california dreamin’: for a better oakland daythepeopleslegalcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/...Tet Trung Thu (Autumn moon Festival) on October 8, 2006; and Tet Festival (Lunar

findings on vietnamese american young adults in oakland, californiavietunity community survey project reportoctober 2007

california dreamin’: for a better oakland day

2 california dreamin’

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SO WE GOT HECKA ISSUES! WHAT CAN I POSSIBLY DO ABOUT IT?

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vIETUNITY COmmUNITY SUrvEY

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Song by vietUnity and Linh Nguyen

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CHàO ANH CHI Em!

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WHO ArE YOU, AND WHAT IS THIS ABOUT AGAIN? Who is vietUnity? What is the Community Survey Project? Why a Community Survey? Where was the Community Survey conducted?

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WHAT’S THE WOrD ON THE STrEET? General Demographics Job/Occupation Education Neighborhood Housing Transportation Community Issues Family

We would like to thank all vietUnity members who put in time and hard work to complete this community-based report and project. We did it! Thanks to Ngo Thanh Nhan for providing all the viet-namese translations for this project. Despite our usual short notice you always translated for us in such a fast and timely manner. Thanks to Linh Nguyen for singing the vietUnity ver-sion of California Dreamin’, and for making the song a whole lot better with your edits and masterful guitar playing. Thanks to momo Chang, minh mai, and Eric Shih for reading our final draft. Your comments and feedback helped us tremendously. Thank you to Anne Nguyen for designing the report. Also, a big thank you to all our vietUnity volunteers who helped us conduct the surveys and have supported

us in many other ways (In no particular order): Hoa Nguy-en, minh-Hoa Ta, Eric Shih, Craig matsuzaki, Lenh Tsan, mike Tran, momo Chang, Christine Ngo, roger Chung, Dzung Pham, Tay Hoang, Song-Ho Tran, Sang Nguyen, vinh Nguyen, Dickson Lam, Trinh Le, Trangdai Nguyen, Hay Truong, Diane Luong, Candace Nguyen, and Owen Li. Honestly, we couldn’t have done this without each and everyone of you. And finally, a huge thank you to the 101 young viet-namese Americans who took the time to be a part of our survey. We really hope this report gets people talking with each other and interested in making positive change for the community.

Photography by Thien Huu Nguyen and vietUnity.You can contact Thien at [email protected]

acknowledgments

report summary

introduction

CHàO ANH CHI Em!

vietunity background

WHO ArE YOU, AND WHAT IS THIS ABOUT AGAIN? Who is vietUnity? What is the Community Survey Project? Why a Community Survey? Where was the Community Survey conducted?

oakland background

findings

WHAT’S THE WOrD ON THE STrEET? General Demographics Job/Occupation Education Neighborhood Housing Transportation Community Issues Family

conclusion

SO WE GOT HECKA ISSUES! WHAT CAN I POSSIBLY DO ABOUT IT?

appendix

vIETUNITY COmmUNITY SUrvEY

california dreamin’: for a better oakland day

Song by vietUnity and Linh Nguyen

table of content

acknowledgments

california dreamin’ 3

There is a need for affordable housing in Oakland. To be able to make rent in Oakland, 70% of the people we talked with say they live with three or more family members or friends.

more than half of people say they want to obtain more education, but high tuition and school-related expenses create real obstacles for young vietnam-ese Americans to go to school.

Young vietnamese Americans face a high rate of unemployment (21%). For most who are employed, they are unhappy with their jobs.

There are major problems and challenges facing

young vietnamese Americans in their neighbor-hoods. Issues like violence and crime top the list.

Public transportation is unreliable and unsafe for the percentage of people we interviewed who use public transportation.

more than half of the people we talked with say they struggle with expectations and wishes of their parents, which at times conflict with their own inter-ests and goals.

