Affordable, stable, and high-quality housing is a basic right of Oakland residents. Many Oaklanders face challenges in accessing adequate housing, and racial and ethnic minorities are even more disadvantaged. The Indicators in this Theme reveal disparities among individuals and neighborhoods and highlight the pressing need for more equitable housing policy.

The Community Stressors Topic includes three Indicators that measure racial and ethnic disparities in domestic violence, homicides, and juvenile felony arrests. The first Indicator measures disparities in domestic violence victimization between African Americans and Asians. The second Indicator measures disparities in homicides between African Americans and Asians. The third Indicator measures disparities in juvenile felony arrests between African Americans and Whites.

The Teachers Topic includes three Indicators that measure racial and ethnic disparities in teacher representation of the student population, teacher experience, and teacher turnover. The first Indicator measures disparities in teacher representation of students between Latinos and Whites. The second Indicator measures disparities in teacher experience between schools that are predominantly African American and Latino vs. schools that are majority White. The third Indicators measures disparities in teacher turnover between majority African Americans and majority White schools.

The Employment Topic includes three Indicators that measure participation in the workforce, an essential component of economic wellbeing. The first Indicator in this Topic measures disparities in the rate of disconnectedness from school or work among young people ages 16 to 24 between African Americans and Asians. The second Indicator measures disparities in labor force participation, while the third Indicator focuses on disparities in unemployment, both between African American and White Oaklanders.

Oakland has a long history of activism around issues of inequity and social justice. It is, therefore, not surprising that Oakland was chosen in 2017 to be among the first cohort of five cities to develop local Equity Indicators tools in partnership with the City University of New York’s Institute for State and Local Governance (CUNY ISLG) and with funding from the Rockefeller Foundation.

This Indicator measures the median response times of calls for service that were routed to patrol. The measurement is broken down between Priority 1 and Priority 2 calls as well as by police area. Priority 1 Calls are defined as those that include potential danger for serious injury to persons, prevention of violent crimes, serious public hazards, felonies in progress with possible suspect on scene. Priority 2 Calls are defined as urgent but not an emergency situation, hazardous / sensitive matters, in-progress misdemeanors and crimes where quick response may facilitate apprehension of suspect(s). There are 5 police areas in Oakland each of which consist of a defined set of police beats and therefore cover a specific geographic part of Oakland. For more information and maps of areas, see here: http://www2.oaklandnet.com/government/o/OPD/o/BFO/index.htm

The Oakland Equity Indicators framework is structured at four levels: Citywide, Theme, Topic, and Indicator. The Citywide framework consists of six Themes that cover broad areas of people’s lives: 1-Economy, 2-Education, 3-Public Health, 4-Housing, 5-Public Safety, and 6-Neighborhood and Civic Life. These Themes are not exhaustive, but were chosen based on areas of inequity in Oakland.

Mortality is a widely recognized measure of population health. This Topic includes an Indicator on infant mortality, which is particularly important to public health and relates to other health outcomes, including access to care. The other two Indicators in this Topic, life expectancy and premature death, reveal disparities in how long individuals are expected to live and whether they are able to meet those expectations. In all three Indicators, African Americans have the worst outcomes.

The Business Development Topic includes three Indicators that measure racial and ethnic disparities in business ownership, prime contracts awarding, and business vacancy. The first Indicator in this Topic measures disparities in business ownership rates between African American and White Oaklanders. The second Indicator measures disparities in the distribution of contracts under $100,000 awarded by the City to African American and White business owners. The third Indicator measures disparities in the location of business addresses that had been vacant for two years or more by majority race/ethnicity of census tracts.

Wellness, physical activity, and nutrition are essential for children as they prepare for a healthy lifestyle and positive health outcomes as adults. The Child Health Topic includes three Indicators that measure different aspects of child health and wellness: childhood asthma emergency department visits, physical fitness, and SNAP recipiency. The first Indicator measures asthma-related emergency department visits and is related to the environmental and housing conditions that affect children’s health. The second Indicator, physical fitness, a measure of student fitness levels assessed in schools, tracks physical aptitude and activity. The third Indicator, SNAP recipiency, shows whether families have adequate income to provide healthy food for their children.