Millions of dollars are pouring into former Black Panther Party Chairwoman Elaine Brown’s nonprofit for her apartment building and commercial hub under construction on 7th Street in West Oakland.
The Black Lives Matter Foundation hosted a bubby-fueled birthday celebration for the 81-year-old revolutionary on Tuesday. The organization was one of several there that announced they are giving big contributions to Brown’s Oakland & The World Enterprises.
Lateefah Simon, the BART board director who’s running for U.S. Congress, emceed the soirée at Oakstop. Oakland politicos and cultural figures took turns showering Brown with praise and throwing funds at her development project.
“Out of nowhere last year, the Black Lives Matter Foundation called me and said, ‘We want to help you,’” Brown said in a speech. “I said, ‘Is this a joke?’”
For a decade, Brown has been working with national developer McCormack Baron Salazar to build a 79-unit affordable housing development. Apartments will be rented to tenants making 30% of the area median income or under—considered extremely low-income. The nonprofit BOSS will provide social services to residents. On the ground floors, Brown is planning a commercial center that will possibly include a restaurant, gym, urban farm, and shops and offices, all primarily employing people who were formerly incarcerated.
The project is located on formerly vacant land on 7th Street. After Brown reached a deal with the city for the site in 2014, it took many more years to get off the ground. She’s complained that it hasn’t been easy to shore up funding for the project. A $43 million award from the state in 2022 allowed construction to begin.
Now, the apartments are poised to start leasing but the businesses below them need more support, Brown said.
Dollars were not in short supply Tuesday. The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation donated $1 million and is leading a campaign to raise more for Oakland & The World.
“This investment is deeply personal for me,” said BLM board member Cicley Gay in a speech. She said she and her children experienced homelessness in the past. “Access to housing is not just a matter of providing a roof over someone’s head, it’s a fundamental building block for a prosperous society. To own land and property as a Black person is a revolutionary act,” she said.
Outgoing U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee also announced a federal grant of over $1 million for Brown’s organization. In a recorded video played Tuesday, Lee said Brown’s project will “transform the Lower Bottoms neighborhood of West Oakland.”
“The businesses established in the community will not only meet the needs of local residents and provide jobs, but also improve the overall business climate and neighborhood infrastructure,” she said.
Earlier Tuesday, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors approved a proposal by Supervisor Keith Carson to provide yet another $1 million for building out the businesses at Brown’s building, which is named The Black Panther. The funds come from leftover property tax revenue.
Carson’s support of Brown received scrutiny in the past. In 2017, the county civil grand jury criticized Carson for an alleged conflict of interest when he lined up over $800,000 in grants to Oakland & the World Enterprises while Brown was a salaried staff member of his office. County officials disagreed with the grand jury, writing in a response that they saw no conflict or “failure of good governance practices” because the goals of Brown’s organization—poverty alleviation and providing opportunities for the formerly incarcerated—were ones that advanced public welfare. The county also pointed out that Brown wasn’t paid with any of the grant funds.
The Black Lives Matter Foundation has also generated controversy around how it spends the tens of millions it’s raised in recent years, but several claims of misconduct have been discredited.
On Tuesday, other private foundations announced gifts to Brown, including $100,000 from the San Francisco Foundation and $200,000 from LISC Bay Area.
“Affordable housing often has a hard time activating the ground floor, and it’s an afterthought,” said Sasha Werblin from LISC. “It will never be an afterthought for [Brown].”
Elaine Brown was Black Panther chair, singer, candidate for office
Speakers at the Tuesday event said they were donating to promote self-determination for Black Oakland residents. The concept was at the core of the Black Panther Party’s platform when it launched in 1966—a community supporting itself, and oppressed people drawing power from within.
In the 1970s, Brown became the only woman to chair the party. She also helped organize its seminal free breakfast program and legal aid services and later founded its Liberation School program.
“You have taught us we cannot wait for the government to satisfy the deep needs of our community,” Simon told her Tuesday.
In her own remarks, Brown put it a bit more colorfully. “I’m sick of these bureaucrats,” she said in a speech filled with witty remarks. “My new mantra is: I hope AI replaces your ass!”
Several current and former officials dropped by at various points in the night, including City Councilmember Treva Reid, former Councilmember Loren Taylor, and District Attorney Pamela Price. Brown herself ran for City Council in the early 1970s and for the Green Party’s nomination for U.S. President in the 2000s.
Brown’s legacy is also destined for the big screen. Singer Alicia Keys has been tapped to play Brown in the movie of her memoir, “A Taste of Power.” Keys also recorded a video played at the party. Brown herself is a singer who recorded two political albums while in the Black Panther Party.
“Resurrecting” a thriving Black 7th Street
Brown is just one of several people and groups trying to usher in a new era of prosperity for 7th Street.
The corridor was once known as Harlem of the West, where jazz and blues legends played at popping nightclubs. Thousands of Black residents moved to West Oakland for jobs during WWII, establishing a lively residential and business district.
But then came one infrastructure project after another—the construction of BART, the West Oakland post office, and freeways—often in the name of “urban renewal.” The government and developers tore down hundreds of homes and businesses, upending the neighborhood.
“They put 980 right through the heart of our community,” said Pastor Michael Wallace of Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church. “We’re going to make sure that we resurrect 7th Street.”
A coalition of organizations called 7th Street Thrives, led by LISC, has an extensive plan to support businesses and beautify the corridor. The East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative recently bought the renowned Esther’s Orbit Room property, planning a new performance venue and housing there.
Brown on Tuesday brought several people up on stage who she plans to have run businesses at The Black Panther. They included technology workers, a fitness trainer, urban farmers with Acta Non Verba, and a restaurateur. Several had experience with incarceration in the past. Misty Cross, an original Moms 4 Housing activist, will work as the property manager for the residences.
“The people will have housing, they will have jobs, they will have wellness,” Brown said.
“My favorite business is the tech center, because it’s where Black people will be able to be on the front lines,” said Shalomyah Bowers, board member of the BLM Foundation.
In a speech, he praised Brown for “investing in a blueprint for revitalizing and building Black communities,” calling her a “living legend.”
“She’s never kept the same strategy for liberation. It’s why she is now a real estate developer,” he said, drawing chuckles from the crowd.
“Here in Oakland y’all look after one another,” said Bowers, who used to live in Oakland. “Oaklanders are tough. Y’all face setback after setback…but y’all are also artistic and joyful, resilient and resistant—you know how to transfer darkness into light.”
