All the best from our departing Assistant Director, Elly Fisher

After more than a decade serving as Assistant Director at OPDC, Elly Fisher is moving on to a new chapter in life. She reflects back on some of the highlights of her time spent in Oakland.

I’ve been at OPDC for 12 years, just about to the date. What a wonderful honor it has been to help grow this organization and neighborhood, and work with the neighbors, staff, and partner organizations.  My role as Assistant Director started out quite undefined which gave me the opportunity to dive into a number of challenges and opportunities.  

OPDC is 40 years old this year!  Our core values of connecting community members, and creating affordable housing and homeownership opportunity remain.  When I started, we did very little community organizing; under Wanda’s leadership we now have organizers working with community leaders, a community plan, a voice in development projects, and the Oakwatch code enforcement program. 

We have close relationships with our tenants and top-notch property management in-house.  This year we added supportive services to ensure that our tenants are connected to resources.  We’ve added two buildings with 54 units to the portfolio and renovated most units.  My favorite (and pet project), Oakland Affordable Living, is now stable and fully occupied.  To have completed a $16M Low Income Housing Tax Credit project as a mid-sized CDC is a feat and a great asset for the community. 

We’ve consistently worked to increase home ownership and keep subsidy dollars in the neighborhood.  At first we did this with a rent to own program; we then improved upon our strategy to build a Community Land Trust. I’m proud of our land trust model because it meets Oakland’s needs to maintain homeowners and the opportunity for existing homeowners join the trust.

It was fun to have played a part in building the Oakland 2025 Plan, the Oakland neighborhood partnership program, the Oakland landlord alliance, the Susan Hicks memorial bike lane, the Oakland Furniture sale (remember that?!), and so many other projects. There is always much to be done in Oakland, but we consistently demonstrate that we can all work together and hold each other accountable for the benefit of all the residents.  

It’s my sincere hope that my departure creates space for new voices and energy within the organization.  There are movements afoot for seriously evaluating how we engage with all residents and ensure that the organization reflects our diversity and inclusion values in all of our staff and activities.  These efforts in conjunction with our strong and effective programs will continue to build a better Oakland and help neighbors thrive.

I’ll miss working with you all and wish you the very best!

Elly Fisher

OPDC and community partners distribute food and essential items during COVID-19

OPDC is pleased to be working with a wide variety of community partners to distribute food, produce, and other essential items during the Covid-19 pandemic.

We owe much of our gratitude to Chef Carlos Thomas from Feed the Hood and Confluence Catering and his team who have worked tirelessly to prepare hot meals for communities across the city. Equally, we give many thanks to Neashia Johnson from the Hill District Consensus Group for making this program successful. They started this program in March with distribution sites in The Hill District and Wilkinsburg, and have expanded to sites in South and West Oakland.

We are helping to distribute food at Frazier Fieldhouse (3716 Frazier St.) on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3 - 5 p.m. and Saturdays from 12 - 2 pm. Both Teireik Williams from the Trap Panther Party and Erin Angeli from The Commonwealth of Oakland have been immense presences in making this program run.

Together, we have distributed over 1,000 meals in South Oakland alone, and have started to provide fresh produce from 412 Food Rescue, facemasks, hand sanitizer, toilet paper, and other essential household items.

Any South Oakland residents who would like items or meals delivered to their porch can call or text Jarrett Crowell, OPDC Community Organizer, at (412) 568-3882. The Frazier Fieldhouse site is accepting donations of toiletries, hand soap, toilet paper, diapers (size 0-6), paper towels, and garbage bags. Please drop off donations of these items during the distribution times. 

Feed the Hood has also partnered with The Corner community center and Friendship Community Church in West Oakland. In response to Covid-19, The Corner has worked with various community partners to provide 550 lunch and dinner meals, fresh produce, masks, and hygiene products. Community partners include McAuley Ministries, Patrix Catering, Ujamaa Collective, Macedonia FACE, Corner staff, and local neighbors.

They distribute food on Thursdays* from 3 - 5 p.m. at Friendship Community Church (181 Robinson St.) - all are welcome! We want to say thank you to Nadine Masagara-Taylor and dedicated community volunteers and partners who have made this distribution site successful. The Corner accepts donations of non-perishable canned food, hygiene products, diapers size (0-6) and cleaning supplies at Friendship Church every Thursday* 2 - 5pm.

For more information, contact Nadine Masagara-Taylor at 412-436-9127, email CornerPgh@gmail.com or follow @CornerPgh on social media. To support The Corner’s community outreach efforts, please visit: www.paypal.me/CornerPgh

If you would like to make a monetary donation to Feed the Hood’s Grab N Go Distribution program, please visit: charity.gofundme.com/o/en/campaign/grabngodinners#

Photos 3 - 6 courtesy Nadine Masagara-Taylor
1. Diana Purdom and Rachael Strayer serving food at the Frazier Fieldhouse.
2.  Janet Sims, Teireik Williams, and Merce Lemon preparing plates for neighbors.
3. Fresh produce!
4. Rene Canady, resident & food distribution volunteer.
5. Ms. Liz Bennet, resident and food distribution volunteer, with her nieces and nephew.
6. Ms. Belinda Upsher distributing food to a neighbor.

*updated July 15, 2020

Welcome Alethia Bush to Oakland Planning and Development

by Kathleen Radock, Communications and Development Manager

We'd like to welcome Alethia Bush as OPDC's newest staff member. Alethia joined us in April as Case Manager for Employment & Supportive Services.

Alethia was kind enough to answer some questions about her background, interests, and what inspires her:

• What brought you to OPDC?

  • I was looking for a new work environment where I can do what I love, which is helping others become stable and self-sufficient. I knew someone who worked at OPDC and heard that it was a great organization to work for. She informed me of an open position there, so I applied.

• What motivates you?

  • What motivates me the most is being able to provide hope and inspiration to everyone I work with and seeing them succeed and achieve their goals.

• Where do you live?

  • I live in the Manchester section of the Northside of Pittsburgh…born and raised.

• Any relatives or pets who bring you joy that you’d like to include? While I don’t have any biological children, I do have several nieces, nephews and godchildren that I adore!

• What do you like to do for fun?

  • My hobbies include traveling, genealogy, astrology and other metaphysical sciences; as well as listening to music and audio books and spending quality time with friends and family.

• What is something that people would be surprised to know about you?

  • I collect crystals and elephants….I have over 100 of both!

• Favorite quote:

  • Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.

Thanks again, Alethia! Welcome again, and we can’t wait to see you sometime outside of Zoom!