Building an Equitable City Budget

In January of 2015, the City began a planning process to “revitalize” the Adeline corridor in South Berkeley. In this process, many residents have vocalized that our community is built on our diversity.

Yet South Berkeley’s diversity is under threat from intensifying rent hikes and displacement pressures. In 2015, a resident had to earn $65,000 a year or more to afford to live in South Berkeley, and rents on available units had increased by 40% in just three years, from $1,175 to $1,650, according to the City’s own report for the Adeline Corridor Plan. As South Berkeley residents are under siege from displacement and gentrification, the nonprofits that support our most vulnerable – people without housing, and particularly youth – are more important than ever to ensure the people and communities that have helped to make South Berkeley such a vibrant community are able to stay in our neighborhood.

During the 2-year budget process in summer 2015, the City proposed cutting nearly $250,000 in funding to South Berkeley-based nonprofits. However, the City reversed nearly all of these proposed cuts in the face of broad community support for these nonprofits from our local businesses, residents, and those who depend on these vital services. Over 500 people signed a petition in support of South Berkeley nonprofits. The Daily Cal wrote an editorial in support of restoring funding for South Berkeley nonprofits, and the San Jose Mercury News, Contra Costa Times, and Berkeleyside covered the issue, as well.

In 2016, the City faced the same question again: will the City continue its support of South Berkeley nonprofits, or will the City drop its support and accelerate the displacement of low-income residents and people of color? In 2015, the City Council ultimately made the right choice in recognizing that South Berkeley nonprofits are essential to the South Berkeley community. However, in 2016, the City of Berkeley  cut funding for two of our neighborhood institutions: The Berkeley Drop-In Center and Youth Spirit Artworks. And it failed to fully fund several more vital community-based organizations such as Healthy Black Families. This continued a long trend of disinvestment in the neighborhood and undermined the City’s own planning process for Adeline Corridor.

We will continue to urge the City Council to fully fund every nonprofit based in South Berkeley and to identify long term, permanent sources of funding for community-servicing nonprofits through the planning process.