Hello, Alameda. Welcome to the Island City Beat podcast. We will hear interesting and insightful interviews on a variety of topics from folks right here on our island and beyond. Come and join in on the conversation. Sometimes on our podcast, we like to invite local Alamedians to come on to talk about their life here in Alameda, what they love about our city, what changes they would like to see, and what they're doing to make our community a better place for all of us.
Angie:And today, I have one such person with me. Her name is Savanna Cheer. She is a wife, a mom, and she's played a instrumental role in helping to improve the lives of so many of our residents here on the island. With that, let me say hello to Savanna. Cheers.
Angie:Savanna, welcome to the Island Beat podcast.
Savanna:Hi, Angie. Thank you for having me.
Angie:Thank you so much for being here. Now I know that you are a native of the East Bay, proud native of the East Bay. You moved here to Alameda in 2018. Yes. So what was it about the city?
Angie:What was it about Alameda that said to you, I really like this place. I wanna make this place my home.
Savanna:This is funny you should ask because we've talked about this before, but I sort of accidental. My husband and I lived in Oakland for ten plus years prior to moving here, and we actually had our daughter and lived in a place in Oakland together there and brought her home from the hospital there. And we kind of been looking around. It was a condominium, so we're kinda looking for a house, but, you know, looked a lot of places. And both my husband and I looked at each other when Alameda kinda came on the radar and said, have you ever been there?
Savanna:No. Have you ever been there? No. And we figured out that each of us had probably been to, like, a family party there years ago with the kids, but really not spent much time here. So, we were really coming with, like, a pretty fresh, perspective in the sense that, you know, we we did not spend much time here, but we came to, you know, obviously, really enjoy our lives here and, discovered all that Alameda has to offer kinda after the fact.
Savanna:Because once we moved here, then we kinda got into it all. So, so yeah. So sort of by a happenstance is how we ended up here. But it's you know, the location is appealing to us in the sense that it's still right in the mix with Oakland. We're able to get to sort of an urban center quickly between San Francisco and Oakland, and then, and still kinda keep our ties to all the other East Bay cities that we're connected to.
Angie:So Yeah. Wonderful. I'm glad that Alameda worked out for you guys.
Savanna:It did. Yeah. Sure did. We're islanders.
Angie:You are. So I know that you and some other Alamedans here, you formed a grassroots organization called Transform Alameda, and you guys have accomplished some really great things, with this group. We'll talk a little bit about that later on. But I first would like for you to talk a little bit about Transform Alameda and the origins of your group and how it came to be.
Savanna:Yeah. Sure. I'd love to talk about that. Yeah. So shortly after I moved here, just personally, I sort of started watching and kinda getting engaged with what might have been happening, you know, around the island and kinda figuring out where I might belong as far as just organizing or activism goes.
Savanna:And because I didn't know much about Alameda, I had some stuff to learn. And, you know, then the then COVID happened. So shortly thereafter, you know, we we didn't live here that long before the pandemic set in, and we had a lot of people had a lot of time on their hands, I think, is one thing. But also, then the terrible murder of George Floyd happened. And there was sort of, you know, a national uprising that was asking, very pointed and important questions to communities around The US around what does policing look like where you live, and how do you intervene in the violence of policing and protect black life particularly?
Savanna:And, fortunately, there was a significant group of people in Alameda who wanted that question answered for for our city, and, we're really engaged with trying to figure out, like, what's the history of policing here? How has it harmed folks? And what can we do about it? And so because of this unique nature of the way we were living at the time, everyone was online. So it was actually quite easy to gather together and organize online because people had a little extra time on their hands.
Savanna:They had moments to really engage in this, and people were really, really, you know, like very passionate about it at the time and were really wanting to to see change happen right where they lived. And that was very much the national call. It was people movement for black lives was asking this. Other black led organizations were saying, go to your communities. Fix police figure out policing where you're at and what can you do differently.
Savanna:And so we all kind of responded to that, informed online, and then eventually met in person some months later. It took a long time because it was still like early twenty twenty before we could really all, like, gather anywhere. But we were able to to form a really significant group of people who cared about this issue a lot and wanted to kind of get to the bottom of policing in Alameda.