At least one in four young vietnamese Americans are extremely affected by gang violence (29%) and lack of healthcare (27%).

report summary

Young vietnamese Americans in Oakland are a dynamic group of people who have much love and pride in their neighborhoods and community, but are at the threshold of being displaced because of issues like lack of afford-able housing, jobs, and educational opportunities. In California Dreamin’: For a Better Oakland Day, we share findings that are at times surprising and revealing. For instance, our research found that there is a lack of community resources and organizations that could help improve people’s conditions. When asked where they go for help and support, only 17% of the respondents say they turn to a community center, church, or community organization. vietUnity recognizes that the challenges vietnamese young adults face in Oakland are a lot to tackle all at once. But we believe there are real ways for people to begin to take action, and we outline them in our report. One important step people can take is to join a com-munity organization like vietUnity. By doing so, we help build a strong, organized vietnamese community that can work hand in hand with other communities towards a better Oakland day. Working together, we will fulfill all our California Dreams.

In solidarity,[email protected] 510.834.8920 ext. 309

other key findings in our report include:


who is vietunity?Founded in spring 2004, vietUnity is a group of young vietnamese Americans working to build a strong com-munity organization that can fight for the rights of the vietnamese community in Oakland. In the past, we have been involved in various projects such as speaking out for peace in Iraq, contributing to the Gulf Coast vietnam-ese American community rebuilding efforts, and support-ing immigrant rights.

what is the community survey project?From July 2006 to February 2007, vietUnity conducted a community survey of Oakland’s vietnamese American community. We interviewed 101 vietnamese residents and frequenters of Oakland between the ages of 16 and 35 to learn more about their lives and concerns. Ninety percent of those we surveyed live in Oakland and 10% are frequenters.1 Of the 101 people we talked with, 8 are under the age of 18 and 92 are between the ages of 18 and 35. Our survey included two parts: a series of interview questions and a multiple choice section. In the first sec-tion we asked interview questions around quality of life factors of Housing, Education, Job/Occupation, Neighbor-hood, Transportation, and Family/Identity/Immigration. The second section’s multiple choice questions focused

on the themes of Occupation, Education, and Housing. In this second part we also asked multiple choice questions around Interest and Hobbies, and Community Issues. We focused on these particular themes in our com-munity survey for a simple reason: We wanted to learn more about our fellow vietnamese Americans in Oakland. We wanted to learn more about where they work, about what they do for fun, about where they go for help, and about their concerns and difficulties living in Oakland. By conducting this kind of thematic survey we were able to achieve this goal. Our two part community survey is included in the Appendix.

why a community survey?Since vietUnity formed in spring 2004 we have been in-terested in working with other members of the Bay Area vietnamese community on local neighborhood issues like reducing violence, increasing affordable housing, and cre-ating fun, safe places for our young people. We began to explore this interest with a survey of community and advocacy organizations serving the vietnamese com-munities of San Francisco and the East Bay. We further deepened our research with the 2000 Census data, some of which is included in this report. Through this process, we arrived at the conclusion that the Oakland vietnam-ese American population has the most need and became

VIETUNITY BACKGROUND – WHO ARE YOU, AND WHAT IS THIS ABOUT AGAIN?

California Dreamin’: For a Better Oakland Day reports the findings of the vietUnity Community Survey Project conducted in 2006 and 2007. We are happy to share it first with our fellow vietnamese Americans in Oakland, California, and also with others interested in improving their neighborhoods, communities, towns, and cities in the United States. We chose the title California Dreamin’: For a Better Oakland Day because the idea of California has always represented the hopes and dreams of people unlike any other state in the country. For us that dream is filled with justice and peace for our vietnamese Ameri-can community in Oakland, and for all US communities struggling for a better day. In California Dreamin’ we present what we learned from talking with young vietnamese Americans about their lives and concerns. Our goal for this report is to

educate the public about the issues affecting young vietnamese Americans. In addition, we will be us-ing the findings to bring together young vietnamese Americans to begin addressing some of the concerns raised in the report. We begin our report by presenting some basic in-formation on vietUnity, our community survey project, and census background of the vietnamese community in Oakland. We then describe the general demograph-ics of vietnamese Americans we interviewed. In the next six sections, we report the needs and challenges faced by young vietnamese Americans around quality of life issues like housing, education, and work. After that, we share our findings on how other community issues affect this population. We end the report with a brief summary and suggestions for action.

