Ella Baker Center for Human Rights

The Ella Baker Center for Human Rights is a strategy and action center working for justice, opportunity and peace in urban America. Based in Oakland, California, we promote positive alternatives to violence and incarceration through our four cutting-edge campaigns.

The Problem Decades of disinvestment in our cities have led to despair and hopelessness. For poor communities and communities of color it's even worse, as excessive, racist policing and over-incarceration have left people even further behind. We now face a cycle of violence that makes everyone less safe.

The Solution We need to break the cycle of violence and reinvest in our cities. Ella Baker Center offers smart solutions and uplifting alternatives to violence and incarceration. The safest neighborhoods aren't the ones with the most prisons and the most police. They are the ones with the best schools, the cleanest environment, and the most opportunities for young people and working people. That is what we want for urban America: justice in the system; opportunity in our cities; and peace on our streets.

Our Campaigns Those three ideas: justice, peace and opportunity, guide all of our work at Ella Baker Center. They are the foundation of our four campaigns and initiatives:

1) Books Not Bars, Campaigning to reform California's abusive & costly youth prison system.

2) Reclaim the Future, Creating opportunities in the "green" economy for poor communities and communities of color.

3) Bay Area PoliceWatch, Supporting victims and survivors of police abuse and their families.

4) Silence the Violence, Uplifting young people and addressing Bay Area violence with a mix of social activism and street culture.