Healthy Black Families amplifies community voice through storytelling, partnerships, and public dialogue.
Here you’ll find videos, news features, and statements that highlight how our work—and the communities we serve—shape conversations about equity, wellness, and justice across Berkeley and beyond.
From press coverage to community storytelling, these pieces document our shared efforts to build healthier, more connected neighborhoods.
Videos & Multimedia
“Watch highlights from our panels, documentaries, and community storytelling events.”
California’s Case for Reparations Documentary
Panel Guest for SPUR
ED Wilhelmenia Wilson joined community activists to discuss race-conscious policymaking and housing
Our Enough is Enough panel brought community voices together to confront urgent issues of justice, accountability, and collective action. Panelists called for moving from awareness to action, centering lived experience, and addressing the interconnected roots of racial, gender, and class inequality. The conversation underscored the need for real institutional accountability and structural reform, closing with a powerful reminder that change grows when communities rise together.
Cuba Up Close: A Transformative Public Health Learning Experience
(Nov 2–17, 2019)
Our tailored immersion program was led by experts in the field, who helped us develop this specific curriculum.
Press & News Coverage
This collection of local and national media highlights the urgent issues our work seeks to impact.
KEY HISTORIC CAMPAIGN-MEASURE D
In 2014, Berkeley made history with the landslide passage of Measure D, becoming the first city in the nation to successfully tax sugary drinks. The campaign, powered by grassroots organizing and youth leadership, took on Big Soda—and won. Today, revenue from this groundbreaking measure helps fund our Thirsty 4 Change! (T4C) program, which offers free nutrition education classes, community forums, and farmers market walks.
Berkeley Has Lost Thousands of Black Residents…
The Affordable Housing Preference Policy is the result of a multi-year, community-driven effort shaped by the Law Center, Berkeley’s Department of Health, Housing and Community Services, Healthy Black Families, and the Housing Advisory Commission. Centering equity and repair, the policy ensures that descendants of Berkeley families whose homes were taken for BART construction—as well as those impacted by redlining or foreclosure—receive priority access to affordable housing opportunities. This landmark step moves Berkeley closer to acknowledging past harms and supporting long-overdue pathways home.
Executive Board Takes First Step to Put Regional Housing Bond on Ballot
The ABAG Executive Board Thursday evening took the first step toward allowing Bay Area voters this fall to consider a first-of-its-kind regional housing finance measure by unanimously approving adoption of a resolution.
Achievement gap in Berkeley schools has long been among the nation’s very worst
BUSD has spent decades striving to close the gap between Black and Latino students and their white and Asian peers but has yielded only limited success.
American Black women face disproportionately high rates of maternal mortality
The sudden death of Olympic sprinter Tori Bowie at age 32 sent shockwaves around the world. The idea that a young, elite athlete could go into labor and die stunned many. But this problem is more common than many realize, and it’s particularly bad for Black women. William Brangham discussed more with Amanda Williams of the California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative.
US Maternal Mortality Is Unacceptably High, Unequal, and Getting Worse—What Can Be Done About It?
A recent report by the National Center for Health Statistics revealed alarming rates of maternal deaths in the US. In 2021, the US had a maternal death rate of 32.9 per 100,000 live births, over 10 times higher than other high-income countries like Australia, Israel, and Spain, which range from 2 to 3 deaths per 100,000 live births.
Amos Brown, Medgar Evers and the 2,000-mile drive to meet MLK in SF
Amos Brown and Medgar Evers embarked on a historic journey from Mississippi to San Francisco in 1956, igniting a lifelong commitment to civil rights. Brown, now a prominent activist and pastor, reflects on their journey, his mentor Evers, and his ongoing fight for reparations and equality in San Francisco.
bart accountability
The BART Board of Directors is taking unprecedented action after a board member used racist language during a public meeting. Director John McPartland has been formally censured—marking the first time the agency has disciplined one of its members for such conduct—as the board considers further steps to uphold accountability and maintain public trust.
17 years and counting
A financial plan for our daughter's future. From savings to insurance to investments, we share our progress and strategies for a head start.
Why Reparations Matter Now
As funders and as a nation, we must examine the debt owed to the enslaved Africans and their descendants whose forced labor fueled the global economy for centuries and generated the wealth that built this country. The call for economic reparations for Black Americans has gone unanswered for centuries. Today, California can answer the call and atone for the unjust enrichment of this state from slavery together with the systematic and multi-generational exclusion of Black Americans from economic and social opportunities.
HBF Statements & Commentary
Read statements, letters, and community calls to action from our leadership.
HBF Call for Human Dignity and the Rejection of Violence in Israel, Palestine, and Haiti
Healthy Black Families (HBF) stands firmly for universal human rights and human dignity. In the face of ongoing violence and humanitarian crises in regions such as the Middle East and Haiti, we join communities worldwide in rejecting oppression and apartheid in all forms. We affirm our commitment to a more just, peaceful, and loving future—one where every person’s humanity is honored, and their aspirations are supported. Together, through collective action and unwavering solidarity, we can help build a world where dignity, equality, and justice prevail.
Letter to Mayor and City Council: The Middle housing Proposal in Berkeley is Discriminatory
Mayor Ishii’s Voice Around Equity 4 Black Berkeley
Mayor Ishii’s statements on Equity 4 Black Berkeley underscore the city’s obligation to confront the legacy of institutional racism with meaningful policy action. She supports a long-term strategy that centers Black voices and advances structural repair to strengthen South and West Berkeley’s historic Black communities.
