For media inquiries please contact us here. Select press coverage:
2020 Fire Response
KQED News
Not Everyone Can Escape the Smoke Outside. Here’s How to Support Them
Washington Post
“They source masks in bulk and hand them out two or three at a time to people at encampments around town, or give boxes of masks to other groups working with at-risk populations.”
Boston Public Radio WBUR
Mask Oakland Helps Protect Homeless Communities From Hazardous Air Quality
KQED The Bay Podcast:
The Grassroots Group Helping Oakland Mask Up (Again)
OneZero:
“The fact that these deadly wildfire seasons and the smoke they bring with them recur almost annually has pushed Mask Oakland to see what they do as climate adaptation.”
2020 COVID 19 Response
The New Yorker: “In 2017, as wildfires ravaged Northern California, a collective of primarily disabled queer and trans people, who called themselves Mask Oakland, began giving out N95 masks to the homeless; in March and April, they donated thousands of masks that they had in reserve to local emergency rooms and clinics.”
Oakland Voices: “There may be no other local grassroots organization with more experience in the complexities of procuring and distributing N-95 respirators than Mask Oakland.”
SF Chronicle: Climate Activism, racial justice intersect in Bay Area Protests
“This year, Mask Oakland has given respirators to health care workers who needed them because of the coronavirus pandemic. The group has also provided masks to help protect people protesting George Floyd’s death from the coronavirus.”
Fire Seasons 2017, 2018, 2019
2018: “All efforts pale compared to the East Bay volunteer group Mask Oakland”
– Fast Company
“Born out of the 2017 Northern California Firestorm … Mask Oakland is one of a number of community-led organizations emerging in response to the lack of official action on air quality problems.”
Huffington Post
“Closing windows and staying inside isn’t an option for the thousands of homeless people living in Oakland, Berkeley, San Francisco and other Bay Area cities. They’re stuck outside until the smoke clears.”
SF Chronicle
“People need to breathe. Let’s help people breathe.”
–The Guardian
“How to Help People Affected By California Wildfires… #2. Support Local Groups Like Mask Oakland”
–Teen Vogue