NorCal Resilience Network is launching a crowdfunder campaign in the coming few days. Stay tuned to donate to our campaign, which will provide direct support to BIPOC-led, on-the-ground resilience projects. Read below to learn about a previous project that we have supported, and will continue to support through the crowd funding campaign.
What do artichokes, plantains, mullein, borage, and olive leaves have in common? They are a few of the plants grown by PLACE for Sustainable Living to create tinctures (concentrated herbal extracts) as a part of their new community apothecary. These plants, along with some others, will provide liver, lung, adrenal, and immunity health benefits to members of the North Oakland Community, where the medicine is distributed.
PLACE launched their Community Apothecary Program with grant money from the NorCal Resilience Network this summer at their North Oakland Resilience Hub. Through this program, they will be able to share medicine and tinctures (grown on site at the PLACE garden) with their community, focusing especially on getting this valuable resource to their unhoused neighbors.
At People Linking Art, Community, and Ecology, otherwise known as PLACE, community members serve the public as an experiential learning center working at the intersection of sustainable living practices, urban homesteading, community resiliency, racial justice, and food and farming.
The funding from the mini-grant also went towards purchasing the materials necessary for bottling their medicines. According to Khadija Khansia, the PLACE Community and Garden Steward, they intend to continue the medicine making project as they secure more funds for the alcohol and bottles for tincturing. In the future, they aim to become a stronger emergency hub in their neighborhood, securing items including a backup generator, emergency crank radio, and a food supply for their neighborhood.
Additionally, as a Resilience Hub engaged with the NorCal Resilience Network, PLACE has collaborated with many other hubs to strengthen community resilience in Oakland. At the beginning of the COVID crisis, PLACE leveraged the network to partner with Essential Food and Medicine (EFAM), who distributed their medicine for free to encampments. They sourced their medicinal plants from Spiral Gardens, another Resilience Hub. This type of collaboration between hubs is growing and is crucial to creating resilience resources in localized community spaces. Through future grants, NorCal Resilience Network hopes to strengthen these collaborations.
Another collaborative project PLACE is working on is monthly food distributions with their partnered organization since 2014, North Oakland Restorative Justice Council. Every three weeks, both organizations–with the help of EFAM–source donations and make deliveries to houseless neighbors, with a capacity of 500 meals and hygiene kits. These have recently expanded to include DIY masks. These organizations have an overall umbrella organization: Oakland Communities United for Justice and Equity. Other groups include Self-Help Hunger Program (Aunti Francis’ Black Panther legacy), Phat Beets Produce and NORJC.
All of this collaboration comes on the cusp of NorCal Resilience Network’s upcoming launch of our crowdfunder campaign to support Resilience Hubs like PLACE. It is imperative to invest in grassroots projects, resilience hubs, and people-powered regenerative solutions, led by and for BIPOC communities, to combat the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, environmental injustices, systemic racism, and other inequities in our community. Please stay tuned to find out how you can donate!
If you are interested in getting involved with PLACE, they regularly post on Facebook and Instagram, and have social distanced events for previous volunteers. To keep up public engagement with their work, they have also launched digital events and workshops via Crowdcast that continue to educate on permaculture and sustainability.
Photos and quotes from PLACE.