Share your perspective with Oakland Voices
Oakland Voices publishes perspectives and personal stories from people who live, work, learn, play, or pray in Oakland.
You do not need to be a journalist or a professional writer. If you have lived experience, knowledge, or a point of view that can help Oakland understand an issue differently, we want to hear from you.
Submit a Community Voices proposal
What is Community Voices?
Community Voices is a space for Oakland residents and community-rooted contributors to speak in their own voices.
We welcome perspectives that:
- illuminate an issue affecting Oakland;
- draw on personal or professional experience;
- challenge an incomplete or inaccurate public narrative;
- offer a solution or call people to action;
- respond to something Oakland Voices has published; or
- help readers understand a community, place, or experience more fully.
We especially encourage submissions from people whose experiences and perspectives are often missing from traditional news coverage.
What can I contribute?
Opinion essay
Make a clear argument about an issue relevant to Oakland. Explain what you believe, why it matters, and what you want readers or decision-makers to consider.
Suggested length: 500–700 words.
Personal essay
Tell a first-person story that connects your experience to a larger question, community, or issue in Oakland.
Suggested length: 500–700 words.
Letter to the editor
Respond to an Oakland Voices story, correct a misunderstanding, add relevant information, or contribute a different perspective.
Maximum length: 250 words.
Include the headline and publication date of the story you are responding to.
Story idea
Tell us about an Oakland story, person, event, question, or community concern that deserves attention.
A story suggestion is not the same as an assignment. We cannot pursue every idea, but we may invite you to develop your idea as a Community Voices contribution.
We also occasionally consider photo essays, book excerpts, artwork, audio, video, and other forms of community storytelling.
Before you submit
Community Voices contributions should:
- have a clear connection to Oakland or Oakland communities;
- be original and not previously published;
- be based on your own ideas, experiences, reporting, or expertise;
- distinguish facts from opinions;
- include links to the sources of statistics, studies, public records, and other factual claims;
- identify quotations accurately and never invent or alter them;
- disclose relevant employment, organizational, financial, political, or personal connections; and
- avoid personal attacks, hate speech, harassment, unsupported accusations, and invasions of privacy.
Organizational leaders and advocates may submit commentary, but the author and their connection to the issue must be clearly identified.
We do not publish campaign materials or candidate submissions intended to promote an election campaign.
We ordinarily publish contributors under their real names. In extraordinary circumstances involving safety, immigration status, employment, or another serious risk, we may consider withholding a name or using a pseudonym. Oakland Voices must still know and verify the contributor’s identity, and we will explain the decision to readers.
How to propose a contribution
Start by completing our short Community Voices form.
Submit a Community Voices proposal
We will ask you for:
- your name and contact information;
- your connection to Oakland and the subject;
- the type of contribution you are proposing;
- a brief description of what you want to say and why it matters now;
- whether you already have a draft;
- your anticipated length and timeline;
- any relevant affiliations or conflicts of interest; and
- what editorial assistance you may need.
Please do not spend significant time completing a piece specifically for Oakland Voices before hearing from an editor.
If we are interested in considering the contribution, we will ask you to submit the complete work and any photographs or supporting materials through our submission form.
What happens after I submit?
Oakland Voices has a small staff and receives more requests and ideas than we can pursue. We will review proposals as our capacity allows, but we may not be able to respond to every submission.
Submitting a proposal or draft does not guarantee publication.
If we decide to work with you, an editor may:
- ask questions about your idea, experience, or connection to the subject;
- suggest a focus, format, or length;
- request sources, verification, disclosures, or additional context;
- edit for accuracy, clarity, structure, style, and length; and
- ask you to review substantial changes before publication.
Oakland Voices makes the final decisions about publication, headlines, photographs, presentation, and timing. A piece may be declined or withdrawn from consideration if its factual claims cannot be verified or if it does not meet our editorial standards.
Photographs and other materials
If your proposal is accepted, we may ask for:
- a headshot;
- an original photograph or suggested image;
- the photographer’s full name;
- a caption or captions identifying the people, place, date, and activity shown; and
- confirmation that Oakland Voices has permission to publish the material.
Do not submit photographs or private information without the permission of the people involved.
Artificial intelligence
Your contribution should reflect your own knowledge, reporting, experience, and voice. Do not use artificial intelligence to invent reporting, facts, quotations, sources, people, or experiences.
Tell your editor if you used an AI tool and explain what it helped you do. Limited assistance such as brainstorming, outlining, transcription, or grammar review may be acceptable, but all information must be checked by a person.
Oakland Voices is still developing our full AI policy.
Payment and ownership
Community Voices contributions are generally unpaid unless an Oakland Voices editor offers a paid assignment in writing before the work begins.
Contributors retain the copyright to their original work while granting Oakland Voices permission to edit, publish, distribute, promote, and archive an accepted contribution. Any additional terms will be explained before publication.
Ready to share your perspective?
Tell us what you want Oakland to understand, and why your voice belongs in the conversation.
[Submit a Community Voices proposal]
Need help using the form or requesting an accommodation? Email oaklandvoices@gmail.com with “Community Voices” in the subject line.
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