Sowing Equity: Mandela Marketplace Takes Root in West Oakland, CA

West Oakland is an extraordinary community. It sits at once as a remnant of the disinvestment in African American communities that happened throughout the United States, with the accompanying poverty and collapse of institutions and infrastructure, and as a thriving hub of cultural, economic, and social innovation and creativity. It is adjacent to a massive goods distribution hub of the Oakland Port, creating one of the worst air quality areas in California, even as it is at the frontlines of gentrification as an ideal location for development - the first BART stop coming out of San Francisco to the East Bay. 

Having worked in the West Oakland community on various projects for years, StoryCenter knew of Mandela Marketplace, but not much of its history or the scope of its programs. In selecting organizations for Sowing Justice initiative on stories about food justice, we wanted to focus on organizations with deep ties to place and people, but who were also working in the context of the dynamic changes facing all urban communities. None could be more rooted that Mandela Marketplace. Joe Lambert sat down with Mariela Cedeño, the Director of Social Enterprise and Microfinance for Mandela Marketplace, and employee-owners James Bell and Adrionna Fike of Mandela Marketplace to learn more about their efforts.

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Joe Lambert: How did Mandela Marketplace come into being?

Mariela Cedeño: In the 90's there was a discerned effort to figure out why communities, like West Oakland, were having specific elevated health issues – with assumptions food access, nutrition education, diet were correlated to ill health. So researches would come through, do these surveys and say, "Hey, you’re sick. You don't have access to healthy food." Community would be really bothered because they were like, "Obviously we know that. We live that every day."

Our current Executive Director, Dana Harvey, was working for an San Francisco-based environmental justice organization, the Environmental Justice Institute (EJI). The cooperative extension of UC Davis was specifically interested in the food access issue. They partnered with EJI to develop a survey that was both more culturally relevant and involved the community in a deeper way.

After the more thorough findings, there was a group of residents that asked, "Okay. This is more thorough information, but we're still talking about the problem. What are possible solutions?" This led to a planning grant to do some thinking with residents, some local agencies and other Community Based Organizations (CBO). This effort became the foundation of our work now. Our core question was, “How do we increase access to healthy food in our community, but do it in a way that also builds local economy?" The local economy almost being the stronger piece, because folks felt that at the root of many of these issues was poverty and disinvestment.

Several initiatives came out of a year-long planning process. First, the community wanted to launch from a farmers’ market as a way to activate the community around food. The goal was to have an anchoring space, a community owned grocery store. Folks recognized that there had been grocery stores come into West Oakland, but they left within maybe two or three years. Either because it wasn’t the right community for them, they weren't making enough money, they were having issues with "shrinkage," AKA theft, or other factors.    

They also wanted to increase access to healthy food where people were already going every day., which in West Oakland is liquor stores or corner stores. There is one of these stores for every 1500 people in Oakland generally and 1 for every 300 people in West Oakland.

Community members also saw that minority under-resourced farmers were a sister community that were facing similar issues. If we're going to build local economy here, how we have that benefit the local economy in more rural areas. That became the foundation of Mandela Marketplace.

Of course, despite the planning with all these community members and organizations, we quickly realized that nobody at the table had money. If we wanted it to be a democratically community-owned store we needed to build a the cooperative model. But the folks at the table who were the candidates for owners were essentially low income. They didn't have strong resource networks, collateral, etc,; . which was not very appealing for the traditional commercial banks.

We ended up incorporating the nonprofit Mandela Marketplace at the same time that the Mandela Foods Cooperative was incorporated as a for-profit grocery store. We wanted to use money that was being granted to program efforts, and find a way to funnel it into these income generating projects. About two-thirds of the money it took to launch the cooperative came from grants, both related to health and food access, as well as economic development and revitalization. It came from all levels: the city, the county, the state and federal government. From the USDA, to a bunch of different sources and about 1/3 of it came from a traditional small business loan from debt capital. That effort became the model of our business incubation efforts.

Joe: So what are some of the other incubation efforts?

