Teachers Rooted in Oakland

Teachers Rooted in Oakland is an innovative, scalable project that addresses the intersection of multiple major crises: housing unaffordability, recruitment and retention of teachers of color, educational inequity, and chronic stress for educators working with vulnerable children. Founded by Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, Teachers Rooted in Oakland is a unique collaboration between local government, the public education system, landlords and philanthropists. Participants are teacher residents and teachers of color who are committed to a career teaching STEM and Special Education in Oakland Unified School District. They choose between subsidized beautiful housing in Oakland or additional stipends, receive free financial advising services and small interest-free loans, and commit to multiple years of teaching in the district, ensuring that more than 50,000 of Oakland’s most underserved students learn from fully credentialed and qualified teachers of color who are able to live in the community. This unique cross-sector collaboration is providing immediate relief to enable in-demand teachers to overcome the obstacles that would otherwise push them out of the community and out of teaching.

“Studies show that when low-income students, students of color have an entire teaching staff that does not share their life experiences, it harms their educational achievement. And the high cost of living in Oakland and the Bay Area makes it difficult to attract and retain teachers, especially teachers from low-income backgrounds and teachers of color.  In comes Lisa and LSPFF to invest in a multifaceted, innovative idea to keep Oakland teachers rooted in Oakland, by subsidizing a living community for the teacher residents that are willing to be trained as experts in our hardest-to-hire areas like STEM and special education. And to allow them to not have to do a side hustle or drive Lyfts, so they can just focus on building their craft and serving their students. And then to continue supporting them for the next five years as long as they stay living and rooted in the community where they are teaching, through a combination of housing assistance, guaranteed income, and community. I am hair-on-fire passionate about what we can prove and what we can scale in other communities to deliver equitable educational excellence.”

—Mayor Libby Schaaf

“When I was choosing where I wanted to teach, I could’ve chosen anywhere else, but this pilot really made it economically feasible for me to teach in Oakland. Up until this point, I’ve never had an apartment like this before, and to not have that financial burden—to not have to worry about how I’m going to pay for rent, and to have my own space—it’s really given me the opportunity to spend more time planning lessons, to spend more time building rapport with students, attending office hours, things like that.”

—Malik Stead, Student Teacher, Roosevelt Middle School