Public Bank East Bay

10/16/2026

What If Our Schools Spent Less on Energy and More on Students?

Oakland schools are installing more solar panels to generate clean electricity, reduce energy costs, and make school facilities more resilient. It's the kind of public infrastructure investment that can provide benefits for decades.

A public bank could help more East Bay school districts finance energy improvements through partnerships with local financial institutions.

Lower energy costs = More $ for teachers and students + Cleaner Environment + Local Job Creation

Learn more:https://www.publicbankeastbay.org/priorities-2



(Pictured, a West Oakland elementary school with solar panels and energy upgrades.)

10/15/2026

Melanie is an Oakland special education teacher. But until recently, she and her young son struggled to find a stable place to call home.

Today, she lives in an affordable apartment just a short walk from the school where she teaches.

And it happened because the Oakland Fund purchased an existing apartment building to keep housing affordable for local educators.

“I don’t have to worry about whether I have enough to pay my rent and my groceries and my medical bills and commute costs,” she said. “I am at peace. You can’t put a price on peace.”

When Public Bank East Bay opens, we want to help local lenders finance more projects like this, so the people who make our communities work can afford to live in them.

https://oaklandside.org/2026/04/06/oakland-affordable-teacher-housing-rent-real-estate/

Learn more about PBEB’s lending priorities: https://www.publicbankeastbay.org/priorities-2

Learn more about The Oakland Fund: https://www.oaklandfund.org

Building workforce housing, as Oakland Unified and other districts have tried to do, is time-consuming and costly. What about buying existing buildings?

10/14/2026

Our public money can work for our communities instead of enriching Wall Street banks and their billionaire shareholders.

Every year, millions of our public dollars flow to big banks instead of to community needs. They prioritize shareholder profit over community benefits. But there's a better way.

Public Bank East Bay would keep more of our public money working locally, partnering with community banks and credit unions to help finance:

- Affordable housing so more people can afford to live in the communities they call home.

- Clean energy that lowers costs, strengthens neighborhoods, and builds a more resilient future.

- Small businesses that create jobs, build local wealth, and help our communities thrive.

- Return public bank profits to the community through more loans and easing costs for East Bay cities to fund better schools, roads, and services like fire departments.

We can put our public money to work building the East Bay we want and deserve.

Public funds. Public good. Public benefit.

Watch our new two-minute video to see how public banking works and what's possible when we put our communities first.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R59muDBR5Kw

Learn more: https://www.publicbankeastbay.org/

A short, entertaining introduction to the benefits of public banks ...

10/13/2026

Imagine 124 affordable homes that might never have been built because of a gap in financing.

That's what nearly happened to Foon Lok East in Oakland. Rising construction costs threatened the project until additional public funding helped make it possible.

Today, 124 families and households have access to affordable homes and Foon Lok lives up to its name (Foon Lok means "joyous community" in Cantonese.)

When Public Bank East Bay opens, we want to partner with community lenders to help close financing gaps and bring more affordable housing opportunities to life.

Read the story and watch a very powerful video featuring resident Donna https://www.hcd.ca.gov/about-hcd/newsroom/grand-opening-marks-completion-of-brooklyn-basin-affordable-housing

Learn more about PBEB lending priorities in housing https://www.publicbankeastbay.org/priorities-2

Grand Opening Marks Completion of Brooklyn Basin Affordable Housing (Video) August 1, 2025 August 1, 2025 A new affordable housing complex has opened in Oakland! Foon Lok East, a six-story building, is the fourth and final affordable housing development in Oakland’s new master-planned Brooklyn Bas...

10/12/2026

Your Roof Doesn't Need Solar Panels for You to Benefit.

What if more East Bay families could benefit from solar energy, even if they rent or can't afford rooftop panels?

A new community solar project in East Oakland is designed to provide renewable electricity and a 20% electricity bill discount to about 300 income-qualified households. Created by Ava Community Energy

It's an example of how investing in local clean energy infrastructure can put money back into people's pockets.

Public Bank East Bay could help expand financing for projects like these by partnering with community lenders to invest in clean energy that works for our neighborhoods.

https://localnewsmatters.org/2026/06/09/east-oakland-community-solar-farm/

Learn more: https://www.publicbankeastbay.org/priorities-2

IN THE BACK of a nondescript office park in East Oakland, a gathering of logistics and energy specialists, along with state and local officials, heralded A new community solar farm atop a Prologis warehouse in East Oakland launches as part of a program aimed at lowering energy costs for disadvantage...