INTRODUCTION – CHÀO ANH CHI EM!


the logical place for us to focus our work as many vietUnity members live and work in Oakland. The Com-munity Survey Project was born in spring 2006 to help ground us in the voices and concerns of Oakland’s viet-namese American community. We decided to survey vietnamese Americans between the ages of 16 and 35, because there is little city infor-mation and research on this age group beyond the cen-sus and voter registration especially for those between 18 and 35. Logically, it also made sense to focus on this age group as we ourselves are under the age of 35. Another reason we decided to do a community sur-vey is we wanted to meet some of our fellow peers in person. Our survey allowed us to spend at least twenty minutes, and often times longer, with each community member. In this amount of time, we were able to listen to each person’s opinions and thoughts on a range of themes and topics, and also talk a little about vietUnity and our project. In many cases, our two part survey allowed us to have quality exchanges and deeper shar-ing that’s usually not available through a multiple choice survey. By meeting some of our fellow vietnamese community members, we hope to involve them in building a power-ful base of young vietnamese Americans who are inter-ested in making Oakland a better city to live and work.

where was the community survey conducted? We were surprised but excited to find most people we talked with willing to participate in the survey, probably because they have never been asked for their opinions and thoughts on community issues. Over 60% of our surveys were conducted at two popular vietnamese American community events held in Clinton Park in Oakland’s Eastlake district: Tet Trung Thu (Autumn moon Festival) on October 8, 2006; and Tet Festival (Lunar New Year Festival) on Feb-ruary 11, 2007. vietUnity had a table at each of these festivals and a team of volunteers who walked around conducting the survey. Our remaining surveys were carried out at people’s homes, in cafes and restaurants, and in community organizations. We door-knocked with volunteers in the Eastlake neighborhood, met people at vietnamese cafes on International Blvd, and interviewed friends of friends over lunch or at a time and place convenient for them.

The vietnamese community in the United States is growing to be the 4th largest Asian and Pacific Islander population. At 1.1 million people, with 40% in California, the vietnamese community faces many challenges, especially with the increasing wealth gap inside the community, most extreme between first wave refugees and recent immi-grants. In Oakland, the vietnamese population at 8,000 (and most likely higher) tends to be poorer and more recent immigrants, compared to vietnamese elsewhere in California. Here are some general demographics on the Oakland viet-namese population from the 2000 Census:

• vietnamese in Oakland tend to be younger than the general population with the median age of 30.

• Average household size is larger than the gen-eral Oakland population.

• Sixty-five percent of the Oakland vietnamese population is low-income.2 In 2000, the low-income amount for a family of 4 is $34,100 or less a year.

• Nearly a quarter of vietnamese in Oakland receive public assistance income compared to only 8% of the overall population of Oakland.

• median household income for a vietnamese family in Oakland is $25,000 and the per capita income is $11,000 compared to the over-all Oakland population’s $41,000 and $22,000, respectively.

more than three-quarters of the vietnamese Oakland population were born outside the Unit-ed States, reflecting in 95% of the population speaking another language at home other than English. Seventy-one percent of this population considers their English speaking skills less than “very well.” The results of our survey further explore some of these demographics. At times, our findings are consistent with the census, while at other times they reflect different conditions than the census might suggest. Our findings attempt to deepen understanding of how this demographi-cal information affects family issues such as generational conflicts between young people and their parents, and community issues such as gang violence and lack of healthcare.

