Oakland, CA — Oakland City Administrator Sabrina B. Landreth today announced the appointments of the Honorable Brenda F. Harbin-Forte, Alicia John-Baptiste, and Alexis Lozano to serve as the City of Oakland’s Screening Panel for the 2020-21 Redistricting Commission.
In November 2014, the Oakland electorate approved a ballot measure creating an independent Redistricting Commission that will re-draw the boundary lines for City Council Districts and Oakland Unified School Board of Directors districts following the U.S. Census. Per the measure, the three-member panel is appointed by the City Administrator and is responsible for recommending 30 applicants to serve on the 2020-21 Redistricting Commission, which will be established by September 1, 2020.
The panel members will serve one term, which expires when the final district boundary lines are approved and no longer subject to appeal. The panel’s composition is dictated as follows: a retired judge, a representative of a non-profit “good government” organization, and a current law or master of public policy graduate student.
“I am delighted to appoint Judge Harbin-Forte, Ms. John-Baptiste and Ms. Lozano to serve the community in this important venture,” said City Administrator Landreth. “Their collective experience and knowledge of Oakland will be instrumental as they review and recommend applicants to serve on the Redistricting Commission. I commend their commitment to ensuring a fair and politics-free process in the months to come.”
Honorable Brenda F. Harbin-Forte
Retired Judge Brenda F. Harbin-Forte was appointed to the Alameda County (Oakland) Municipal Court in 1992, and became an Alameda County Superior Court judge in 1998. She retired in November 2019, after 27 years on the bench, with experience ranging from civil jury trials, criminal jury trials, the drug court, Presiding Judge of the Juvenile Court, Presiding Judge of the Appellate Division, and full-time settlement judge for civil and family law cases.
Her leadership positions in California’s judiciary include service on the California Judicial Council, and serving as the first African American woman Dean of the B.E. Witkin Judicial College and Chair of the New Judge Education Committee. She is a consultant on various bench books and bench guides for judges, and has planned and taught judicial education courses in California, Nevada, New York, Fiji, Jamaica, and Panama.
Judge Harbin-Forte received her law degree from U.C. Berkeley’s (Boalt Hall) Law School in 1979 and was admitted to the California Bar that same year.
Alicia John-Baptiste
Ms. John-Baptiste is the non-profit representative on the panel and is the president and CEO of SPUR, a San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association. She is responsible for defining the overall vision and strategy for the organization. Alicia served for three years as SPUR's deputy director, overseeing policy and strategic initiatives and running the organization day to day. Prior to joining SPUR, she held senior public administration and public policy roles for the City and County of San Francisco, including chief of staff positions at both the San Francisco Planning Department and the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. Ms. John-Baptiste holds a Master’s degree in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School and a Bachelor of Arts from Duke University.
Alexis Lozano
Ms. Lozano is a graduate student at Mills College pursuing a joint Master’s in Public Policy and Business Administration. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science—Public Service from University of California, Davis. For six years, she has worked at EveryOne Home, a non-profit in Alameda County, coordinating the effort to end homelessness. Before EveryOne Home, she worked with elected officials at the local, state and federal level. Ms. Lozano is committed to enhancing the opportunity for individuals to prosper and for communities to thrive.
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