BAY Peace is an Oakland, California-based left-of-center anti-military community organizing group fiscally sponsored by Social Good Fund with a focus on youth.

The group’s main point of advocacy is opposition to what it calls “militarization.” It opposes military and military-inspired activities ranging from military recruitment to the use of ex-military equipment by police, which it claims disproportionately targets youth of color. ¹

The group supports removing police officers from schools.

Background

BAY Peace was founded in 2007 to oppose military recruitment, which it claimed targeted youth of color and launched a “truth in recruiting” campaign to discourage young people from joining the military. ²

The group has since broadened its focus to other issues such as policing, opposition to deportations, and other issues. The group campaigns against what it views as structural violence and institutional racism as interconnected forms of militarism. ³

Issue Stances

Anti-Military Campaigns

BAY Peace features a workshop called “Drop The MIC” which attacks the military-industrial complex and militarization, claiming it hurts low-income youth of color. The group also has a “truth in recruitment” campaign to discourage young people from joining the armed forces. ⁴

The group claimed the U.S. government prioritizes the military at the expense of youth, learning, and the health of what it calls “historically marginalized communities.” ⁵

Police Criticism

BAY Peace offers a workshop claiming police brutality is a systemic issue. The group also offers a workshop criticizing what it calls the school-to-prison pipeline which it claims hyper-criminalizes low-income youth of color. ⁶

The group supported the Black Organizing Project’s push to remove police from Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) schools in 2020. ⁷

The group offered safety plans for OUSD schools without policing. The group also teaches alternatives to policing and supports alternatives to incarceration such as increased mental health services and more permissive laws. ⁸

Feminism

BAY Peace offers a workshop to combat “patriarchy” inspired by the far-left, pro-abortion reproductive justice framework. ⁹

Immigration

BAY Peace offers a workshop about the “societal struggle of Muslim peoples and Arabs” and connects it to the struggle against “othering individuals different from us.” The group also offers a workshop criticizing border security. ¹⁰

Demilitarization

BAY Peace works with the American Friends Service Committee to advocate banning of militarized equipment. ¹¹

Work With Other Groups

Radical Conference

BAY Peace organized a conference for left-wing youth community organizing groups in the Bay Area. Among the 14 groups that sent members were Causa Justa Just Cause, Chinese Progressive Association, Arab Resource and Organizing Center, All of Us or None, and the Young Women’s Freedom Center. The conference responded to an “angry wave of white nationalism” and other issues. ¹²

The conference tied the issues of structural violence to white supremacy, war, capitalism, and policing and featured workshops on combating incarceration and supporting open borders. ¹³

Building A Youth Justice Movement

In September 2017, BAY Peace announced that it was working to build a broader youth movement with Californians for Safety and Justice, Californians for Justice, Urban Peace Movement, 67 Suenos, Youth Together, Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice, Black Organizing Project, and YO! California. ¹⁴

Leadership

BAY Peace’s director is Leilani Salvador who previously directed arts-based groups before becoming director. ¹⁵

Sponsors and Donors

According to BAY Peace’s 2023 Annual Report, the group’s partners and sponsors included Institute for Citizens and Scholars, the Rose and Sherle Wagner Foundation, the Akonadi Foundation, City of Oakland Cultural Affairs, San Francisco Foundation, Northern California Youth Power Fund, Stupski Foundation, Oakland Department of Violence Prevention, Oakland Youth Advisory Board, and OUSD Department of Equity. ¹⁶

The group is a fiscally sponsored project of the Social Good Fund. ¹⁷

1. “About Us.” BAY Peace. Accessed March 18, 2024. http://www.baypeace.org/about-us.html.
2. “About Us.” BAY Peace. Accessed March 18, 2024. http://www.baypeace.org/about-us.html.
3. “About Us.” BAY Peace. Accessed March 18, 2024. http://www.baypeace.org/about-us.html.
4. “Community Offerings.” BAY Peace. Accessed March 18, 2024. http://www.baypeace.org/community-offerings.html.
5.  Mease, Lindley. “‘how to Uplift Our People?’” blueheart, June 1, 2019. https://www.blueheartaction.org/single-post/2019/06/01/-how-to-uplift-our-people.
6. “Community Offerings.” BAY Peace. Accessed March 18, 2024. http://www.baypeace.org/community-offerings.html.
7. McBride, Ashley. “For Youth Activists Looking to Get Involved, Five Oakland Organizations.” The Oaklandside, June 26, 2020. https://oaklandside.org/2020/06/26/for-youth-activists-looking-to-get-involved-five-oakland-organizations/.
8. “About Us.” BAY Peace. Accessed March 18, 2024. http://www.baypeace.org/about-us.html.
9. “Community Offerings.” BAY Peace. Accessed March 18, 2024. http://www.baypeace.org/community-offerings.html.
10. “Community Offerings.” BAY Peace. Accessed March 18, 2024. http://www.baypeace.org/community-offerings.html.
11. “About Us.” BAY Peace. Accessed March 18, 2024. http://www.baypeace.org/about-us.html.
12.  King, Hunter. “Building Urban Youth Power.” Causa Justa Just Cause, July 25, 2018. https://cjjc.org/mediapress/building-urban-youth-power/.
13. King, Hunter. “Building Urban Youth Power.” Causa Justa Just Cause, July 25, 2018. https://cjjc.org/mediapress/building-urban-youth-power/.
14. “September Spotlight: Urban Peace Movement and Bay-Peace.” Akonadi Foundation. Accessed March 18, 2024. https://akonadi.org/september-spotlight-urban-peace-movement-and-bay-peace/.
15. “Our Team.” BAY Peace. Accessed March 18, 2024. http://www.baypeace.org/our-team.html.
16. “About Us.” BAY Peace. Accessed March 18, 2024. http://www.baypeace.org/about-us.html.
17. “Current Projects.” Social Good Fund. Accessed March 18, 2024. https://www.socialgoodfund.org/fiscal-sponsorship/current-projects/.