OAKLAND BACKGROUND

[1] Frequenters are vietnamese people who come to Oakland on a regular basis to work, visit family, eat, shop, go to church or temple, and attend community events. The frequenters we interviewed live in the neighbor-ing cities of Fremont, Alameda, Hayward, San Francisco, and Berkeley.[2] Low-income means the household’s income is no more than 200% of the federal poverty level, which best describes what real poverty is for areas with high costs of living, such as the San Francisco Bay Area.


general demographics

Income: Similar to census findings, the income level of vietnamese families in Oakland is well below average. more than 50% of the people we interviewed reported income less than $20,000. Forty-two percent reported income less than $10,000 and 9% reported income be-tween $10,000 and $20,000. Gender and Age: Out of the 101 surveys collected, 54 are men and 47 are women. Ninety-two of those we talked with are between 18 and 35. Eight are under the age of 18.Language: Eighteen surveys were conducted in vietnam-ese and 83 were conducted in English. Slightly more than 50% of survey participants say they are comfortable speaking both English and vietnamese. Forty percent say they are more comfortable using English than viet-namese, but can speak or get by in vietnamese. Less than 10% say they are more comfortable using vietnam-ese than English.marital Status: Seventy-seven percent are single, 21% are married and 14% have children.Oakland residents: Ninety percent of those we surveyed live in Oakland. The remaining 10% we define as fre-quenters of Oakland. This group comes to Oakland on a regular basis to work, visit family, eat, shop, go to church or temple, and attend community events. The fre-quenters we interviewed live in the neighboring cities of Fremont, Alameda, Hayward, San Francisco, and Berkeley. Arrival in US: Over 50% of those surveyed arrived in the US between 1990 and 1999. About 30% were born in the US. Fifteen percent came between 1980 and 1989, and about 5% arrived between 2000 and 2006.

FINDINGS - WHAT’S THE WORD ON THE STREET?

figure 1. income level of people we interviewed

below $10,000

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

above $40,000$10,000-20,000 $20,000-30,000 $30,000-40,000


The young people we interviewed have a clear desire to get more education, but face real obstacles to going to school. Half of the people we talked with want more educa-tion so they can make more money, get a better job or obtain a graduate degree. The biggest challenge people in this group say they face is that school is too expen-sive and requires too much of their time. Nearly 35% say they don’t have money for education and school-related

expenses, such as tuition, books, and commuting costs. About 15% of those in this group say they have to work full-time, leaving no time for school work. On top of these roadblocks, there are other barriers to education that people say they experience. Nearly 15% say they face discrimination and feel isolated while 10% say school is boring and lack motivation. About 25% also say they feel unprepared, and lack parental help or any guidance pertaining to school.

There’s a high percentage of unemployment among this group of young vietnamese Americans while most of those employed say they are not happy with their jobs. The unemployment rate for this group is 21%.3 This number is extremely high when compared to Oakland’s unemployment rate of 7.8% in July 2007.4 Although our community survey represents only a small sample and does not substitute academic or city-funded research, we believe it is still telling when 16 young adults we talked with at random say they are actively looking for work but can’t find any. Sixty percent of the folks we talked with say they are working. Twenty-two percent say they work 40 hours a week and nearly a quarter work more than 40 hours. The top 3 professional occupations for this group are in non-profits, business, and teaching. Others work in working class occupations as construction workers, auto mechanics, waiters, truck drivers, casino workers, nail salon technicians, and janitors. For the employed group, only 20% say they like their

work. Forty percent say they have other job prospects and/or interest. reasons given for disliking work or it being just okay are stress, long hours, low wages, and long commute. On the other hand, independence from the boss and working with others are the main reasons people like their jobs. Being a young group, only 5% say they have worked in their jobs for 5 to 10 years. This is not surprising be-cause most US people in their twenties and even thirties are still figuring out what to do for work. In addition, young people in stressful, low waged jobs who believe they have options are always on the lookout for better work whether they find it or not.

