Spring '25 Impact Report_v1

MAKE YOUR IMPACT!

BLACK FUTURES MONTH AT EBC

JOIN OUR VIRTUAL MAIL NIGHTS! In 2025, EBC is offering more opportunities to volunteer with our mail program–on a new day of the week! Our 2025 Virtual Prison Mail Night will be held bimonthly on the third Monday of May, July, September, and November at the usual time, 5:30-7:30 PM. Our next mail night will be Monday, May 19th!

For more information or to RSVP, contact policy@ellabakercenter.org

BECOME A MEMBER! Our next orientations will be on Wednesday, April 9th and Wednesday, June 11th at 6 PM!

For information or to RSVP, contact tatiana@ellabakercenter.org

HOST A FUNDRAISER FOR EBC! This past February, former and current board members Teresa Gonzalez, Renee Gessler, and Holly Delaney Cole hosted a fabulous fundraising event that “showcased the powerful impact of collective action and dedication” to support the vision of EBC, including a silent auction of artwork donated by incarcerated artists from San Quentin and a tour of our permanent home Restore Oakland! They helped raise over $3,000 to fight for freedom – thank you Teresa, Renee, and Holly!

Sound like fun?

If you’d like to host your own fundraising party for EBC, contact ashleigh@ellabakercenter.org!

In February EBC collaborated with the Black Organizing Project to host a powerful Black Futures Month Celebration — an event dedicated to honoring Black futures and liberation. Amid challenging times, this gathering offered a moment of reprieve, joy, and connection. Community members not only explored opportunities to engage with EBC, but collectively created a space of community, belonging, and celebration.

spring 2025 impact report

We’re welcoming new faces to our Ella Baker Center community! If you or someone you know is interested in learning more about our mission and how to get involved, attend our New Member Orientation! This is a great opportunity to connect with values-aligned people and explore ways to engage in our movement.

The event featured a powerful performance by SöLauren, delicious food catered by Chef LaLa from JusLa Eats, and an intentionally curated space by former EBC organizer Nifa Akosua, offering guests the freedom to simply exist, be seen, and be uplifted. Throughout the celebration, rich conversations unfolded — exploring the meaning of Black Love and Solidarity, the importance of being in true community with one another, and how to cultivate a culture of care and healing so that the work of creating change does not come at the cost of one's well-being.

The gathering also honored the victory of the George Floyd Resolution, which successfully removed the Oakland Police Department from high schools, and uplifted Black excellence — recognizing the invaluable contributions that Black Americans have made and will continue to make to society. A particular highlight was an impactful exercise led by Nifa, inviting attendees to reflect on what is needed to build safer, stronger communities and what we need to make this a reality.

For Philippe Kelly, an EBC organizer and co-organizer of the event, this moment stood out. He shared his deep appreciation for being in a space filled with people, “knowing they weren’t there out of obligation, but out of a shared understanding of the present moment and a desire to contribute. It was pretty dope.”

Celebrating OUR Changemakers Congratulations to Simelia Rogers, who has been promoted to Policy Associate! In this role, she will represent and lead EBC’s campaign work and maintain relationships between inside and outside communities and legislative bodies in Sacramento. Simelia is also participating in the prestigious Solís Policy Institute with the Women’s Foundation of California this year. For Simelia, this promotion has been a beloved recognition of her skills, leadership, and longevity within the EBC community and is a “moment on the team where people can leverage the skills in their back pocket for the greater good.”

Our Director of Programs, James King, was selected as a 2025-2027 Leading Edge Fellow by the Rosenberg Foundation! This fellowship supports emerging movement leaders in pursuing bold visions for change that lasting transformation demands. With this fellowship, James will launch the Emergent Strategy Lab, which will organize alongside currently and formerly incarcerated advocates to develop a series of policy recommendations rooted in community-based research for real alternatives to incarceration as a pathway to true community safety.

