Pecolia, a San Francisco native and Oakland resident, is a passionate advocate with a deep understanding of diverse issues and global affairs. As a youth organizer, she demonstrated her commitment to community empowerment and advocacy through membership building and statewide campaigns. By age 20, Pecolia had participated in four major Bay Area campaigns and conducted over 100 nationwide training sessions.

As the former Executive Director of the Bay Area Parent Leadership Action Network (PLAN), Pecolia focused on developing parental leadership and empowering parents to drive transformative change in schools. She played a crucial role in organizing Black student and parent leaders as part of the Justice for Oakland Students Coalition, particularly in the Reparations for Black Students Campaign. This campaign aims to address the opportunity gap for Black students in early childhood education and public schools by 2026.

In 2022, Pecolia ran for School Board Director in Oakland’s District 4, mobilizing approximately 11,700 residents to support her visionary platform. Despite not securing the position, her campaign inspired students, parents, volunteers, donors, and community leaders to rally behind her vision for positive change. She continues to serve as Co-Chair of the Policy Oversight Commission for the Oakland Fund for Children and Youth, which distributes funding for children and youth services in Oakland.

Cynthia originally came to Oakland Rising Action as our Administrative Assistant (before being promoted to IVE Manager!) after 8 years of labor and community organizing in the Bay Area. Prior to working at Oakland Rising Action, Cynthia was an organizer with our partners at East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy, helping pass local labor ordinances like Times Up! Oakland: for fair workplaces and ending sexual assault on the job. She began organizing with UNITE HERE! Local 2 in San Francisco where she organized alongside her coworkers as a hotel worker to fight for a union. Cynthia brings to our team a deep commitment to building a strong movement of labor, housing, immigration, and environmental justice. Outside of Oakland Rising Action, you can find Cynthia practicing urban permaculture design farming in San Francisco.

After nearly a decade rooted in Bay Area community organizing, Nicole Zapata joins Oakland Rising as a Communications Organizer. Prior to Oakland Rising, Nicole worked with the East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy (EBASE) in her home of Contra Costa County as a community organizer helping build a strong movement of immigrants and tenants in the suburbs fighting for safe and stable housing. Nicole first began organizing through her work with UNITE HERE, unionizing over 200 tech cafeteria workers in the Silicon Valley along with fighting to win respect and protections on the job for food service workers across the East and North Bay. Outside of Oakland Rising, Nicole is a street drummer with Boomshake Music, a community program run by a collective of artists making music for creative expression, cultural survival and social change.

Nory immigrated to the US with her siblings in 1975 from the Philippines. She has lived in Oakland all her life and has experience working in many fields – from owning an auto body shop to working in schools with young children. One of Nory’s most memorable times was when she volunteered and organized at a Friday Community Dinner for 13 years to help serve unhoused adults and children every week. As a mom of three children, her favorite hobbies include cooking, cosplaying and crafting.

Stevie joins Oakland Rising as the IVE volunteer organizer. She grew up in Fresno, California and is excited to share her lived experience, knowledge, and passion for justice with the team. Shaped by her family’s history and advocacy within and after the farm worker’s movement, she has always felt a deep commitment to fairness and equity. After moving to the Bay Area for college and earning their B.A. in Philosophy with a minor in Political Science from San Francisco State University they decided to plant their roots in Oakland. Stevie originally felt like law was the best route to ensure equity for the collective; however, after working at law firms for the past three years they came to realize organizing and policy work is more aligned with their goals. Stevie then decided to put their organizing experience to work and apply to be a volunteer organizer for Oakland Rising. Stevie is primarily moved by policies that can promise full bodily autonomy for all. Outside of Oakland Rising you can find them organizing emo events in the Bay Area for people of color, reading, roller skating or spending time with their beloved fur son, Theodore.

Vernetta joined our team 4 years ago first as a canvasser and then transitioned to our door fundraising team. After a break to focus on school and raising her son, she is back with us to oversee the day-to-day with our outreach team. “OR has raised the bar of my level of leadership…. I am the community. We’re here rooted in Deep East Oakland. The work being done is so necessary and needed. We’re going to tear this organizing thing up!”

Claudine began her foray into the social justice arena with various church and community center food drives and school supply giveaways in southern California. Upon returning to Oakland in 2003 she began attending Oakland School Board meetings. Claudine became an active member of PUEBLO (People United for a Better Life in Oakland) and is a member of the Coalition for Police Accountability that brought Oakland our Police Commission. She is a founding member of Genesis, a faith and labor collaborative organization that includes churches, BART engineers, RJOY (Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth) and AC Transit drivers and was the co-chair of the Stop the School to Prison Pipeline Task Force. She has over 30 years as an administrative professional and over 20 working with children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities and has been an active union leader in CUE and AFSCME.  She is an member of the Heartbeat Collective (formerly Boomshake) and plays the bass drum. She is happiest leading chants and dancing in the streets for justice.

Coming soon…