Angie:So what was kind of the first step that you guys took? And because you guys were really instrumental in implementing what we have the care unit here. Right? Yeah. Was so wonderful.
Angie:People, you know, are under stress. You don't just have a police officer come. Have, like, a mental health caseworker, social worker come. So that's awesome. But what was that what were those steps that you had to take?
Angie:Because, mean, it didn't happen overnight. It didn't. Yeah.
Savanna:And I and I would argue that it's not actually fully happening yet. We can talk about that later with the in regards to the care team, but it's not executed in a way that, really is ideal as far as removing policing from the situation. But, I will say it's provided people at least referral services and hopefully helped folks get a little bit more stabilized if they're in an unstable situation. So yeah. So I think the first steps we kinda took were really trying to just understand the lay of the land.
Savanna:Many of us were newer to Alameda, but we also had some folks who'd been here a while and could kinda give us the backstory on certain initiatives that may have failed or not. And we had to just sort of, like, figure all that out before we acted. We were really diligent and dedicated to the idea that we didn't wanna step on anyone's toes. So, certainly, if folks were doing organizing here, we needed to, like, meet them and know who they were and not be like, you know, we know everything and kinda marching in and figuring you know, saying we can figure it out. So that was a big step.
Savanna:And then, really figuring out the mechanisms that like, public mechanisms that we could pull on or press on, and that was city council and sort of the work at the city staff level. And so something you talked to you touched on is that this care team initiative, it's it's sort of spurned out of pressure on city council to do something. And this was related to two instances and issues, I guess, but, George Floyd's murder and the national call, but also locally, had a similar issue.
Angie:Maria Gonzalez.
Savanna:Well, that happened after. Yeah. Mario was killed after. But prior to that, just a week or so before George Floyd was killed, a man named Molly Watkins was, exercising publicly in the street and got, assaulted by police officers here. And so, you know, we had our own sort of example of how that violence of policing against black bodies is very real.
Savanna:It's happening a lot. It has happened many times before in our city, and, you know, we wanna do something about that. So council felt it seemed at the time quite a bit of pressure to respond to the community's questions around that, and, they formed these subcommittees on, racial justice and policing, and it was, kind of topic area based. And they had a bunch of people from the community that sat on these subcommittees, and they started work, in the fall of twenty twenty, I I believe, and it kinda went through the spring. And they made some recommendations.
Savanna:And a number of folks who would actually come to transform later, and join us a little bit after the fact were were part of that. So we got to kinda know the process. We sort of watched that happen, but simultaneously, we'll work to kind of to figure out if we could propose an alternative to policing in Alameda. And, we had been looking at programs like Macro in Oakland, which has been relatively successful, and that's, housed in the fire department as well. And it's a a mental health response unit essentially.
Savanna:So no police. You go with someone who's an experienced either EMT or mental health professional, that can deescalate and care for someone. And at the end of the day, this is really about like prioritizing care versus punishment. And that's a value that we had in Transform Alameda is that like, we'd like to build a community of care, not, you know, a community of punishment and of harm. And so those are opposite things and we really would instill, I think many of us would like to see care prioritized.
Savanna:So I guess ironic that it's called the care team because I I don't know, like, how caring it is, but I think it's better
Angie:than You definitely have some problems with the care team.
Savanna:Yes. So you wanna talk a
Angie:little bit about what's working, what's not working with it? Yeah.
Savanna:I would caveat this by saying I have not checked in on the status in a while. So I I'm gonna speak from a place of maybe not the highest amount of knowledge of what's happening today. But last time I checked in on it, police were still going out to the calls. So almost all of the calls included a police officer going. Initially, it seemed like there were a handful of calls who Just Care team employees were going on, which are fire fire department employees, were going on.
Savanna:And then that kinda waned, and it was it's just sort of been this kinda not a full commitment to that value. And then I believe what you know, once we had the there's an he's not that new anymore, but a newish police chief, he really flexed his power and was ultimately like, no. We're not doing that. And so he's an excellent PR person. If, you know, you need to be sold on some value of policing, he's certainly a guy to do it.
