Candidate for
School Director; Oakland Unified School District; Trustee Area 3

For more than twenty years, Oakland Unified School District Director Jumoke Hinton Hodge has worked in partnership with Oakland residents, leaders, and organizations to improve education, health and civic engagement in West Oakland and throughout the city. For Jumoke, this has meant helping lead the creation of community programs, building successful coalitions with education and health organizations, and serving in leadership positions while investing in the success of local students and neighbors.

Jumoke was first elected to the Oakland School Board in 2008, where she represents District Three, including diverse neighborhoods in West Oakland, Adams Point, Lake Merritt, Downtown and Uptown, along with the Telegraph and Broadway Corridors from the waterfront to MacArthur Blvd. The District's public schools are located primarily in West Oakland, with one middle school in Adams Point and an alternative high school on Pill Hill off Telegraph.

During her time on the Board, Director Hinton Hodge has helped to develop and guide an ambitious Strategic Plan for the Oakland Unified School District. She is most proud of the inclusion of the African American Male Achievement Initiative whose mission is to end the epidemic failure of black young men in Oakland schools. She created the West Oakland Brain Trust, a partnership between school district employees, faith based entities, community based organizations and small businesses that has assessed and addressed issues in West Oakland's public schools. She has also led the effort to ensure that every Oakland students will receive the high school course worked required by California's four-year colleges.

Jumoke's education activism predates her service on the School Board. Jumoke co-founded and served as the Director of the Parent Leadership and Engagement Academy Initiative (PLEA), a community-building project dedicated to the education and support of West Oakland parents and families. From 2003 to 2005, Jumoke represented District Three on the Oakland Children and Youth Planning and Oversight Committee, providing policy and grant allocation for youth services throughout the city of Oakland. From 1994 to 2000, she served as the Executive Director of the Girls After School Academy where she developed and managed a youth development curriculum including leadership, health, academics, sports, entrepreneurial/economic literacy, gender specific programming, African centered cultural exploration, and the arts.

In addition to her work on the School Board, Jumoke is the Program Director for People's Grocery, a nationally recognized neighborhood organization where she collaborates with local residents to lead community food, health, and justice efforts.

Jumoke holds a BA in Black Studies and English from Oberlin College. She's had the honor of mothering and raising four children in West Oakland.