COMMUNITY ACTIVISM IN OAK PARK: COMPETING AGENDAS ...

For three months I performed a variety of activities, such as canvassing the neighborhood
of Oak Park to recruit prospective volunteer members, setting up booths at grocery stores,
meeting with low-income residents to make calls to utility companies and asking for
extensions on their utility bills, and visiting the California State Capitol to lobby
legislators to oppose Assembly Bill 654, also known as the assisted suicide bill.
Members of this association worked diligently to help the poor by educating them about
issues that affected them. They also disbursed food and clothes to the poor and held
holiday parties for their low-income members at community venues and churches.
From their perspective, Labor Association members felt that revitalization and
increased urban development in the community threatened the livelihood of the low-
income sector of the population. They believed the low-income residents would
eventually be priced out of the neighborhood and would have to relocate. They also
opposed revitalization projects that were proposed in other areas of Sacramento, such as
the prospective development of a Century Theater at the Downtown Plaza. They also
opposed corporate “gouging” of low-income residents, in the form of increased late fees,
and lobbied to increase minimum wage for service workers. Labor Association members
also conducted certain activities to help the poor, such as distributing food and clothing,
but they emphasized that in order for social change to occur, people had to participate in
legislative advocacy. Members followed the development of legislation and tracked bills
that were being proposed by state legislators. If there was a particular bill that was being
passed that was not in the interest of the poor, they visited the State Capital in hopes of
meeting with legislators and voice their opinion about a bill that would negatively affect
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