OakCLT Mourns Loss of Board Member Ellen Wyrick-Parkinson

The board of directors and staff of the Oakland Community Land Trust mourn the loss of long-serving board member, Ellen Wyrick-Parkinson. Ms. Ellen passed away in early December at the age of 94. She originally joined the OakCLT board as an appointee of the West Oakland Project Area Committee (WOPAC), an advisory body to Oakland’s former redevelopment agency. When WOPAC disbanded as a result of Governor Jerry Brown’s official dissolution of state -sponsored redevelopment in California in 2011, Ms. Ellen stayed on as an OakCLT board member, committed to representing the interests of her long-time home, West Oakland.

Ms. Ellen remained an incisive, sharp, and witty representative to the OakCLT board. Her many years of civic engagement and neighborhood activism in Oakland were unparalleled amidst the City’s recent rapidly changing demographics. She will be sorely missed.