City of Oakland Releases 2024 Disparity Study
The City Administrator’s Office recently released Oakland’s Disparity Study, prepared by the consulting firm Mason Tillman Associates. After being held by the City Attorney’s Office for over 20 months and at the urging of my Councilmember Carroll Fife, the City of Oakland officially released its 2024 Disparity Study two weeks ago, on January 22, 2026.
READ STUDY HERE
* Findings: The study identified significant areas where participation by minority- and women-owned businesses was lower than expected compared to their availability in the marketplace— even worse than the previous report.
* Risk Areas: Class Action lawsuits, significant state/federal legal violations, and potential DOJ investigations—likely as our city is a federal target. All leading to state and federal funding risks that will only add to the city’s financial burdens.
* Purpose: The report aims to strengthen fairness and transparency in city contracting and provide data-driven evidence to remedy systemic disparities in public contracts.
Although not great news to share this Black History Month, Dr. Ramsey delivered her powerful report during a Life Enrichment Committee meeting February 10–item placed on the upcoming February 17 regular council meeting agenda. Her report uncovered some alarming conclusions and trends (see below). But a few community leaders who delivered comments that evening, including me, were still perplexed about why the city asked Dr Ramsey to remove her set of recommendations from the final report and why there’s been a lack of urgency to remediate these problems. However, she did highlight a few key recommendations during her presentation that evening.
The city began commissioning these required disparity studies in 2008. Historically, it seems that pressure from civic and community organizations is required to get the final reports released to the public, including the recent report. Why?
Since the baseline report was first established in 2018, there’s been no improvement in outcomes. The city’s results have actually gotten worse over the years, according to Dr. Ramsey’s findings.
Here’s what else is fascinating. Since the release of the most recent report, we haven’t seen major media report the findings or any of our most progressive, “equity-centered”, local news outlets pick up the story—despite the city’s terrible record on targeted economic/workforce development improvement via its minority and women-awarded contracts. Where’s our enforcement watchdog?
The fact that after four of these disparity reports have been commissioned, we’ve seen no improvement. Actually, the situation has gotten worse. With a City Administrator, City Attorney, City Auditor, and four Councilmembers who are Black, the time is NOW to make these changes and advance progress! Mayor Barbara Lee also has an incredible opportunity to course correct under an item in her 10-Point Plan for the City— a forensic audit, to narrowly focus on systems assessment and improvement to the contract/procurement/finance city functions.