Reports & Publications
Healthy Black Families produces reports, case studies, and publications that document our community-driven programs and partnerships.
These resources share insights, data, and lessons learned from our work in health equity, housing justice, and family empowerment.
We believe in transparency and collaboration—these publications show how collective action creates measurable, sustainable impact.
Organizational & Impact Reports
Our reports highlight progress toward community health, housing equity, and empowerment in Berkeley.
Impact Report City of Berkeley
Berkeley is facing an affordable housing crisis, prompting the city to explore SB 9 implementation and zoning updates to encourage denser housing. This study examines how upzoning and densification affect Black, brown, and low-income renters, and offers recommendations for combining zoning reform with strong tenant protections to ensure equitable benefits and reduce displacement and racial exclusion.
Voices From The Community: Participant Perspectives On The Impacts And Promise Of The Thirsty For Change Campaign
Healthy Black Families, Inc. , Mesu Strategies, LLC, and The Center for Food, Faith and Justice combined efforts in addressing the dangers of sugary sweetened beverages.
E4BB Case Study Report
Our Process, Our Approach, and Our Learnings
This is the story of the Berkeley Black community’s experience of decades of displacement and disinvestment, and how a small, grassroots community organization helped to advance the right to stay, right to return and right to thrive in South Berkeley.
BUSD Spring
2024 Newsletter
Supporting Families During COVID-19
View Healthy Black Families’ article on COVID-19 resources.
Some of the questions that are answered:
What is HBF doing to support staff and the community? How can you support now? How can you support beyond COVID-19?
COVID-19 Relief Funds and Resources for Families in Need
Please note that the California Apartment Association has issued guidelines urging landlords to freeze rents and halt evictions for tenants affected by the corona-virus and waive late fees through May 31.
The Future of Healing: Shifting from Trauma-Informed Care to Healing-Centered Engagement
In “The Future of Healing,” Shawn Ginwright argues that we must move beyond trauma-informed care toward a more expansive, healing-centered engagement (HCE) model. Instead of focusing solely on what happened to individuals, HCE asks, “What’s right with you?” by treating people as agents of their own healing and paying attention to the broader cultural, social, and political forces that shape trauma. Ginwright outlines four key pillars of this approach: it’s explicitly political (not just clinical), culturally rooted in identity restoration, asset-based rather than deficit-driven, and supportive not only of young people but also of the adults who care for them.
Policy, Housing, & Advocacy
Our publications on housing, equity, and systems change inform Berkeley’s ongoing policy work.
BART & South Berkeley Series
This combined article brings together the first two installments in our series exploring BART’s relationship with South Berkeley. We start by examining the historical context and early impacts of BART on the community, then move forward to look at current developments, including the Ashby BART housing project, providing a full picture of how past decisions continue to shape today’s landscape.
Affordable Housing Preference Policy (AHPP)
The Affordable Housing Preference Policy’s intention is to create a path for Black families to return to the Historic Black community in Berkeley. This is an initial effort of the City of Berkeley, in repairing harm done to the Black community caused by institutional racism, segregation and redlining. Our mission is to support the city in understanding what it means to repay, repair, rebuild, and restore the Black communities of South and West Berkeley.
Why Grassroots Action Is the Most Likely Path to Systemic Change
This article is the first article of Community Strategies for Systemic Change, a series that is being co-produced by the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) and NPQ. In the series, urban and rural grassroots leaders from across the United States share how their communities are developing and implementing strategies—grounded in local places, cultures, and histories—to shift power and achieve systemic change.
Personal Experiences of U.S. Racial/Ethnic Groups in Today’s Difficult Times
Households across America are facing barriers to affordable housing, delayed healthcare, and problems affording food—with these trends being acutely felt among Black, Latino, and Native American families.
Recommended Readings & Partner Resources
Optional section for curated learning materials related to HBF’s focus areas.
White Supremacy Culture – Still Here” by Tema Okun
This article is an update of the original White Supremacy Culture article published in 1999. While I wrote the words on the pages that became the White Supremacy Culture article all those years ago, I want to make it clear that I do not consider the original article or the website that is an extension of the article, my work. I feel a sense of stewardship rather than of ownership.
Courage over Comfort: Advocating for Racial Solutions in a White Fragility Dominated World
At the heart of America’s political discourse and policy-making, the specter of race continues to cast its long, gilded shadow. Black Americans' historical plight, ongoing struggle, and tireless fight for equality have been insidiously and systematically undermined by a complex web of sociopolitical structures. The issue of race, often polarizing and always potent, has been wielded like a double-edged sword, cutting through the fabric of our democracy and unity.
White Supremacy Culture
The Sum of Us is a brilliant analysis of how we arrived here: divided and self-destructing, materially rich but spiritually starved and vastly unequal. McGhee marshals economic and sociological research to paint an irrefutable story of racism’s costs, but at the heart of the book are the humble stories of people yearning to be part of a better America, including white supremacy’s collateral victims: white people themselves. With startling empathy, this heartfelt message from a Black woman to a multiracial America leaves us with a new vision for a future in which we finally realize that life can be more than zero-sum.