OAKLAND, CA —Everyday I’m trying to figure out how to help my community— whether I’m making a training module LGBTQ inclusive, changing the narrative in spaces where parents aren’t represented, or assisting a single mom who cannot get child care. After days, weeks, and months of supporting others and trying to make sure all voices are heard, I often have no fight left for me.
Since February of 2018 I’ve been experiencing housing instability . . . again. My daughter and I were wrongfully evicted from the unit I rented for over eight years in North Oakland. Our journey really began in March 2008 after my child support payments stopped. I was left with the awful decision many are faced with—either quit my job and collect aid, or cut my overhead and move into a room in someone’s home. Cash aid from CalWORKS would not have been enough to pay the rent, meaning that I would have wound up moving anyway. My baby girl and I began renting a room from some extended family members. She was six months old and has been sharing a room with me ever since. She will be twelve in November.
Can you imagine being in a meeting with legislative staffers advocating for affordable childcare while worrying about your own child saying something about your lack of stable housing to a teacher? Can you imagine educating caregivers and parents on their rights, while feeling powerless to assert your own?
Our stories and struggles are interconnected as is our progress and success. I fight for affordable high quality childcare even though I no longer need it because of my child’s age. Others fight to house Oakland’s homeless, and I’m honored to support their work whenever I can, however I can. Be kind to the people fighting for and with you.