Savanna:And I think that he my understanding is certainly, wanted to still be very involved, in the care team and probably doesn't share the same value that maybe some of the folks who wanted to see this program continue, which is just removing police presence. And even if that's gradually, just saying, let's get to a place where we have trained professionals going out to some of these calls, because you don't need someone with a gun to go out, to a to a heightened situation. That's generally going to result in
Angie:a Yeah.
Savanna:Something bad. And that is what happened with Mario. Right? So Mario was killed because, police responded rather than someone who might have been able to help him, just have a better day, which is all he needed. So
Angie:So you think that maybe to get this care team truly implemented, that there needs to be some more activism around this issue from folks?
Savanna:Probably help. Yeah. I mean, you know, yes, I think that would be great. I think it feels like a very uphill climb in some sense now because the council has changed over now and, like, enough time has passed where people kinda, like, just aren't thinking about that anymore. I think when we zoom out a little bit more on a national level, like, there's a lot of backlash around these types of programs, and, we've sort of swung another way where people are really like crime and punishment now.
Savanna:And, you know, I think it's really unfortunate because people are missing the really tremendous value that some of these changes can provide to communities as far as, again, building that community of care and truly, like, lifting people up rather than, like, pushing them down. So, yeah. I I mean, I think it would take a little more. I think we should just, you know, see what I think we should still see what happens. I don't I don't think we should give up.
Savanna:But, yeah, I I I think it would need to be a bigger push. And, yeah, it's hard sell to sometimes.
Angie:Yeah. This this kind of mood that the country that is in right now. Yeah. I first met you about four years ago. You came to speak to a group that I'm a part of, and you were talking at the time that your group had created this survey.
Angie:Mhmm. And it asked questions about a number of different topics, and you're trying to get people get on board to answer the survey. I answered it. I got other people to
Savanna:do this.
Angie:So tell us about that survey because I'm really great things came out of that survey. So I want you to talk about the survey itself and what came out of it and what you learn from the responses of the people who, you know, decided that they, would answer these questions.
Savanna:So, yeah, we presented to you, I think, on our we were calling it the people's budget. I don't mean it's people's budget. And so this was a participatory budgeting initiative that, folks in transform would wanted to see take off here. And the idea is, in a nutshell, that, public budgets are, expressions of our community's values. Right?
Savanna:So when we put pop our all of our collective public money, to use in a city, it's expressing a set of values that we wanna see kind of, you know, delivered upon in our in our communities. And so we wanted to mirror some efforts that had happened in other places around the country around people's budgeting. And most of the time, it was happening with outside organizations going and doing community surveys and kinda saying, hey. Let's just ask people. It's a really simple question.
Savanna:How would you like to see the money spent that is your money? Your money. Because it is our tax dollars. Right? So, what are your priorities?
Savanna:And so we designed a survey that sort of got to that. One really important kind of priority for us in that surveying was to try to collect as much qualitative data as we did quantitative. So not just this many people said this, but, like, what did they actually say? And so we provided we we met with specifically with community groups to try to capture a little bit more in you know, a little bit more depth on those, sort of quantitative, or I guess qualitative. I always mix up the two.
Savanna:The substance of it, the meat of it. And then we also did that within the survey so that there was plenty of opportunity for people to provide open ended answers so we could collect voices from the community and say, like, what do you actually want? And so in the end of the day, I think we got really close to a statistical sample size. We were just maybe a hundred people off, so we we agreed we could round up and say that we were almost there. And that would basically be, like, akin to what you know, if the city staff goes out and does a public survey, we could kinda put it on par with that.
Savanna:So, you know, and I think some of the big takeaways were that people had some very, it was a through line of priorities around, yes, programs of care. I mean, they we are what we suspected people wanted, people wanted by and large. And it was they want a city that prioritizes, you know, a high quality of life for everyone regardless of who you are, how you look, where you live, how much money you make, doesn't matter. They wanted access to services that improve people's day to day lives and meet material needs, and they wanted to do that without harm. And that was sometimes people's definition of harm and safety is different.
Savanna:So there were certainly folks that answered the survey like, we need more police officers, but a lot of people answered it and said, I would prefer that someone come to my house who is not a cop to help me solve this problem. And that's what we were really curious about because it's a priority for us as a group. We wanted to know, is that true? Do people actually think that? And at least for the people that answered our survey, it seemed like that there was agreement on that issue.