I’m unemployed and can’t find a job. – Khanh, male 19

job/occupation

education

I work too many hours, like 10 hours a day. – Hung, male 35

I’m just trying to get good grades. – Diep, female 18

I want more education so I can get a better job. – Vu, male 18

I don’t have time for school. – Hai, male 34

*

* Name of participants have been changed for confidentiality. [3] The unemployment rate of 21% does not include those who say they are students or people who are not actively looking for work, which is 25%. In other words, there are only 76 people who are part of the labor force, 16 of whom are unemployed and actively looking for work. [4] Community and Economic Development Agency, Oakland, California. http://www.business2oakland.com/main/laborforce.htm

{5] Out of reach report, National Low-Income Housing Coalition. http://www.nlihc.org/oor/oor2006/data.cfm?getstate=on&getcounty=on&county=185&state=CA


FINDINGS - WHAT’S THE WORD ON THE STREET? (continues)

Young vietnamese Americans face real challenges and problems in their neighborhoods. most vietnamese resi-dents of Oakland we talked with live in the Eastlake or San Antonio District while smaller numbers live in North Oakland, around Lake merritt, and East Oakland. Fifteen percent of people say they don’t do anything in their neighborhood for fun, and 8% say they don’t even leave their home because they feel unsafe. Eighteen percent say they have nothing to be proud about in their neighborhood. People say the biggest neighborhood challenges are crime (20%), gun violence (10%), and poor street and neighborhood conditions (10%). Other emerging neighbor-hood challenges people say they confront are racism, high cost of living, and not enough community resources. We asked people to name three things they would

change about their neighborhood. The number one change people say they would do is make their neighborhood safer with less street violence, burglaries, and robber-ies (33%). Number two is make street and neighborhood improvements (22%). And the third change people want is their neighborhood to be more affordable (7%). Some people say it would also make the neighborhood better if there were more community centers and more rec-reational centers and playgrounds for children and youth. Although people face real neighborhood problems, there are some community things people are proud of. Twelve percent say they like their neighborhood’s ethnic and racial diversity. And 9% say they are proud of the vietnamese American community and its events, such as Tet (Lunar New Year Festival) and Tet Trung Thu (Autumn moon Festival).

vietnamese folks say there is a real need for affordable housing in Oakland. According to the National Low Income Housing Coali-tion, the 2007 Fair market rent in the Oakland metropoli-tan Area is $1055 per month for one bedroom and $1,250 per month for two bedrooms.5 In order to make rent for a one bedroom a person needs to make $42,200 and for a two bedroom, $50,000. These rental prices are too much for one person, as only 5% of the 101 people we sur-veyed are able to live by him or herself.

To be able to make rent in Oakland, 70% of the people we talked with say they live with three or more family members or friends. People in this group say the biggest problem is their home is not big enough to live peace-fully together. Because of space issues, the vast majority in this situation say there are always conflicts and fights, and people have to leave their home for some peace of mind.

housing

neighborhood

We need peace. – Hanh, female 18

There’s not enough space here for everybody. – Lan, female 32

I don’t do anything in my neighborhood. It’s scary. We need to work towards improving our neighborhood. Maybe a start could be an event for neighbors to get to know each other. – Yen, female 25

The rent is really high in the Bay Area. I feel like all my money goes to rent. – Tram, female 28


The vast majority of the vietnamese we talked with don’t ride public transportation. For the less than 10% that do, it’s unreliable and can be unsafe. People who ride public transportation say they use AC Transit to get to school and to go shopping. Among this small group of public transit riders, they take it because it is more affordable than driving. The main issue riders

say they have with public transportation, and specifically AC Transit, is it is unreliable. It does not come on time, and there is often a long wait. In addition, some say they don’t like to take the bus because they feel unsafe. They are afraid of being mugged or seen by rival gang members.

transportation

You have to wait a long time. – Michelle, female 27

It’s convenient, except when it’s late. – Thao, female 18AC Transit is expensive and always late. – Johnny, male 28


