The BLOCK is HOT 🔥
Black Earth Day was a Blowout!
A HUGE shoutout to everyone who attended our 3rd annual Black Earth Day event at Esther's Orbit Room last month! Over 100 volunteers came out to the 7th St. Corridor throughout the day and collected 150 bags of trash across 13 blocks. We capped our cleanup with a block party in the afternoon. Folks were treated to phenomenal DJ sets by Finish Her and The Junior, an indigo dying workshop by Bushmama Africa, and (as always) pizza from Arizmendi!
Thank you to our co-hosts: LISC Bay Area, Kingmakers of Oakland, 7th West, Soul Blends Coffee, the Mandela Grocery Cooperative, and couchdate. Click the button below to check out some photo highlights from the event, courtesy of Reya Photography!
Black Earth Day demonstrates our vision of community co-stewardship and is part of our 7th Street Thrives initiative. Since our last Black Earth Day, we've hired a full-time 7th Street Corridor Manager to support market development, service delivery, merchant and neighborhood organizing, and more as we work to revive West Oakland’s historic Black business corridor.
If you'd like to get involved, you can join the 7th Street Thrives mailing list on the 7th Street Thrives website or email Sabine Dabady, 7th Street Corridor Manager, at 7thStThrives@gmail.com.
Archiving Esther's
On June 2nd, we began demolition of the Esther's Orbit Room interior. We recognize its importance as a West Oakland cultural heirloom, so over the last few months we've created a high-resolution photo and video archive of the legendary blues venue for a super secret future project!
Some of our favorite 7th Street Merchants, Serial Material and West Oakland Matters, came by last month for their own photoshoot at Esther's, pairing the building's historic beauty with their vintage clothing as a way of archiving the bars last moments as it is today. Heres to a beautiful future that honors the legacy and the aesthetics of Esther's Orbit Room! 🚀
You can check out photos from their shoot on instagram here:
Inspired by our movement? Send us your radical creation and you could be featured in our next newsletter! Submit your creation to: info@ebprec.org
Help Create a Safer 7th Street!!
The City of Oakland's Department of Transportation is seeking feedback on its Undercrossing project which aims is to improve the safety, navigation, and beautification of its undercrossings on the border of West Oakland and Downtown.
One of these undercrossings is on the 7th St corridor, under the 980 which leads into the 7th St. Corridor. Please support these improvements by responding to this quick survey with a focus on the 7th St. undercrossing! It only takes 3 and half minutes (we timed it)! TAKE THE SURVEY
Investments are back!
If youve been interested in becoming an Investor Owner in EB PREC, youre in luck! Our Money Circle has been working tirelessly to re-open investment opportunities in our cooperative, which are a critical part of our model and one of the primary ways we source capital for our property acquisitions.
We are excited to share that we have reactivated two investment options:
- CA Cooperative Shares: ALL California residents are able to purchase up to one share for $1,000 in our regular CA offering.
- Reg D: Accredited Investors across the U.S. may purchase an unlimited number of Investor Owner shares for a minimum of $1000.
To celebrate the occasion, we put together an Investor Owner introduction video highlighting how we leverage investment dollars to create impact, as well as the community youll be joining when you invest in EB PREC! Investments have a 5 year minimum term along with a 1.5% targeted annual return. Investor Owners can vote during member meetings and for certain Board seats. You can visit ebprec.org/invest or click the button below to learn more about investing in EB PREC. *BECOME AN INVESTOR OWNER
Aligning and Refining
Last month, EB PRECs Staff Collective came together for our yearly strategic retreat! Our retreats are designed to foster alignment within our cooperative and are an important venue for us to practice power-sharing as a democratic workplace.
With our organization expanding from 8 to 15 people over the last year and a half, it was particularly important for us to revise and integrate newer perspectives into our organizations workplan.A quick recap: We spent the first half of the day strategizing about our partnership with our nonprofit affiliate, the Collective Action and Land Liberation Institute, and creating the beginnings of a shared vision on how wed like to activate the newly acquired, radical organizing hub: Omni Commons. In the afternoon, we dug deep into our cooperatives history and growth trajectory, and why we are focused on stabilizing over the next two years.
As anti-capitalists, we do not subscribe to a model of growth for growths sake. We are prioritizing the longevity of our community and our organization. At the end of the day, we were joined by our Board of Directors for some fun social activities (and possibly the first time all of EB PREC Staff and our Directors have been in the same room)!
We have a lot in the works that were excited to share (teaser: kicking off construction at Esthers and gearing up for our next acquisition) so keep an eye out for future updates! 💥
Welcome Atif!
Our team continues to grow! Join us in welcoming our newest hire, Atif Kamran, who is supporting our Resident Owners as EB PRECs Residential Property Manager!
Born in Bahrain, and raised in Fremont (Ohlone Territory), Atif brings not only years of property management expertise but also a passion for building bridges, inclusivity, and equity amongst all people. From working with congress to non-profits earlier in his career, Atif strives to give back to both local and global communities in offering whatever he can to help. You can find Atif jumping into a local CrossFit workout, hiking in the hills, or randomly baking loaves of bread to share with friends and family.
As Residential Property Manager, Atifs work will allow our cooperative to scale our operations as we bring new real estate projects into our network. Were excited to have him on board!
Listen: East Bay Yesterday
Rounding out todays newsletter, a little treat for your ears! Last month, EB PRECs Executive Director, Noni Session discussed Oakland's past and future in front of a sold out crowd with award-winning journalist Alexis Madrigal, KQEDs host of Forum and author of the new book “The Pacific Circuit: A Globalized Account of the Battle for the Soul of an American City,” and Liam ODonoghue, host of the East Bay Yesterday podcast.
The conversation explored the themes that connect Madrigals book and EB PRECs revitalization projects, the history of West Oaklands role in the global economy, the personal stories of longtime residents, and much more. If you missed the event in person, fear not! Liam has uploaded an audio recording to his website (linked below), and is also available via Apple, SoundCloud, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts.