Savanna:So, but it was really great. We put together a great report. Our our website is pretty dormant at the moment, but it does live there. So you can you can view the report yourself if you'd like. But it was really fun, you know, community building kind of opportunity for all of us too to come together and and build this really kind of beautiful outcome and told some great stories.
Savanna:So
Angie:So what did the city council, what was their response to the survey, and how did they use your answers to implement
Savanna:Yeah. That's interesting. So we presented it to city staff. It was right around the time we were getting a new city manager. So I think that kind of was unfortunate for us because it just wasn't a priority at the time.
Savanna:They were just trying to, like, very reasonably, just trying to get the staff turnover happen. Yeah. Then, you know, it it was sort of unfortunate timing, I think, to be like, hey. We did this. And this new city manager is like, I don't even know who you are.
Savanna:So, but we we had some productive conversations with them. They had a lot of questions about it. Interestingly enough, I noticed that, I think it was sometime last year or earlier this year, they actually put out a community survey, and it looks suspiciously similar to ours. We didn't hear anything about that, but I thought, oh, well, maybe they got some ideas from us. But it was great to talk with them.
Savanna:We had had some really productive and great relationships with some of the finance and community development staff at the city, and they were really great and, and really, yeah, were super open to talking to us about it. I, you know, I don't think that I saw anything significant change, but we only did this once. So Yeah. You know, I think if we did this over and over again, might see something different. But, but it was a good yeah.
Angie:So we have in Alameda now what we call the guaranteed income. And transfer Alameda was a big part in making that happen. So tell us about the guaranteed income, what that is for people who don't know about it, your part making it a reality here.
Savanna:Absolutely. That was really an exciting thing and a really rewarding thing to work on because it resulted in something happening, which is always what you want when you do organizing or community work. So, again, sort of COVID is the backdrop. The federal government offered communities around The US relief dollars. And so the idea was that you would be providing know, cities were going to take significant hits based on the economics of COVID and they needed support.
Savanna:And so Alameda got, I think, nearly $29,000,000 in what we call ARPA money, federal money. And the way that we viewed it is that's a once in a generation gift, essentially. There is almost no circumstance under which a municipality is going get that tranche of money from the federal government. And so it was like, we really need to jump on this and make sure it's spent responsibly, kind of going along with the lines of our sort of public budgets, our community values. We wanted to make sure that that money reflected community values.
Savanna:So we threw around lots of ideas of what it should be. We looked at what the ideas that were being suggested were and shot down the ones like, know, bunch of new pickleball courts, which I mean, if you love pickleball, that's fine. But there were much more immediate needs that needed to be met for folks in our community, like housing and food and making it every day, not necessarily pickleball. So so we started to research what those could look like, and guaranteed income floated to the top really quickly. It timed it exactly almost the moment that Stockton, the city of Stockton, had put out their final report about their pilot program.
Savanna:It had some wonderful data in it and showed that it's a resounding success, at least for Stockton and and other cities could support that too. So we did a a significant amount of research and presented it to the city staff, and asked them if they would consider putting forth, you know, some sort of proposal on this. I believe that both the mayor at the time, Marilyn Ezzy Ashcroft, and and maybe one other council person had also been very interested. Maybe John. Maybe the Leavela and John might have John Knox White might have also mentioned it at the time that, that would be something they'd be really interested in.
Savanna:And so we knew we had this sort of political value to it in that someone had mentioned it, and that's kind of all we needed. We're like, well, if it's out there and they want to do it, if we can just really push on this, something we'll get done. So so yeah, we were able to do a fair amount of research and provide a good kind of base of information to city staff. And then some excellent folks on city staff ran with it, and they just did a wonderful job designing this program that I believe they're calling it Alameda RISE or RISE Alameda. I'm I'm getting the name wrong.
Savanna:But, yeah, so it provides, a set amount of income for the participants in the program every month. It depends No strings attached. No strings attached. That's the key element. So guaranteed income, the principle is that you don't tell people how to spend money, you give them the money they need to live.
