Golas: Community responsibility doesn’t stop at city limits

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... Thirty volunteers in bright blue vests cleared 4,000 pounds of dumping from a treasured creek in San Jose. Those numbers tell the story of Urban Compassion Project’s first cleanup in San Jose, but they don’t capture what made the experience so meaningful toward bringing UCP’s community-driven movement beyond Oakland and across the entire Bay Area. What stood out to me was the welcoming spirit of Mayor Matt Mahan, the Coyote Mudlarks and the San Jose Conservation Corps , and the willingness of our volunteers to show up for a city they didn’t call home. We rigged ropes down a steep and muddy ravine to reach the water and haul shopping carts, car jacks and refrigerators from Coyote Creek. The cleanup reinforced that communities may be separated by city boundaries, but the challenges we face, and our responsibility to address them, are shared. And this is a microcosm of what UCP is all about: people coming together to create meaningful, positive change in their communities, even when the world around us can feel increasingly bleak and overwhelming. Founded in 2021 to address illegal dumping and environmental neglect, UCP is an independent, community-led nonprofit dedicated to restoring public places and supporting vulnerable populations across the Bay Area.  Since 2025, UCP has removed more than 1.75 million pounds of waste from Bay Area communities, supported by a growing network of more than 5,000 volunteers. But our work has been more than just removing trash, and too often, discussions about homelessness and illegal dumping are treated as one and the same. Our latest initiative, Compassion Threads, is a free clothing store in downtown Oakland that turns excess inventory into meaningful community impact. Rather than allowing clothing and accessories to end up in landfills or on the very streets we work to clean, we put these items directly into the hands of people who need them most, including many of the individuals impacted by the dumping. Since August, Compassion Threads has served 841 individuals, distributed 5,011 free clothing and accessory items and diverted 3,281 pounds of clothing and accessories from landfills. In addition, our partnership with Bay Area Community Services and Family Bridges connects these very individuals with caseworkers who can help them access housing, employment and healthcare services. It serves as a perfect example that we can address environmental conditions and advocate for clean, safe public spaces while recognizing the larger economic and social circumstances that contribute to instability. Compassion and accountability are not competing values. Both are necessary and essential to addressing challenges impacting our communities. And that responsibility cannot rest on nonprofits and volunteers alone. As challenges such as illegal dumping, homelessness and economic inequality grow more complex, we must collectively empower ourselves to respond. Businesses, civic leaders, philanthropic organizations, residents and local governments all have a role to play. Those with resources have an opportunity to invest. Those with influence can help bring attention to overlooked challenges. And those willing to serve can turn concern into meaningful action. Removing 4,000 pounds of waste in three hours is a significant accomplishment. But we must also ask what happens after the volunteers leave. Lasting progress requires consistent engagement, sustained resources and a shared commitment to addressing the underlying issues that lead to neglected public spaces. My experience in San Jose left me encouraged, not simply because of what we accomplished, but because of the community spirit I witnessed. We’ve spent years in Oakland developing a model that goes beyond removing trash to supporting vulnerable residents, connecting people to services and revitalizing neglected neighborhoods. I see no reason why we can’t bring that same approach to San Jose and other cities nationwide, working alongside the people and organizations already doing important work there. The challenges facing our communities do not stop at city limits. Neither should our compassion, our advocacy or our commitment to finding solutions. Supriya Golas is executive director of Urban Compassion Project , an Oakland-based nonprofit mobilizing volunteers, restoring neglected public spaces and providing essential resources to vulnerable communities throughout the Bay Area.