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#Liberate23rdAve

January 2018 Update: 
​WE DID IT Y'ALL!!!
​WE GOT THE BUILDING!!!
With the support of our communities, we secured our building with Oakland Community Land Trust!

We're so happy to be staying in our building on 23rd Ave and grateful for YOUR support! We hope you can come celebrate with us on Sunday, January 28th from 3-5pm @ EastSide Arts Alliance
​(2277 International Blvd., Oakland)
www.youcaring.com/liberate

A long-time, low-rent community building in East Oakland could become a giant playground for big tech--or stay an affordable, people of color-led social justice center, with your help! 

Our landlord is selling the building and unless we raise $75,000 by May 1st to help buy it, the vibrant, tight-knit community members and community resources who share our historic building at 23rd and International could be displaced.

Our mixed-use building contains:
* a community bike shop (The Bikery, part of Cycles of Change)
* a Queer & Trans People Of Color collectively-run house and community garden (SOL - Sustaining Ourselves Locally)
* a martial arts and self-defense studio (Shaolin Life)
* a people of color-led maker/hacker space (LOL - Liberating Ourselves Locally)


and is home to a diverse group of low-income people of color who want to stay in their homes! 

Together with community allies and the Oakland Community Land Trust, we have the rare opportunity to buy the building and build a dream of long-term affordable housing and community space.

We intend to make an offer on the building by May 1st. 

HELP US STAY, HELP US THRIVE! 
Help us stay! By donating, you’ll directly contribute to the fight against gentrification in Oakland. Our building is along a corridor directly slated for gentrification over the next few years, and if it gets sold to a developer we’ll almost certainly face unaffordable rent increases and possibly evictions.  


Help us thrive! 

All of the groups in the building are small community organizations dedicated to serving our community. As we devote time and energy to fighting displacement, we’re also working to:

* keep our bike shop open for more hours each week
* expand our summer garden internship programs, and 
* increase the number of intergenerational community safety workshops we can offer to queer and trans people of color in the neighborhood. 

By donating, you’ll also be contributing to make sure that Cycles of Change/the Bikery, Sol, and LOL can continue to thrive in this time of transition.


www.youcaring.com/liberate

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www.youcaring.com/liberate
​

Frequently Asked Questions

What is this building all about

The 23rd Ave Community Building is home to many low-income people of color, mostly queer and trans people of color, who want to stay here! 

It’s also home base for a bunch of groups serving communities of color:

* Cycles of Change’s Bikery is a community bike shop that trains youth of color in the neighborhood on safe bike riding and bike repair, gets them out into nature, and gives them opportunities to earn and build their own bikes!

* Oakland SOL is a queer and trans people of color food justice co-op. They run a community garden program that teaches critical organic gardening skills and political education to our neighbors.

* Liberating Ourselves Locally is a queer and trans people of color -centered maker space for social justice. Sewing, 3D printing, tech coding,...--they give tools and training to our community, all by donation. 

* Peacock Rebellion is a queer and trans people of color arts and healing institute. Their Brouhaha program trains trans people of color to use comedy to heal from violence.

* Shaolin Life is a martial arts studio primarily serving our neighborhood’s communities of color

​

Are donations tax-deductible?

Yes! This campaign is sponsored by Cycles of Change, a 501c3 nonprofit, and donation receipts are sent weekly to donors from fundraising@cyclesofchange.org, so keep an eye out for that receipt so you can claim your donations when you file taxes for 2017!

How will the money be spent?
​

On a beach house in Tahiti. 

Just kidding! 


Buying a building together as a community has so many components: Building inspections, assessments, consulting fees and staff time for the lead organizers doing this work are part of the necessary due diligence and sustainability work--including the sustainability of the low-income queer and trans organizers of color working hard to put all this together. 

Whether your donation goes toward ensuring our building can survive an earthquake or survive pouring rain, it all works toward the cause of protecting this space for future QTPOC generations. 

​

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