10/08/2026

Small businesses help create the neighborhoods we long for and deserve. Vibrant main streets and walkable communities lined with locally owned shops and services. For the people that own them and/or work there, they create jobs and opportunities to build wealth.

A public bank could help more small businesses thrive by partnering with other local lenders to expand access to flexible and affordable capital. This helps small businesses with cash flows, bulk purchases, energy efficient upgrades, and more.

Swipe through to learn why small businesses matter to our communities and how a public bank could help more of them start, grow, and stay in the East Bay.

Visit https://www.publicbankeastbay.org/priorities-2 -business to learn more.

10/06/2026

Cassie Thornton from Oakland Review of Books attends our "Public Funds for Public Good" event in September and writes about her observations against the backdrop of AI-inspired doom loops.

"These people are not working with fear or hype, but they are working on something that could actually really help everyone individually and collectively... This is a very weird way to introduce public banking. But it feels like the further we get pulled into the existential terrain of the soft-handed, the more we enter a void where nothing we can do feels possible or useful. In the face of AI and catastrophic wars and climate change, we are each individually nothing and there is no future. But something about this event made me remember that is simply not true... Enter Debbie Notkin, president of the board of Public Bank East Bay and science fiction author, editor, reviewer, and appreciator. From the back of the room, Debbie surmised that if cities weren’t paying so much interest to big banks, they might not be so desperate for revenue that they would agree to lucrative(ish) investments in things people don’t want, like data centers and ICE detention."

Read the full article
https://www.oaklandreviewofbooks.org/public-hands-lighthaven-berkeley/

A dispatch from the rationalists’ compound in Berkeley, where they're a little touchy about the possibility of AI killing them.

10/02/2026

Our public dollars can work harder for our communities. Especially when facing budget cuts.

Affordable housing. Small businesses. Renewable energy. Stronger local economies.

These aren't impossible goals. They're choices.

Public Bank East Bay is building a community-led movement to keep more public dollars invested locally instead of flowing to Wall Street and corporate profits.
If you're curious about public banking, care about the future of the East Bay, or want to be part of a growing movement for local economic power, join our email list to stay informed about upcoming events, news, and opportunities to get involved.

Together, we can build an economy that invests in people and communities.

Sign up: https://www.publicbankeastbay.org/connect

09/30/2026

A great op-ed in Berkeleyside by Henry Levy, Alameda County Treasurer, in support of establishing the public bank. A wonderful argument for public banks across the country!

"A public bank could give Berkeley greater financial strength and independence. Over time, it could reduce banking costs, expand access to capital and generate resources that can be reinvested in our community... That includes financing affordable housing, green infrastructure and homegrown local small businesses while keeping more capital circulating in our local economy... That matters for taxpayers. Every dollar the city can save or generate through its own financial institution is a dollar that may not have to come from taxpayers."

Read it here: https://www.berkeleyside.org/2026/09/21/opinion-vote-yes-on-measure-z-and-fund-a-public-bank-to-advance-berkeley-values

Funding a public bank could give Berkeley more financial independence and, over time, reduce banking costs and bring reinvestment to our community.

09/28/2026

We’re thrilled to have been joined by more than 20 community members at our “Public Funds for Public Good” event last week at The Way Christian Center

Public Bank East Bay (PBEB) is a community-led organization working to establish the first public bank in the US in over 100 years.

PBEB volunteer Bhairavi Senthilkumar discussed the role public banking can play in building healthy, resilient communities--countering the current extractive system, which siphons public dollars to private profits.

Community members engaged in a thoughtful discussion about the bank's governance structure and lending priorities, with plenty of food to go around.

If you missed this one stay connected:
- Subscribe to our newsletter https://www.publicbankeastbay.org/connect

- PBEB Vision https://www.publicbankeastbay.org/vision-1

- PBEB lending to Small Business, Renewable Energy, Affordable and Workforce Housing https://www.publicbankeastbay.org/priorities-2

- Learn more about PBEB and public banking with this short video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R59muDBR5Kw