Welcome, Omni Commons!!

We're incredibly excited to welcome 4799 Shattuck Ave - known as Omni Commons - into the family. The building, built in 1934 as the Ligure Club, and later housing the Oakland Scavenger Association (one of the Bay Area’s first worker-owned and operated co-operatives) became the radical community organizing space known as Omni Commons in the wake of the Occupy Movement in 2014. Learn more about the history of the building here.

Over the last three years, the building faced severe financial difficulties exacerbated by the pandemic and we have watched the historic space teeter on the edge of foreclosure. When this unique cultural space that has been home to so many movements over the last decade was to be auctioned off to the highest bidder, we knew we had to step in. EB PREC moved swiftly along with our nonprofit affiliate, the Collective Action and Land Liberation Institute (CALLI), to finance the acquisition of the embattled building making it the seventh liberated property in our cooperative network.

Omni Commons is the exact kind of property we aim to keep in the hands of our community—a neighborhood asset that North Oaklanders want to see succeed. By removing Omni Commons from the speculative market, we’re keeping our organizing ecosystems alive and protecting cultural spaces where artists, activists, and culture-bearers build upon and preserve Oakland's legacy. We're aware that many BIPOC individuals and organizations have had difficulty thriving, or even experienced discrimination or otherwise have been made to feel unwelcome at Omni Commons. Now that the building is under new, BIPOC-led management, we are committed to transforming the space into one that welcomes our community and empowers us to thrive. Please reach out toinfo@thecalli.org if you have been impacted and want to help create a thriving culture at the property. We look forward to partnering with CALLI to co-steward the space, foster a more inclusive environment, and develop a roadmap for revitalizing and activating the 22,000 sq. ft space.

Organizing Around 7th Street

Last month, EB PREC and LISC Bay Area hosted our monthly NEST (Neighborhood Enhancement Services Team) meeting at the Barn with 7th St. merchants and representatives from the City of Oakland. We discussed strategies for decreasing commercial vacancies, attracting long term funding, enhancing the corridor's character, and building a pathway to long term support from our local government.

NEST meetings provide a critical space for 7th Street's commercial operators to learn about and advocate for the public services needed to thrive on the corridor. 7th Street's NEST meetings also provide space for more strategic conversations, like building economic development models, fleshing out technical assistance modules, and forming an official 7th Street Business Association. In the mean time, we are also prioritizing steady progress like ensuring streetlights are working and trash cans are functional and emptied on a regular basis.

7th Street merchants are energized and activated by their ability to sit face-to-face with City representatives to access and shape the resources we deserve. Hosting the NEST meeting at the Barn, as part of our process for activating 7th Street, demonstrates how community-owned real estate is a necessary ingredient for accelerating community control. EB PREC is excited to continue supporting this community-driven process for the creation of a cultural and commercial district that our community can take pride in.

By the way, if you're interested in supporting our organizing efforts on 7th Street, we're hiring for a 7th Street Corridor Manager (description below). Please let your network know!

NEST meetings take place every fourth Tuesday of the month. Email swerblin@lisc.org to RSVP for the next one.

Welcome hiroko!

Join us in welcoming our newest teammate and Administrative Associate: hiroko kurihara!** hiroko is an urban fabric worker who’s been cultivating neighborhood change projects for over 30 years with communities on Ohlone Land (Oakland). As an artist, eco-preneur, and activist hiroko has founded several organizations and for-benefit enterprises, including an award-winning blanket company and sewing collective.

More recently, at Reflex Design Collective, hiroko helped bring authentic community voices and accountability to transit projects in the Bay Area. hiroko believes that community ownership and rematriating land can transition us out of late stage, racialized capitalism. She’s passionate about culture growing/keeping and bringing creativity to every aspect of life!

hiroko will support our team’s daily responsibilities with a variety of financial administrative tasks, streamlining our operations, and creating some much-needed capacity within our cooperative. Welcome to the team hiroko!

Ojan speaks on Re-imagining Real Estate

Our Finance Director, Ojan Mobedshahi, was a panelist for UC Berkeley's Othering and Belonging Institute's "Reimagining Urban Planning" series. This panel explored alternatives to our understanding of land, and our relationship to land use.

From the event's description: "It can be assumed that the planning profession trains urban planners to facilitate the transaction of land, through mechanisms such as zoning, land use, real estate, and community development. Yet we have to ask ourselves: who benefits from these transactions versus who do these transactions impact the most, and at what cost?

If you missed the panel, you're in luck! Click the thumbnail above or button below to watch the video and let us know what you think!

| WATCH WEBINAR

Join Our Community Engagement Team!

Passionate about housing justice? Curious about being part of a worker-run organization? We're looking for new staff members to help us transform the housing system in the East Bay & beyond. Please help us spread the word by sharing these jobs with anyone in your network who you think is a good fit.**

• Cooperative Education & Engagement Manager: An integral position helping cooperative owners and community members shift their mindset and heartset in relationship to collective real estate ownership, cooperative living, and co-stewarding land. This role will be responsible for bringing new members into EB PREC and supporting members with cooperative resources, facilitation, and education.
• Cultural Space & Facilities Steward: will steward EB PREC's new co-working space, the Barn, which involves opening and closing, receiving guests, trash pick-up, and basic facilities maintenance.
• Esther's Culture & Community Manager: is responsible for booking, events, programming, space making, and community building for the full Esther's Orbit Room Cultural Complex, and will co-manage the Barn alongside the Facilities Steward.
• 7th Street Thrives Corridor Manager : answers to the 7th Street Thrives team and will work to reactivate the historic 7th Street commercial corridor in West Oakland. Responsible for supporting the 13 block project, event activation, merchant organizing, and developing the 7th Street identity and merchant's alliance.

All positions are full time (30 hours/week) with benefits unless otherwise noted. **Full job descriptions, including compensation and benefits, are linked at the button below. If you're interested in these roles or know a great candidate, reach out or share these listings!

VIEW JOB OPENINGS