Movement Incubator
Our Work
Restore Oakland serves as a movement incubator where residents can come together to vision, experience and build strategies for solidarity, restorative economics, and healing justice in their neighborhood.
Permanently rooted in Fruitvale, we are grounded in vibrant social movements led by formerly incarcerated, low-income communities and communities of color who are empowered to heal together, practice collective governance, and build political power.
Our Approach
Healing Justice – Restore Oakland weaves community members and groups together to address community violence and systemic oppression. We bring healing to the table where every sector of the movement is discussed.
Restorative Economics – We center the leadership of small businesses of color by providing accessible capital and creating spaces for political education and civic engagement.
Community Resource Hub – We offer physical meeting spaces where community members can gather to be their full selves and deepen relationships.
Weaving Community
Healing Justice
According to Cara Page, one of the architects of the healing justice framework, healing justice addresses the layers of trauma and violence our communities have been living with for generations and asks us to bring collective practices of transformation into our work. Healing Justice means we all deserve to heal on our terms as we confront oppressive systems that get in our way. Restore Oakland works to make community organizing nourishing and sustainable by weaving community groups together to address community violence and systemic oppression and bring healing to the table where every sector of the movement is discussed.
Healing Justice Circles
In order to ensure safety in our streets, neighbors need to have the necessary skills to de-escalate violence, plan for safety, resolve conflicts, and navigate consent. We convene regular community circles for residents to learn from each other and build shared interdependence.
We hold circle-keeping and conflict mediation trainings for residents and grassroots organizations to practice skill-building to build up the muscle memory we all need to prevent and address harm and conflicts.
Shared Prosperity
Restorative Economics
Restorative Economics is a visionary framework developed by Nwamaka Agbo, a Restorative Economics Practitioner and Board member of Restore Oakland. Restorative Economics centers the leadership of communities that have been marginalized and oppressed by a polluting and extractive economy, by investing in community-owned and community-governed projects that bring residents together to create shared prosperity and self-determination and in turn build collective political power.
Knowing
REAL Peoples Fund
Restore Oakland is at the forefront of advancing this framework as a founding member of The REAL People’s Fund, a community-governed capital fund investing in the East Bay’s Black and Brown neighborhoods. We democratically co-govern this $10 million dollar loan fund alongside six grassroots organizations, including Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) Oakland, Asian Pacific Environmental Network, Communities for a Better Environment, Oakland Rising Action, and Restaurant Opportunities Centers of the Bay (ROC the Bay).
By modeling an equitable governance structure, we resource local entrepreneurs and residents in the Fruitvale who have historically been exploited by economic policies and environmental degradation, to create a more regenerative sustainable economy. When residents are able to collectively own, govern, and manage our assets, we are able to build political power, prosperity, and create long term systems transformation.
Fostering Collaboration
Community Space and Resource Hub
We are turning the tides on gentrification in the Bay Area, by creating permanent spaces where community members can gather to be their full selves and deepen relationships.
Our center was designed by Designing Justice + Designing Spaces