WHO WE ARE
OUR MISSION
Black Solutions Lab develops public safety research, policy and campaign strategy with and for Black communities and the Black-led organizations that serve them.
OUR VISION
We envision a future where Black communities lead in shaping what safety looks like in Oakland and the city puts its money behind that vision.
WHY WE EXIST
REAL PROBLEMS NEED REAL SOLUTIONS.
Black Oaklanders want to be safe.
The organizations closest to the problem are best situated to help develop the answers.
We provide research, policy and strategy to help close that gap.
Safety is a basic need, and Black communities in Oakland have been clear about what it takes to meet that need: crisis services that show up when people call, mental health support that's actually available, and investment in the neighborhoods where harm is concentrated.
The gap between what communities need and what the city provides is wide. Oakland's investments have not kept pace with the range of public safety challenges residents face. Services like crisis response, violence prevention, and youth programs compete for a shrinking share of resources.
Oakland's Black-led community organizations see the problems that our city faces every day. They serve families, respond to crises, and hold neighborhoods together.
What they often lack is time. The daily work of running programs and serving people doesn't leave room to decipher city budgets, research new policy ideas, draft policy proposals, or build sustained campaigns. That capacity gap means potential solutions remain undeveloped when they should be shaping citywide decisions.
Black Solutions Lab partners with those organizations to translate their knowledge into concrete ideas and action. We talk to residents, research strategies used in other cities, develop policy frameworks that make sense for Oakland, and plan campaigns that shift how Oakland invests in public safety.
Our Guiding Beliefs
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Black Oaklanders know their neighborhoods, their challenges, and their priorities. Our job is to listen carefully, conduct research, engage in dialogue with residents, and help turn what we learn into policy that can move forward.
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Research that nobody reads doesn't help. Policy that doesn't reflect real conditions doesn't help. Organizing that doesn’t meet people where they are at isn’t productive. Our goal is to build everything with a practical purpose. We want our work to generate material change for Black communities in Oakland.
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We find ways to use our skills to support our partners’ fights. Whether it is research, data collection, or strategy, our goal is to both support and collaborate with Black-led CBOs across the city from the smallest and most informal to the largest and well-funded.
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People hold complex, deeply-rooted, and sometimes contradictory views about public safety. We meet that honestly instead of avoiding it.
MEET OUR TEAM
James Burch
FOUNDER & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
James started the Lab following a decade of work creating and leading both local and state public safety campaigns and initiatives. That work has helped move public safety policy at both the city and state level, from policing standards to community-based alternatives.
Minali Aggarwal
RESEARCH DIRECTOR
Minali Aggarwal is the research director for the Black Solutions Lab and a Ph.D. candidate in Black Studies and Political Science at Yale University. She previously worked as a data scientist for five years, and her research and writing has appeared in Nature Human Behavior, Politics & Gender, Inquest, and Jacobin. She is also the co-founder of two research centers: The Work And Us and the Center for Applied Research on Democracy (CARD).