Mariela: In addition to the the Mandela Food Cooperative, we now have Zella's Soulful Kitchen, a café that operates inside the co-op, as well as Mandela Foods Distribution – a wholesale produce distribution center.

We also work in project called Healthy Retail – working with current businesses to incentivize them to be healthier retailers. It works as a phased project that starts with a very simple post-delivery to the corner store, and then it evolves into more one-on-one technical assistance to get them to start shifting the dynamics of the store. Healthy Retail also includes a number of community produce stands at health centers, senior centers, schools and low income housing.

Working with a partner called Farm Link, we developed a financial support product called Harvest-to-Market specifically for farmers. They take out small loans, repay them in produce, and we turn the produce into dollars to repay the loan. More recently we became the first intermediary to receive a Fresh Works Fund loan from the state of California. This is a $300 million fund to incentivize businesses that bring healthy food to communities. We are now in the process of underwriting borrowers, in the beginning of next year we will be dispersing those funds.

Finally we have a program called FreshCreds, which is a SNAP-match incentive (California food stamps support program). The catalyst for this was Highland Hospital, a local county hospital. Their practitioners knew that many of the issues that people come in for were diet or consumption related. We wrote a grant with them such that anyone who receives SNAP benefits gets a 35% bonus every time that they're spending their money specifically on fresh fruits and vegetables, canned fruits and vegetables, or frozen fresh fruits and vegetables that don't have additives. So if you buy $10 of fresh fruits and vegetables you get another $3.50.

Historically, the Market Match programs took place at farmers markets, which don’t tend to be in low income communities on bi-weekly or bi-monthly basis. Ours is different because it is retail based, so that the match can be redeemed at our corner store partners, at Mandela Foods, and our produce stands.

Because of the partnership with Highland, a lot of the participants are actually Highland clients, and another 3 or 4 clinics that we're working with. And we are doing it through an app. Not only do we have an app that helps retailers figure out how to do the math, we're also able to look at the data on the backend and the practitioners are able to pull up the accounts of their patients and say, "Hey, great, you've been spending money on fruits and vegetables. Here are the kinds of fruits and vegetables you should be getting." Or, "Hey, you haven't actually really used and it could really benefit you."

They get to advocate healthy choices, and with the SNAP-based program people have some money they can actually go out and spend. We have encouraged folks to one, feel like they are part of the cooperative and two, get that extra money to be able to shop for fresh fruits and vegetables and the things that the coop owners want to inject into the community.

Joe: You work inside the Mandela Gateway development, a mixed use complex of apartments and storefronts. How do those residents and businesses interrelate?

Mariela: I believe there are 217 residential apartments on top, and on bottom is retail and Mandela Marketplace, Mandela Foods Distribution, and Mandela Foods Cooperative take up most of that retail space. We’ve tried to, as much possible, connect with the program manager of the apartment community to really make sure the residents know what’s available to them.

Joe: How does the Mandela Food Cooperative store operate? How did you find folks to become the owner-employees?

Mariela: The store opened in 2009. For about a year before that, residents who were interested in being owners had been training. About 25 started , but here were eight folks who graduated from the training, six which opened the co-op.

After the first six founders, you start off as an employee. You work there for six months to a year, as your limit as an employee. After six months you have a check-in with the worker/owners to first, figure out if you’re still interested in being worker/owner then if you're a good fit, they assess what things you have to work on to really solidified your role as a worker/owner. It tends to be an additional 3 to 6 month trial period. After that you matriculate into worker/ownership should both parties be into it. There’s a $2500 buy-in, which nobody wants to be prohibitive, so the way it works is usually is that $20 at a time is taken out of each paycheck once you become a worker/owner until you have fulfilled your buy-in. It works essentially a savings account, if they move on they have money that they invested in the business returned.

The way that we worked with the co-op at the beginning was really being the driving entrepreneur with the residents for planning, finding resources, and the nuts and bolts getting a business started - incorporation, of licensing, getting the infrastructure and inventory, and of course, doing it with the residents so there was a shared learning experience in the process. After this initial role, we have become less and less the resource and entrepreneurial lead to be more of a technical systems provider and matching the worker/owners with their own networks of whatever they might need. On a day-to-day basis the partnership - we have weekly meetings where we talk about everything, whatever’s in need - but they are fully driving that business.

