Restore Oakland

Since time immemorial, art has been a way of life and a form of resistance for marginalized communities throughout the world. Impacted communities have used art as a platform to disrupt colonization, racism, heteropatriarchy, and dehumanization. There is power in the ability to create beauty out of trauma, clarity out of dysfunction, and resilience out of poverty. Art tells the story of our struggle and brings us closer to liberation. Restore Oakland sees this power and seeks to bring in local artists and community members to create murals at our center, based in resistance and radical love.

A joint initiative between Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and Restaurant Opportunities Centers United (ROC United), Restore Oakland is a community advocacy and training center that will empower Bay Area community members to transform our economic and justice systems and make a safe and secure future possible for themselves and for their families.

We are establishing Restore Oakland—a community advocacy and training center where community members will dream, organize and act together for real community safety and self-determination.

Many people in Oakland have been shut out of job and career opportunities due to prior involvement with the criminal justice system along with decades of unjust economic and criminal justice policies. This is a pattern repeated in working-class communities and communities of color all across the country. By empowering our communities to hold local institutions and decision makers accountable to our collective needs and vision for the future, we can strengthen Oakland to make sure everyone belongs and thrives.