Hello, My name is Jessica Blalock, but I most commonly answer to “Freeway”. My husband, Joel, and I are residents of the Wood Street Commons, and today I am writing to you on behalf of our community. We need your help.

Since 2018, the Wood Street settlement has blossomed as a place of refuge for many of Oakland’s unhoused citizens. The majority of us were displaced when the city conducted sweeps at other encampments. Through one avenue, or another, we found a home on Wood St. The numbers started small, then grew over the last few years. But something else grew as well, our sense of community and belonging.