Hella Bees, a Black-owned restaurant and bar in Oakland, was buzzing Thursday evening August 27 when community members from the East Bay and San Francisco came together to talk about public banking and what it could mean for their communities. Four small groups of 8-10 people, mostly people of color, dug into the financial challenges they face and discussed how regional public banks might work.

Jointly organized by End Poverty in California (EPIC), SF Public Bank, Public Bank East Bay, and the California Public Banking Alliance, this roundtable showed how organizations can collaborate to make positive change. Many people new to public banking learned about public banking ballot measures this November: Berkeley’s Measure Z, a parcel tax to capitalize a regional public bank, and San Francisco’s Proposition B, which would authorize a Municipal Finance Corporation now and a public bank later.

Special thanks to Michael Tubbs, Founder of EPIC and former Mayor of Stockton, and to Nikki Fortunato Bas, Alameda County Supervisor for joining the listening session, and to Rick Girling of CPBA and Reina Tello of PODER SF for facilitating.

Photos: End Poverty in California