Savanna:Because we know there are so many systemic injustices in, you know, our food systems and economics and job access and transportation, a way to address that is to level a playing field by giving people what they need to access those systems. And often that's gonna be money, right? And so, you know, many participants in the Stockton program, for example, shared how by having some maybe $300 extra a month to spend on transportation, were able to get a reliable car, which got them a better job. Maybe that they had a twenty minute extra long commute, but it was no problem to go to that job and earn more money. They could have savings for the first time in their life.
Savanna:They could prepare their children for college or whatever their next step was. And it's little things that add up to a really big life change. And so that's sort of the value we saw in the program is, again, meeting people's material needs with a care forward approach and a lifting up, not a pressing down. And so we were able to do it. And so as far as I know, I think the program is probably in its, already in its second year as a pilot.
Savanna:I recently actually met someone who sits on the board of the hell human health and human services board of Alameda. Social services. And relations board. Yeah. Yeah.
Savanna:And, and they're involved, with specifically with the program and kinda guiding it. Sounds like it's been going really great. It's great. And recipients are really happy about it.
Angie:We have some of those folks come on our podcast I think that would be a great idea. Experience with it. Yeah.
Savanna:That'd be great idea.
Angie:Sounds wonderful. So, I want to just ask you, what are some things that you really love about living here in Alameda? And what are some things that you would really like to see change here on the Sure.
Savanna:So love, I would say, I love the natural beauty that we have. I often marvel at how amazing it is that we can just, my family can ride our bikes right down to the beach anytime we want, regardless of temperature and
Angie:take a walk on the beach,
Savanna:you know? All flat. Yes. All flat, easy to get to. I mean, it's really something that I think I find myself taking for granted a lot.
Savanna:So I love the the ability to be outside here, the access we have to, all of the beautiful public spaces. So we have so many lovely parks, and we have so many, amazing outdoor spaces that we can that I can help my kid to enjoy too and appreciate. And I really love the fact that, you know, while I have some challenges, I think, with, maybe the history of Alameda and some of the sort of decisions that have been made around how community is built here, I also think that it is ripe for a beautiful community to be built here, and there are so many pockets of it that we already have. I think about your group Angie, like All Faiths Alliance, right? Or is it
Angie:Alameda All Faiths Coalition.
Savanna:Yes. Alameda All Faiths Coalition. It's just beautiful group of people who share a share they don't share the same faith and it doesn't matter because they're coming together on, you know, sort of the concept of beloved community and sort of being together with each other. And you can find that anywhere you go in Alameda. And so something personally that I thought about when I like joined Transform Alameda and we sort of started forming it was it just seemed like everything was there for us to to put together.
Savanna:Like, we just had to get the pieces together here because it is such a tight knit community in so many ways. And then, you know, I think one thing I would change, though, and I learned through the process of organizing here is that we really have to undo some of the very deep white supremacy here. It's really I think it's comes from housing primarily. That's one of the main, you know, places we see it is sort of the the power of white supremacy and access to housing here and sort of people's preconceived notions about being this island and away from this sort of not Oakland vibe that happens a lot in the city. And it feels really you know, that's really coded language for some really nasty views, and, I don't think we need that here.
Savanna:I think that we have, like I said, all these other really amazing, relationships and communities that can overpower some of that that sort of negativity. And so, so I'm optimistic that we can do that, but I definitely think that needs to be addressed. Yeah. You know?
Angie:Now you're a mom. I am. And you have what? Eight year olds?
Savanna:An eight year old.
Angie:Yes. I know when I first moved to Alameda, like twenty five years ago. I remember before I became a mother. Yeah. I remember just thinking that it it was not a very kid centered city back then.
Angie:And that is what changed. I see a lot of families of kids moving here on the island. I'm curious to just hear from you your experience of raising your daughter here and going to school here. What has that been like?
Savanna:Yeah, it's been great. So we are part of the Myelin School Community. So that's our neighborhood school. And so we we can walk to school every day, which is great. I think that that's a really special experience.
Savanna:Not everyone can walk to their their school every day. So that's been really fun. And Myelin is a great community. We're really lucky. It's a beautiful school community that, everybody's a lot of fun, and the kids are seem like they're having fun every day.
Savanna:And then I go there, it looks like a blast. Uh-huh. And I it's been great to raise her here. I think, you know, she has a real sense of place here. You know, this is the only place she remembers living and and has built all of her memories so far in her life here.
