North Bay Organizing Project

The North Bay Organizing Project (NBOP) was awarded $2 million this week following a highly competitive application submitted to the Yield Giving Open Call in 2023. Through a process of peer and expert review of 6353 applications nation-wide, NBOP was selected as one of 279 organizations to receive $2 million in unrestricted funding that will serve to strengthen our transformative community organizing work. These unrestricted funds will allow NBOP to continue to deepen its roots in infrastructure and impact during an election year and to redistribute funds back into community organizing by developing leadership, and by winning campaigns for working-class communities and people of color in Sonoma County. NBOP’s success in being selected for this award reflects an organization with a proven track record and one that is nimble, culturally responsive, and intersectional in building community power. NBOP’s community leaders are on a clear path to transform local, regional, and national policies and systems that perpetuate social inequality and climate injustice. NBOP is their vehicle for social change. Since 2008, impacted community members have led actions to win free public transit, anti-eviction policies, language justice in emergency response systems, restorative justice in schools, and police accountability policies, many of which are the first in California. NBOP co-founded the first UndocuFund during the 2017 fires and in 2022 developed the California UndocuFund Network. In 2019, tenant leaders formed the Sonoma County Tenants Union in response to the renter housing crisis. In 2021, NBOP dispersed $5 million in emergency rental assistance and in 2022, NBOP leaders reached over 40,000 voters in frontline communities. We are the frontlines of the future.

We’re grateful for multi-year solidarity with Urban Habitat's Boards and Commissions Leadership Institute (BCLI). BCLI trains a cadre of leaders from working-class communities of color to influence housing, transportation, and land use policies as decision-makers. Several NBOP leaders and staff have graduated from the BCLI cohort over the years, and stepped into leadership roles on the Sonoma County Planning Commission, as Petaluma Climate Justice Commissioners, and as Executive Directors for local movement organizations. We’re pleased to announce that NBOP’s Alondra Alcazar Mendoza will represent Sonoma County as a fellow of the 2024 BCLI class! Meet the other fellows: https://lnkd.in/dEVXB95f

[Sigue en español] 👋🏽 We welcome Sierra Lewis (she/ella), NBOP’s Creative Changemaker through the Bay Area Creative Corps and San Francisco Foundation. Sierra is the daughter and descendant of a strong, vibrant, and empowered Caribbean people. As the first-born child of her immigrant parents, education and excellence were ingrained values from a very young age. Nevertheless, her natural curiosity and affinity for the arts were always encouraged, leading her to pursue her BA in Film and television in Northern California. Sierra believes that art and design might be our strongest tools for communication and connection between each other as a society. Where words may lack, art speaks. She hopes that by using creativity to fuse our inner worlds and histories within the world we currently live in, we just might be able to actualize the world we typically only dream of. ••• 👋🏽 Damos la bienvenida a Sierra Lewis (ella), la creadora de cambios creativa de NBOP. Sierra es hija y descendiente de un pueblo Caribeño fuerte, vibrante y empoderado. Como la primera hija de padres inmigrantes, la educación y la excelencia fueron valores arraigados desde muy temprana edad. Sin embargo, siempre se fomentó su curiosidad natural y su afinidad por las artes, lo que la llevó a obtener su licenciatura en Cine y Cine. Televisión en el norte de California. Sierra cree que el arte y el diseño podría ser nuestra herramienta más poderosa para la comunicación y la conexión entre nosotros como sociedad. Donde faltan las palabras, habla el arte. Ella espera que al usar la creatividad para fusionar nuestros mundos internos e historias dentro del mundo en el que vivimos actualmente, podamos hacer realidad el mundo con el que normalmente solo soñamos. #BayAreaCreativeCorps #BACC #NBOP #RootsRoofRefuge #RaícesTechoRefugio

Join our team! The North Bay Organizing Project (NBOP) seeks a dynamic and dedicated Community Organizer of Land Justice & Immigrant Defense. This person will be responsible for building, training, and developing the leadership of a powerful Latinx and Indigenous cohort of talented and courageous leaders from community institutions in the region. For full role details and how to apply, please visit our website 👇🏽