When they first opened there were around $500,000 in revenue a year. Now this year they are about to close out at $1 million. They are a strong, viable business with a successful track record and demonstrates this effort as a national model.

Joe: Ariana, first and foremost, you work at a cooperative workplace. Why was this important to you, and what have you learned?

Adrionna Fike: This place is wonderful. I wanted to be a part of a cooperative. But cooperativism and being cooperative is a very hard thing to do on a daily basis, minute by minute, hour by hour. We always try to have the group in mind when making decisions. It's not about me, It's not about what I want, even if my intentions or my best interests are there, it's still about thinking about the health and the well being and the strength of the community, our cooperative worker community and the community that we're serving.

Joe: What makes a good day at this place?

Adrionna: A good day at Mandela Foods Cooperative is when people are happy, when people come in and say, "I just want to sit here and rest and put my bags down. I don't want to buy anything, I just want to sit down for a second, I'm glad I can come here and do that. I love that nobody's watching me shop but you offer help when I ask. Thank you for fulfilling my special order, I really appreciate that.”

Also a great day is when it's payday, when the workers and the owners are happy.

Joe: What keeps this place strong?

Adriana: We're a very faith-based group of individuals who all have diverse and strong feelings around faith and our potential as community builders and as servants to the community. Sometimes we pray together over chaotic things that happen. The rest of the day goes on smoothly just because we put our spiritual energies together.

It's wonderful to do the work that I love and to do what I want to be doing and that that work also serves a need, an actual need for people who need healthy, fresh food. It's a miracle that we all come to work everyday. Mandela Marketplace, Mandela Foods, Mandela Foods Distribution, all these organizations and companies and cooperatives coming together to build a food system to really take care of what we need to be taking care of as a community, people's access to food.

Joe: How has the place evolved?

Adrionna: We have a vision that is all encompassing that we have to attend to everyday. Our mission is evolving. Once one part of the mission is solved the other part opens up and we're into a whole other set of responsibilities and goals and pursuits and potential opportunities for just more giving, healing, proving access, more strength to build the community. We are constantly rethinking what we are doing. When we talk about local, how local are we talking about? Recently we've been talking about local is the people who live upstairs in affordable housing. Local isn't 30 miles away, 15 miles away, five miles away, local is upstairs. It's feet away, it's yards away.

At the same time working with and developing all the other aspects of our business and concepts of local, working with local producers, local makers, local distribution. We're just trying to deepen our footprint and deepen just our heartbeat and bring more people into cooperative membership and the cooperative fold and understanding what cooperativism is, developing an understanding how we can be more cooperative with one another. That's really the main thing.

Our store is called Mandela Foods Cooperative, so we need to be in the spirit of those three words. When we think about it, the Mandela piece is really about peace and reconciliation. Solving our problems and loving one another and loving ourselves, caring for ourselves. Then the foods piece, focusing on the quality of our food. And finally the cooperative piece, cooperation, focusing on being cooperative. That's as a human act, one of the most human acts that we have to develop is our ability to be cooperative.

Joe: What is the role of listening in creating a successful cooperative?

Adrionna: I've learned that listening is the key because when I'm listening it gives space for other people to be heard. I found that to be so important with this group in particular. We're a small group here of worker-owners and we all need space to talk and to be heard. A lot of the time I'm feeling proactive, so I have a tendency to speak up for myself and speak up on behalf of others; but I've found over the past few years that listening is more important. People have been more thankful to me for listening than for the ideas that I have, that I bring, that I talk about. In listening to myself I decided to listen more and listen better.

We don't know what might come out of someone's mouth. We don't know what giving space for other people to speak will become. The blessing, the miracle that may happen. The grace that can flow or the story that someone has been dying to tell will be told. I've learned that humility is my best teacher.