Savanna:And I think that she likes some of the things that my husband and I like, which is this sort of being able to bike around and All the parks. All the parks and getting from one side of the island to the other is really fun because you can do it lots of different ways. We ride the bus a lot, you know, and she loves being able to do that. So I've really enjoyed it. I I think, whether it's activities that she's a part of or our school community, there is just a lot of opportunity for her to also build community here.
Savanna:And like, if it's not evident, one of our family values is like community is really important. Yes. And so for her to have sort of that landscape to do that in is really great for me. And I really I encourage that a lot with her, but it's very clear that it's easy to do here. So I really like that.
Savanna:And, yeah, I mean, school so far has been a good experience. I I you know, she's seems to enjoy everything about it. So no complaints. It's also a large system, you know, and so as a systems critic myself, obviously, I mean, I'm sure there's gonna be issues, but it it doesn't we haven't encountered anything that I think is, you know, not like any typical school has a challenge.
Angie:Right. Right. That's good to hear. Yeah. So we had an election recently, results of our recent election.
Angie:And I would just love to hear a little bit, being the activist and community minded person that you are, just to give us some reflection of the election.
Savanna:Sure.
Angie:Your point of view.
Savanna:Yeah. I absolutely understand people's, sort of grief around this and, how challenging of a week or week plus it's been. I will say I'll speak for me sort of personally. I have already grieved, done a lot of the grieving around what I think folks maybe feel we lost, on that election night. I had done that a long time ago.
Savanna:For many people in our country, in our state, even in the Bay Area, things have been bad for a long time. The forces of sort of billionaires, greed, and systemic racism, and systems of violence everywhere we look, like, that's been around for a long time. And those are things that many people struggle with every day, all the time. And I have accepted that reality for a while, and it's what propels me to do the work that I do is that I want to make it better for people every day. And so I realized I had a really interesting realization sort of the day after the election or maybe a couple days later where, you know, I mean, I felt pretty scared still.
Savanna:Was not to sugarcoat it. I did feel like, oh, no, you know, but I didn't feel what a lot of people around me, I think, were feeling because I realized I already went through those feelings some time ago. And that I had this really sort of special opportunity to hold space for folks maybe in my immediate community who were feeling really distraught and feeling really, having a really hard time with it and, didn't really know what to do next. And I realized that people will need a little bit of time maybe to figure that out, and they're going to need some time to accept the sort of reality in front of us, which I think we can all agree is not great. It's going to be a scary ride.
Savanna:And I think that what we have to remind ourselves is that we have each other. We always have each other. When you look left and right of you, you have somebody who can look out for you in some specific way, and you can look out for them in another way. And so if you are reminded of that consistently and you stick to that as hard as you can and lock arms with everyone around you, that is a force that cannot be toppled. Right?
Savanna:I don't think as many, you know, National Guard troops as are forced into certain states or as many systems that are become very violent and aggressive, you can't really knock down a bunch of people standing together on the same ground. And so that power with each other that we have is really important to remember. And for me, it started with being compassionate towards folks who were going through a range of emotions in the following days after the election and that, oh, that's a role I thought, oh, that's a role I can play. Okay, great. You know, and maybe in a month, that role is gonna look different, and I'm gonna be called to do something else.
Savanna:And then in a year, might be something else. The main thing for me is that I'm not gonna stop. If anything, I'm starting to do this harder than ever now. And it's nose to the grindstone to really be there for folks and vulnerable people in our communities who need protection and also to fight back. So I think, that's kind of what I thought of first, I, would just encourage everyone to think very deeply about what changes you're willing to make in your day to day life, in in terms of helping others and caring for others because that's really what we have to do.
Savanna:Yeah.
Angie:I just love that. The whole thing about people coming together is great. The ability to build that beloved community that we talk about so often in our circles. Well, Savanna, it has been just a pleasure talking to you. Really appreciate you coming on our show.
Angie:And I just hope that you continue to do the wonderful, amazing work, whatever capacity that you care to do that in. Just keep doing it because it's making a real difference in so many people's lives. Thank you.
Savanna:Thank You for having me.
Angie:Alright. Take Care was good to see you. Good to see you.