Growing but grounded
A California Cooperative Tackles Inequality by Reimagining the Future of Housing (spoiler alert...it's us)
Executive Director Noni Session sits down with Inequality.org
This interview with Noni is the third in a series highlighting grassroots organizations working, or seeking to work, outside a reliance on wealthy donors. It originally appeared on inequality.org, and we've highlighted it on our blog this month. More on the blog
The open room is part of a light-filled, beautifully decorated 2-bedroom shared unit. Your housemate will be a special needs educator and masters student, who loves singing and art. No smoking inside. See virtual tour!
Applications due Friday, March 26, 2021.
Coop 789 is a sweet group of folks living cooperatively in a 4 unit building, sharing outdoor space, gardening, and karaoke nights in non-pandemic times. We’re in the process of co-operatizing to buy out the improvements (buildings and landscaping) from NCLT, potentially as co-owners of East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative. Read more details about co-owning and find the application link at the NCLT's current opportunities page.
SEEKING INTENTIONAL COMMUNITY
A member of our extended community is looking for a new home. See her request below. Do you know where might be a good fit? Please reach out to Michelle.
I am a 34-year old queer woman of color (mixed) seeking an intentional community in the Bay Area. I am tenure-track faculty in architecture at the City College of San Francisco and am an artist (currently working with ceramics). Right now I am a part of a cooperative house of 6 people in Berkeley that is going through transition and am seeking a more supportive and better fit for my communal living aspirations and needs. In this message I am outlining my ideals and hoping to call in a conversation with others who might be in alignment.
I have participated in shared living situations my entire adult life, 7 years of which in explicitly cooperative houses. My experience is that stewardship of physical assets supports empowerment, sense of agency, and heightened care. I want to participate in sharing resources such as food purchasing and preparing as well as chores and maintenance of the physical house(s). Apart from private bedrooms, I prefer all spaces to be communal. I believe in the healing power of sharing nourishing food and other resources. I rarely eat out and prefer to prepare food from scratch, but don’t judge others who are different— I really like to share this skill! I am physically handy and capable of gardening and minor household repairs. My ideal community would be inter-generational and majority POC and queer. I intend to begin raising a child as soon as two years from now and want to build a supportive community for us two. I am interested in joining with others for mutually caring for children and/or elders. Direct and compassionate communication is very important to my sense of safety in a home. My ideal community is committed to mutual care for one another and therefore equitable and non-hierarchical in decision-making. A cooperative financial framework supports my values of non-hierarchical decision making. I believe it is necessary for housing to be comfortable and safe for everyone sharing the space.
Thank you for your attention and consideration reading this!
Michelle Nermon
ALAMEDA COUNTY SEEKS FOCUS GROUP PARTICIPANTS
A paid opportunity
EB PREC NEWS
WELCOME NEW EB PREC STAFF
Change is in inevitable. Growth is optional and we're opting to grow. Last year was challenging, we struggled to stay connected to community when the world shut down. We fully expect it will be re-opening soon and to prepare we're bringing on three new staff members. We hope you'll join us in welcoming them!
CJ Manar-Spears, Community Organizer East Oakland
CJ (She/they), aka MadamCJda3rd, was born on Ohlone land and raised by the Johnson family who exist 4 generations deep in East Oakland. They are a Pan-Afrikan womxnist and multimedia artist with a degree in Sociology/Leadership/Cultural Proficiency from SDSU. They were reborn during a year of study abroad in Ghana and travel throughout Africa. While in university, CJ found a passion for filmmaking and social innovation. They co-founded Plugged Productions and Roots Collective GH. Since graduating, CJ has completed a fellowship with the Bay Area Video Coalition, and joined the amazing teams of One Life Healing Institute, The Lavender Collective, Black Voices United, and now the East Bay Permanent Real Estate Co-Operative! As a community organizer on our team, their purpose is to radically heal, and show LOVE.
Miliaku Nwabueze, Community Organizer West Oakland
Miliaku’s current identities are black, queer, femme, Detroit-raised, Igbo, and play-expert. She is currently completing her MFA in Transdisciplinary Design at Parsons at The New School. Her experience with working humans spans across corporate america, non-profits, grassroots organizations, cooperatives, and a multitude of different projects and initiatives. She has familiarity with software design, transition design, finance, pedagogical and curriculum development, and project management. In her work, she has witnessed the potential of relationships to maintain the status quo and to subvert it. In building consciousness around her blackness and queerness, she has developed tools and frameworks she hopes will help us deviate from reformist patterns and enter generative relationships with each other and all earthlings. As a staunch abolitionist, she believes in rethinking everything and incorporates design methodologies into (un)making. Often sitting with creation and destruction as a singular force, Miliaku often provides "out-of-bounds" thinking to push herself and those around her into spaces rooted in liberatory thought and practices.
Amy Huang, Operations Coordinator
Amy brings to EB PREC over eight years of experience in multi-stakeholder communications and project management, from a career spanning landing site selection for the Mars Curiosity rover, technical strategy for Google, and strategic communications for the Bay Area transportation industry. Now activating her rich technical background in the collective struggle against oppression, she is committed to advancing a liberated, equitable, and radically inclusive future. A queer Asian American woman, child of immigrants, and settler, she thrives when catalyzing passionate people to do their best work.
#In Case You Missed It
WEBINAR | NAACP CENTERING AID IN THE SUSTAINABLE BUILDING SECTOR | Noni joined the NAACP and Rheaply CEO Garry Cooper to discuss mutual aid and what it looks like in relation to sustainable building. Click here to catch the replay
WEBINAR | UCLA LUSKIN INSTITUTE FUTURES OF HOUSING | Finance and Development Directors Annie and Ojan joined the Institute on Inequality and Democracy for an in-depth discussion inspired by a recent white paper, "The Case for a Social Housing Development Authority," published by the Urban Democracy Lab at NYU. Watch the replay.
ARTICLE | Smart, values-based banking: a tool to help alleviate Oakland’s housing crisis | Our partners at Beneficial State Bank mentioned our model in this Oaklandside op-ed.
