MIXERS & PROGRAMS
MEZCLADORAS Y PROGRAMAS
March 29th Forum:
The Oakland Latino Chamber of Commerce (OLCC) will host the Oakland Bilingual Voter Education & Mayoral Candidate Forum on Saturday, March 29th to provide voter information on the upcoming April 15, 2025, City of Oakland Special Municipal Election. The Forum will include a presentation by the League of Women Voters and brief introductions by Candidates who have responded to the OLCC Candidate questionnaire.
The Oakland Latino Chamber of Commerce was established to support and promote Hispanic/Latino businesses. The OLCC is committed to creating a healthy business environment through collaboration, advocacy and economic development. While the OLCC is a non-partisan organization and will not endorse a Mayoral candidate, the purpose of this questionnaire is for Oakland’s mayoral candidates to share their knowledge, experience, and plans to support Oakland, and in particular the Hispanic/Latino residents of Oakland. The Candidate’s Questionnaire was distributed to all Oakland Mayoral Candidates. Six (6) responses were received. These six candidates have been invited to briefly introduce themselves at the March 29th Forum and answer questions from the community.
We are also sharing the Candidate responses with Forum’s eleven (11) community organization partners and sharing with the community.
Oakland Hispanic/Latino Community Facts:
We recognize and honor that there is no one word to refer to the diverse Latino/Latina/Latinx/Hispanic/Indigenous community. We are using “Hispanic/Latino” to be as inclusive as possible.
- The Oakland Hispanic/Latino community is the largest ethnic group in Oakland, representing 29% of Oakland’s total population, per the 2023, US Census Bureau Quick Report on Oakland. The Hispanic/Latino community is only exceeded by the White population of 30%. When combined with Oakland Native American residents, the population exceeds 31%. After the Hispanic/Latino/Native American community, African Americans follow at 21.1%, and Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders at 15.9%.
- The Hispanic/Latino registered voter population as of the November 2024 General Election is 38,872, of which 22,247 voted.
- Hispanics are much younger than other ethno-racial groups. Demographic processes, even with the arrival of new immigrants or out migration, are rather predictable. The city should expect its Hispanic population to continue growing, comprising the majority in many areas of the city.
- Oakland Unified School District contains 82 schools and 34,149 students. The district’s minority enrollment is 90%, of which 46% are Hispanic/Latino children. African American comprise 20.4%, followed by Asian at 11.2% and whites at 10.8%. A large share of Hispanic/Latino children (42%) do not go to their neighborhood school, but rather to charter schools or special programs.
- Around half of Hispanics in the City were foreign-born in 2006, and the number has decreased to around 40 percent. Almost half were not US citizens in 2006, while that number decreased to around one third. This means that in contrast to what media reports might highlight regarding the inflow of immigrants into the City of Oakland, most of the Hispanic residents are either US born citizens or naturalized US citizens.
- The City of Oakland has a substantial number of Hispanic/Latino owned businesses that provide employment, sales and business tax revenue to Oakland, and sales and property taxes to the County of Alameda. According to current City of Oakland Business License Data, there are close to 3,000 Hispanic/Latino/Indigenous businesses that have filed business licenses. Most Hispanic/Latino businesses are clustered in the following industry sectors: construction, general retail, food/ restaurants, real estate firms, and various consulting and business support services.
- The 2023 Census Data (American Community Survey) shows that Hispanic/Latino residents are the largest consumer group, 1% higher than White Oakland residents and that 28% of the local consumer market of Oakland is Foreign-Born residents, of which 47% are from Latin America. The Hispanic/Latino population lives throughout the city of Oakland, with large concentrations of families in Districts 5 and 7 and a sizable population in District 6.