In addition to quality of life issues described in the previous sections, we also identified common issues that many low-income and communities of color face. We asked people to rank how much these issues affect them from 1 to 4 – 1 meaning Not affected at all to 4 meaning Extremely affected. What we found is that our community is not only af-fected by all these issues, but struggle with many of them all at the same time. Figure 2 organizes these issues in order of how much they affect the people we surveyed. Here are the key findings from this section:

• Nearly 50% of the people we talked with say they are at least somewhat affected by all the issues we identi-fied except for lack of daycare. This exception is prob-ably because only 14% of those we interviewed have children.

• Between 60% to 70% say they are at least somewhat affected by gang violence, lack of healthcare, unem-ployment, war in Iraq, lack of preparation for a natural disaster, racism, and lack of a place for young people to hang out.

• Between 50% to 60% say they are at least affected by domestic violence, lack of immigration services, police brutality, and deportation.

• At least one in four young vietnamese Americans are extremely affected by gang violence (29%) and lack of healthcare (27%).

To go into detail about the root causes of these issues is beyond what we can do in this report. What we can say is people we talked with have to juggle multiple issues. In many cases, these issues are deeply related to each other. A vietnamese saying best describes this situation as “Nhà nghèo, mà lai còn mác eo.” For example, Giao, a 21-year-old, lives with her fam-ily in an East Oakland public housing unit. She is trying to get her GED and is actively looking for work that has health benefits. Without a job, Giao spends most of her

time at home because she believes there are no safe and fun spaces for her to hang out. Seeing no real opportu-nities for herself, Giao is considering the military as the best way out of her situation. As a result, the issues affecting Giao’s life could bring her face to face with the war in Iraq. This example may seem simplistic, but we interviewed individuals in similar circumstances. Another way these issues are related has to do with where our tax money goes. According to the American Friends Service Committee, taxpayers have paid more than $1 trillion dollars for the first four years of the war in Iraq since 2003.6 One trillion dollars equals $720 mil-lion tax dollars a day. Just imagine what we could do with $720 million dol-lars to improve Oakland. We could provide over 420,000 children in Alameda County with healthcare or about 6,500 Oakland families with affordable housing. We could pay for nearly 35,000 young adults to attend college or place close to 12,500 new teachers in the classroom. That’s just what we could do with the tax money spent on one day of war! For two days of war, we could fund the entire Oakland annual budget, which is at $1.1 billion,7 and still have money left over. While so much money is being poured into war ef-forts, Oakland and other cities around the country are in serious need of “programs of social uplift,” as martin Luther King Jr. stated in 1967. Our war spending speaks to how messed up our national8 priorities are. That’s why vietUnity believes that in order to avoid heading full speed towards “spiritual death,” we must come together, organize, and rise up to demand our government to change its priorities.

community issues

A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death. – Martin Luther King Jr.

FINDINGS - WHAT’S THE WORD ON THE STREET? (continues)

[6] Figures are taken from the American Friends Service Committee’s eco-nomic cost of war research. http://www.afsc.org/cost/. [7] Budget Office, Oakland, California. http://www.oaklandnet.com/budgetoffice/Budget_Facts.htm [8] The war, while it is a federal government priority, has real impact on our local economy. The total cost of the war for Oaklanders is $574 million, which is about half of Oakland’s annual budget. www.national-pritiories.org.


