national political discourse, there are likely many important decisions on the rest of your ballot this November. If you’re voting in Oakland, we have endorsed Measure JJ, the Oakland Renter Protection Act. Read more below!

But your political participation doesn’t have to stop on November 8th -- anyone can work to change city, state, and even national policies to build more just and resilient communities!


Oakland City Council passes our Worker Cooperative Resolution.

Here at Sustainable Economies Law Center, we want to live in a world where everyone can directly participate in decisions that shape their economic wellbeing: where everyone has the option to work in a worker-owned business, to live in democratically-controlled housing, to be a member of solar cooperatives, food cooperatives, and cooperative banks.

This requires changing the very means by which policy is made. More than ever, when massive corporations wield incredible power to craft policy for their own benefit, we urgently need to put everyday people like YOU back into the driver’s seat of policymaking.

That’s why we’re piloting a Policy Cafe in Oakland on December 5th to help you get started on your idea to change your community for the better. Join us for our cafe and DIY Policymaking teach-in and explore your inner policymaker!

IN THE NEWS

Read our Policy Director’s op-ed in the Berkeleyside about often overlooked solutions to the housing crisis.

FROM THE BLOG

Preliminary Feedback on New Homemade Food Sales Policy 
We have been developing ideas about expanding the scope of the California Homemade Food Act that we worked on several years ago. There is a lot of momentum around changing the law to include more types of prepared foods that are eligible for sale from a home kitchen. We have a lot of ideas and a lot of questions. Check out our new webpage full of tons of blogs, proposals, and updates on what’s been happening in this exciting area of food policy!

Why We Endorse Oakland Measure JJ
Sustainable Economies Law Center endorses Oakland Measure JJ, the Oakland Renter Protection Act. We recently declared, “We have to stop profiting from property!” A necessary and parallel step to rethinking our extractive housing system as a whole is to stabilize the existing system. Protecting renters from the economic and psychological harm of eviction and untenable rent increases is good for the 60% of Oakland residents that are tenants. It’s also good for the rest of our communities because stable and self-determined neighborhoods are the foundation of more just and resilient local economies.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Fall Volunteers & Members Happy Hour - November 1st (Double Standard, Oakland)

Resilient Communities Legal Cafe - November & December (East Bay)

The Resilient Communities Legal Cafe provides direct legal advice, workshops, teach-ins, discussions, and legal services to businesses and organizations that are trying to make their communities a better place to live and thrive. Come, ask us your questions, and join others from your neighborhood who are taking their livelihoods, communities, and economies back! See dates and locations here.

Teach-In: Selling Produce from Urban Farms - November 10th (City Slickers Farms, Oakland)

If you’re an urban farmer who wants to sell locally, a restaurant or store owner who wants to buy from local farms, or just interested in learning what the challenges and opportunities are for increasing local food production and consumption, please join us! We will discuss:

• How to generate local economic activity through urban agriculture.

• What it means to be a “community food producer” and how that affects your urban farm.

• What it takes for local food retailers to buy locally produced food.

, local wine and beer, an entertaining presentation from the whole SELC team, and much more! Early Bird tickets on sale for only 5 more days!


Early Bird Tickets on Sale for 5 More Days!