The mid-1960s saw an explosion of neighborhood-level community organizing all over the country, as groups like Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and Saul Alinsky’s Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) sought to form a mass, organized base for political action, and Oakland was no exception. Proximate causes in Oakland included urban renewal, particularly the controversial Acorn project in West Oakland, and the campaigns by public housing tenants against the Oakland Housing Authority, but one organization played a key role: the Bay Area Council of Social Planning.
An outgrowth of an older civic charitable organization in Oakland, the CSP received funding through sources like the Ford Foundation to sustain a wide array of social services, including the hiring of young social workers and activists to organize neighborhood associations. Spurred by these organizers, groups like the Lockwood Improvement League (organized by Mark Comfort), the Woodland Action Council and the Peralta Improvement League (organized by Berkeley Free Church founder Richard York) sprang up all over the city in 1965-66.
This flyer, amazingly preserved in York’s files, provides a fascinating look at the pitch made by these organizers to potentially-interested community members. Its concluding phrase (“FREEDOM IS ENDLESS MEETINGS”), a mantra of ’60s movement organizers, likely marks it as the work of an outside organizer. All those in favor of coming together collectively to improve anti-poverty programs and public services were encouraged to attend the group’s upcoming meeting; the movie about “people in New Jersey getting together” likely refers to the 1965 documentary Troublemakers, directed by Robert Machover, depicting SDS members engaged in community organizing efforts in Newark.