Like many first and second generation refugees and im-migrants, more than half of the people we talked with say they struggle with expectations and wishes of their parents, which at times conflict with their own interests and goals. We asked, “What is most difficult for you about your family or personal life?” and over 60% talked about is-sues we characterize as cultural and generational con-flicts. People in this group say they are unable to com-municate with their parents. About 15% say their parents don’t speak English and the young people don’t speak

vietnamese. The majority of others say their parents have unfair expectations about their future choices. This finding is consistent with existing research on refugees and immigrants which talks about young people navi-gating between different cultures and facing tough life choices without much family or institutional support. On top of worrying about their kids, people say their parents worry the most about financial issues such as bills, rent or mortgage. Some say parents also worry about the well-being of family still in viet Nam.

family

We’re low on money, and I don’t want to depend on my mom. – Tiffany, female 18

It’s hard to build strong family relationships, to bridge cultural gaps, to understand each other. – Hong, female 23

figure 2. issues that affect people we interviewed

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 percent

immigration services

daycare

extremely affected affected somewhat affected not affected

natural disaster

domestic violence

deportation

war in iraq

place for youths

police brutality

unemployment

racism

healthcare

gang violence


CONCLUSION: SO WE GOT HECKA ISSUES! WHAT CAN I POSSIBLY DO ABOUT IT?

vietUnity carried out our community survey project with the primary goal of hearing from young vietnamese Americans about their lives and concerns in Oakland. We have tried to share in this report what we learned from people directly and what we make of our findings. The challenging issues our community faces are a lot to tackle all at once. That’s why we believe it is impor-tant to start where you are by taking baby steps and getting others to help. vietUnity is committed to helping build an organized vietnamese American community that is strong and able to work hand in hand with other communities struggling for a better day. That way, we can fulfill all our California Dreams together.

Again, California Dreamin’ for us means that every per-son is entitled to live, work, and play without constantly worrying about our family, expensive housing, crime and violence, lack of healthcare, the war, and other issues people talked about in this report. We know that we alone cannot make this Dream a reality. We need every-one. We call on you to be active in the community and to do your part in making our California Dreams come true, step by step. You can begin to take action by reading the chart on the right.

Power concedes nothing without a demand. – Frederick Douglass


➥ Your voice matters! Make sure it is heard!You are the best person to make positive change for the community. Don’t let anybody tell you otherwise. Start by talking with a friend, a sibling or a parent about an issue. Think about what you and others can do to make it a community concern. make it fun!

Use art, dance, music, or other creative ways to connect with others and to get the buzz going about our concerns. Write to your local newspapers, vietnamese and English, to let them know about issues that matter to you or when they cover an issue inaccurately.

The issues in this report affect more than just the vietnamese community. many com-munities around the country struggle around the same things we do. We hope this report reaches those in other communities so that we can all support each other and make change together.

Your voice will be much stronger when you are speaking it with others by your side. There really is strength in numbers. A community organization like vietUnity brings community members together to work on a common issue and to gain collective power to get the change we need!

Who decides what goes on in your neighborhood? How are jobs created? When an issue that you care about is discussed at city council, how do you let them know what you think? Every person who lives in Oakland is entitled to representation by their city councilmember and they listen to you when you write or talk to them directly. Talk with vietUnity about how to do this or go to www.oaklandnet.com for more information.

If you have your citizenship, register to vote and go out to vote on election day. If you don’t vote, not only is your voice not counted, but somebody else is now speaking for you.

➥ Share this report with others.

➥ Register to Vote.

➥ Get to know how Oakland city government works.

➥ Join VietUnity or another community organization to speak out and take actions on issues that you care about.

APPEN

DIX

: VIE

TUNIT

Y C

OM

MUNIT

Y 2

006-2

007

SURVEY


All our rent is highAnd our jobs don’t payI went for a walkAnd got mugged todayI’d be safe and warmIf I had a place to play

California Dreamin’For a Better Oakland Day

I wanna go to school But have no money or timeWell, I worry about the warAnd all our violence and crime

You know we got to stand togetherCuz there’s no other way


I wish I had healthcareThat don’t cost an arm or legmy parents worry about meHope I do better somedayYou know the Bay is homeAnd we’re here to stay


CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’ 2007 song by vietunity and linh nguyen

© 2007 vietUnity

california dreamin’: for a better oakland daythepeopleslegalcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/...Tet Trung Thu (Autumn moon Festival) on October 8, 2006; and Tet Festival (Lunar

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