In 2021, Urban Peace Movement organized with youth of color and community members impacted by mass incarceration and community violence and pushed systems leaders to reimagine youth justice and public safety. We leveraged the power of youth organizing, community partnership, and coalition building to achieve powerful outcomes…

MEDIA ADVISORY Tuesday, April 6, 2021   Press Contact:  Bilen Mesfin Packwood, bilen@change-llc.com   New Urban Peace Movement Survey Shows 87 Percent of Black Men Feel Unsafe When They See Police in Their Communities Violence Prevention, Access to Jobs and Stable Quality Housing  Recommended to Increase Safety Oakland, CA —  Today, Urban Peace Movement announced […]

Alameda County District Attorney Office’s Practices Lead to Overcriminalization, Needlessly Cost County Money, and Promote Mass Incarceration ACLU of Northern California and Urban Peace Movement Call for Alameda County District Attorney to Take Action to Reduce Harm on Black and Brown Communities This report outlines how the policies and practices of the Alameda County District […]

For Urban Peace Movement (UPM), as for all the world, the year 2020 presented unprecedented challenges. We were called, as were all community-based organizations, to respond to the wildly fluctuating needs of our communities in the face of a global pandemic, continued police killings of Black and Brown people, the subsequent influx of people to […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  October 22, 2020  Media contact:  Bilen Mesfin Packwood, bilen@change-llc.com  Alameda County Voters Back Replacing Youth Incarceration with Health and Community Based Approaches, New Poll Shows  (OAKLAND)—Two-thirds of Alameda County voters back replacing youth incarceration and investing in health and community based approaches to help young people, according to a poll released today […]

Urban Peace Movement has conducted a new poll on voter attitudes towards youth justice in Alameda County. According to the poll, two-thirds of Alameda County voters back replacing youth incarceration and investing in health and community-based approaches such as education and job training to help young people succeed. Read more of our findings here: Alameda […]

As Urban Peace Movement continues to evolve our work to meet the unprecedented challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, we want to update our supporters about our response, emerging needs, and how this crisis is impacting our work. The COVID-19 pandemic has surfaced the urgency of pressing for the immediate release of as many incarcerated people […]

It is with immeasurable sadness that we share the news that UPM’s Deputy Director, Dr. Prince White, passed away in August 2018. Prince was a fierce warrior in the fight for social justice and cared deeply about every youth member that he worked with. He was extremely passionate about tearing down the walls of mass […]

We are honored to announce that UPM’s Executive Director, Nicole Lee, was recognized on Ebony Magazine’s prestigious Power 100 List for 2018 in the Community Crusaders category. The Power 100 List dates back to 1971 when it was originally called the list of “The 100 Most Influential Black Americans.” This year Nicole, who is of […]

Join as hundreds of community members speak to county leaders about the need to implement re-entry jobs and other vital programs that remove barriers and lift up our communities. We need answers on implementation and commitments to continue to stand with community members and invest in solutions that work. Come at 5:30 for light dinner […]

OAKLAND — The message at a recent town hall meeting about Coliseum City was loud and clear: East Oakland residents don’t want a development that ignores their needs and is designed for people who don’t live there.

Oakland, CA- On Saturday, February 20, 2016 at the West Oakland Youth Center, the JusticeReinvestment Coalition of Alameda County, a coalition of local community groups representing thousands of East Bay residents, will host a town hall meeting about the problem of “mass incarceration.” The town hall will allow community members to air concerns about public […]

UPM has joined a statewide coalition called the California Alliance for Youth and Community Justice, which has been pushing for statewide juvenile sentencing reform (in an effort to begin to reverse some of the impacts of California State Proposition 21, passed in 2000, which led to unprecedented numbers of youth being sentenced as adults). The […]

  Oakland, CA – Youth from Oakland and surrounding areas will participate in a Youth Leadership Summit for positive community change. The Summit will be held this Saturday May 24th from 11am-4pm at Impact HUB Oakland (2323 Broadway, Downtown Oakland).   Guest speakers include Professor Darrick Smith, Jerry “Big G” Elster, Gregory Hodge, Dominic Ware from […]