Oakland & the World Enterprises
ABOUT
2014
In 2014, Elaine Brown, former Chairman of the Black Panther Party, founded Oakland & the
World Enterprises, Inc. (OAW), a 501(c)(3) California Public Benefit Corporation, in Oakland,
California. To realize its Mission of developing cooperatively-owned businesses, OAW acquired
a license from the City of Oakland to develop a 32,000 square-foot, three-quarter acre City-
owned property in West Oakland, California, on the corner of 7th and Campbell Streets. The
City of Oakland had left that property abandoned and blighted and vacant for over 30 years!
2015
Seventh & Campbell is only a few blocks from the West Oakland BART (Bay Area Rapid
Transit) station—the gateway to San Francisco—and is part of the depressed community of
Lower Bottoms, contiguous to the Campbell Village Public Housing project.
The City license agreement required OAW to build affordable housing as well as its envisioned
businesses. Upon possession of the lot, OAW engaged a number of formerly incarcerated people,
at $20/hour, to clean and clear the property and establish its first business there, an urban farm,
naming it West Oakland Farms—which we would hold onto until we could build.
2019
With support from the Oakland A’s, we were able to employ three formerly-incarcerated people to become worker-owners and launch a second small business, our Soul on a Roll food truck.
2022
Our final project budget of $80 Million was quite a challenge. First, competing with big
developers for City and County affordable housing funding, we were able to secure over
$13 Million. Needing a strong co-developer, we found one in McCormack Baron Salazar, a
St. Louis-based, multi-billion-dollar development company. Together we sought affordable
housing funds from the State and the federal government, and raised the rest—over $60 Million.
We were finally able to break ground and start construction in 2022, and named our complex The
Black Panther.
2024
Construction was completed in June 2024. Our all-electric building has 20,000 square feet of
solar panels on the rooftop, triple pane windows, and a multi-million-dollar vapor mitigation
system under the building. The building has earned the highest GreenPoint rating of Platinum.
2024
The Black Panther is a 100% affordable housing project composed of 79 apartments, including
studios, one and two bedrooms, for people with extremely low incomes, at or below 30% of Area
Median Income. Receiving over 7,000 applications, by December 2024, the building was fully
leased, all apartments furnished with new beds and bedding, dining tables and chairs, living
room sofa beds, plus household supplies. Laundry and all utilities, including Wifi, are free.
LAUNCHING THE COOPERATIVE BUSINESSES in 2025!
In order to launch our cooperative businesses, we had to build our building. We’ve done that! OAW is launching our fitness center and tech businesses on the ground floor of The Black Panther complex in Spring 2025. By Fall, the neighborhood market will open there; and, in Winter, the restaurant. The new, onsite urban farm will be a partner of the neighborhood market.
We need investment in all the businesses to launch and sustain them!
Support Community Self-Determination and Economic Power!
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