Our Executive Director, Marlene Sanchez, was honored with the Marin Community Foundation’s $30,000 Women’s Leadership and Wellbeing Award to support the dynamic change EBC is creating! This award aims to cultivate social justice leadership by women that centers wellness, healing, and thriving.

NEW FACES AT EBC

As we step into 2025, we hold both joy and celebration alongside the stark reality of the political landscape we face. This year has brought unprecedented attacks on the rights, values, and communities we cherish. The disastrous reelection of the Trump administration, along with the disheartening state-level outcomes of the 2024 election, paints a troubling picture of the future unfolding before us.

Yet, in the face of these challenges, the Ella Baker Center remains steadfast in our mission to shift resources away from prisons and policing and towards opportunities that keep our communities safe, healthy, and strong. Through our policy priorities, incarcerated people guide our strategy and have the power to change the material conditions of their own lives.

THE REHABILITATION RECOGNITION ACT (AB 622–KALRA) In 2016, Proposition 57 was passed by California voters to create pathways for incarcerated people to earn credits toward early parole through their participation in rehabilitative and educational programs. To support its implementation, Assemblymember Kalra has introduced legislation, supported by EBC, to ensure people who have already been found suitable for release by the Board of Parole are not unnecessarily incarcerated due to a court ruling that contradicts the original intent of Prop 57.

INDIGENT HYGIENE ACCESS IN COUNTY JAILS AND YOUTH DETENTION FACILITIES (SB 498–BECKER) Frequently incarcerated individuals face significant challenges in accessing essential hygiene supplies, with this inaccessibility often exploited by counties to penalize poverty. EBC is committed to making these supplies uniformly accessible to people in county jails by prohibiting forced debt accumulation from hygiene kits or taking away hygiene kits as a form of punishment.

CALIFORNIA RACIAL JUSTICE ACT (RJA) FOLLOW-UP (AB 1071–KALRA):

EBC is proud to welcome our new staff attorney, Claudia Ceseña. Drawn to the organization because of its values and her lived experiences, Claudia will use this position to further protect the rights of incarcerated people through her deep understanding of parole reform, help to develop implementation strategies to support others through parole hearings, and lead EBC’s coalitions work focused on parole reform. Claudia’s goal, “is to drive meaningful reform that will not only help free the people [she] represent[s], but also pave the way for countless others.” Welcome Claudia!

Kanoa Harris-Pendang is the new 2025 Inside Policy Fellow, a community organizer, a Chairperson of an LGBTQIA+ organization, and Managing Editor of CCWF’s first newspaper, The Paper Trail. He brings a passion for policy, strategic advocacy, and outreach shaped by lived experience.

POLICY PRIORITIES AND KEY INITIATIVES FOR 2025

Jesse Milo is the new 2025 Inside Policy Fellow, a published writer, poet, artist, and longtime advocate for legislation, rights, and the well-being of others. Jesse believes that "if we want things to change, then we have a duty to ourselves and future generations, to effect that change!"

This year, we are moving to address ongoing barriers to implementation by clarifying RJA procedures for the courts so that everyone entitled to relief has a fair opportunity to be heard. EBC is committed to expanding our in-person RJA trainings to three additional prisons, reaching hundreds of people at each facility and providing critical information to 1,000 more by sharing our recently updated RJA guide.

EBC, alongside Assemblymember Ash Kalra (D-San José), the USF Racial Justice Clinic, Silicon Valley DeBug, the Office of the State Public Defender, the ACLU of Northern California, and public defenders throughout the state of California, was awarded the M. Sharnar Gilbert Human Rights Award by The Society of American Law Teachers (SALT) for our implementation work related to the California Racial Justice Act for All. This award is given to those recognized for their dedication and contributions to human rights work; it is not awarded every year, and is only given when there is an exceptional example to be celebrated. We are honored to be recognized for our collaborative efforts to educate the community – both inside and outside California prisons and jails – and create opportunities for justice for those impacted by the racism and bias that permeates our criminal legal system.