I've come to understand more about humility and introspection over the years through different ways. I've had the opportunity to speak at a San Francisco State Community Organizing class and the subject and focused on humility, it's about cultural humility, critical self-reflection, life-long learning, institutional accountability. This very principled way of thinking about humility, so learning that as an intellectual pursuit, but that intellectual pursuit being a matter of the heart.

Learning to think with my heart is probably the most valuable asset that I bring to this organization and the cooperative is listening with my heart. Learning to think before I speak, and a lot of time being caught in that thought or meditation long enough to let it go. Let that big idea go, just let it play itself out and see how it comes back in the physical at a later date or in other ways. Or it manifests through different forms, whether that be receiving someone's help in that way. It's like, oh my gosh, I was just thinking about that and look who just showed up. That happens a lot.

Joe: James, why was being involved in Mandela Food Cooperative important to you?

James Bell: I'm a third generation West Oaklander. When I got involved it was still Mandela Marketplace, the non-profit, the Food Cooperative had not started. My uncle at one point was doing one of the education seminars on behalf of the organization. He told me that it might be something that I would be interested in and maybe I could help to make a difference in the future here just by being involved.

I used any extra time I had from the job that I was working at that time. After a while becoming educated about food deserts and then connecting the dots to a lot of the major issues that we have in urban neighborhoods I just thought that it was my job to stay in and make sure that West Oakland gets a store here. I would think about my grandparents and how they have been here forever and a day and seen 7th Street when it was vibrant and seen everything diminish and go away. I just thought it would be pretty cool for me to be just one of the hands in helping to restore some of that vibrancy here.

In my opinion, West Oakland just needs people like myself and others to be conscious about the history. They need to continuously try to put that at the forefront of their efforts, and make sure that that's not forgotten. To make sure that it doesn't go away.

The type of people that live here is a large spectrum. This change is a sort of a touchy topic for some, but I don't see too much of a big deal myself with new people moving in. It's a free world, people should be able to move to whatever area they want to. Now if it's at the stake of other people losing their homes then that's the issue. I'm not mad at the new people coming in, I'm mad at the process. The process is what needs to be fixed.

Joe: How has West Oakland changed?

James:    When I grew up and was living in the area here it was mainly African American people around here. But as I got older, I learned that even before that there was a host of Caucasian and Asian people here. History just continues to repeat itself and it's a 360 degree cycle of recurrence. That’s why how we shape that new coming is what's very important.

I think it's an injustice any time you have a group of people that purposely just want to wipe away the history that happened in the particular area. It should always be preserved. Once upon a time there was a vibrant jazz corridor up and down 7th Street, there was food available everywhere, people would mix and mingle walking up and down the street. It was basically a 7th Street love affair.

Rather than to focus on the type of individuals that are coming here, to focus on bringing that feel back, that joyful feeling to where everybody does belong because the world is here for everybody, not just for one particular type of person either way you want to look at it. I welcome the change.

A wise man once told me that the only thing that's ever going to be continuous is change. So it's the way that we embrace change, the way that we continue to bring ourselves into the new millennium as far as change makers, is what's important in my opinion.

Joe: Mariela, what do you think are prospects for this effort?       

Mariela: I think from a program perspectives, the sky’s the limit. You are constrained by the market to some extent and by making sure that your business is viable.

The struggle is that we can’t do things fast enough, to some extent. In an ideal world we would have all these commercial spaces. We could put in a local entrepreneur in every single one of these spaces. We as a nonprofit have the capacity to support them. Not just have a workshop, but really be with them for 5 to 10 years, whatever it takes for them to feel confident that it’s something that they can hold on their own. Convincing the people who are in charge of community development investment is very different.

Joe: Speaking of which, West Oakland is a ground zero for the gentrification pressures of the current San Francisco Bay Area technology boom. How can this project help to address the issues related to this pressure?

Mariela: I don’t have a clear answer for that, except to say the economic development effort is rooted in the traditional residents. That is who we want to be owning these businesses. We see that as a tool to guarantee that they are able to stay in their community, even if changes. We want to work with the community to build an economy that benefits traditional residents, so that they are able to stay in the community that they built.