Restore Oakland
About Us
People power
Mission
Based in Oakland’s Fruitvale District, Restore Oakland creates community-centered spaces where those harmed by racial inequities have opportunities to heal and create a shared vision for community safety and economic empowerment without relying on criminalization, punishment, extraction, and exclusion. We bring residents and organizations together to find humanity and healing in each other and cultivate participatory practices that advance freedom and belonging for all.
Belonging
Vision
Restore Oakland envisions a society where all people, including formerly incarcerated, working class, Black, Indigenous, and people of color, have a heart-felt sense of belonging with themselves, their community, and Mother Earth. We want to live in an Oakland that celebrates our inherent interconnectedness, where families feel safe and residents are empowered by a sustainable economy and a thriving cultural community. Together, we are world-building for a brighter, healthier future.
Coming Together
GuidingValues
Connection, trust, and belonging are the foundations of a healthy, thriving neighborhood. At Restore Oakland, we are dedicated to holding sacred space for local residents to be in right relationship with themselves, their community, and Mother Earth to strengthen our movement towards collective liberation. It will take all of us coming together in this way to build a safe and vibrant future.
Our role
MovementWeaver
Restore Oakland is a movement weaving organization. We create spaces where people come together on the basis of some shared need or concern in spite of our different lived experiences to cultivate solidarity. We weave strategic relationships together ensuring that community control and stewardship remains local, and knowledge and solidarity are networked and shared.
We work with local residents and grassroot organizations to cultivate participatory practices and decision-making that moves us toward our goal: a world organized by collective determination, where people get a say in all parts of their lives rather than just facing the coercive non-choice between joining a brutal exploitative workforce or risk being left in the cold. Our deep relational weaving is the foundation for lasting transformation, serving as the building blocks of our political home built on the bedrock of solidarity and healing justice.