On the second day of her latest trip to the Bay Area, Vice President Kamala Harris spent time in Oakland to celebrate a new program aimed at breaking the cycle of poverty.
Harris joined local and state leaders Friday to announce the launch of The Generation Fund, Oakland's $50 million commitment to increase access to college in underserved communities.
The announcement was a personal one for the vice president.
"I grew up in this community that told us we could be anything we dreamed of being," Harris said. "I grew up in this community that said dream with ambition."
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Harris also brought a renewed hope and a powerful message about evening the playing field.
"We must pay attention to this issue of equity if we are to expect and allow people to compete on equal footing," Harris said.
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Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf and community partners have already raised the funds that will provide $500 savings accounts for 10,000 low-income babies at birth and $1,000 per year scholarships for 20,000 low-income Oakland public school students enrolled in college or a trade program through 2035.
"The Oakland generation fund is bigger than money and even bigger than education. It's about a vision that every family can hold in their hearts and their minds, confident of their child’s great future," Schaaf said.
The program is an expansion of the work already being done by the nonprofit “Oakland Promise."
Oakland High School senior Natalie Gallegos, the first in her family to go to college, said the extra funds will help ease the financial burden and encourage others to continue their education.
"This is showing us that no low-income family should have to struggle financially on whether or not their kids should go to college," she said.
