7th Street THRIVES: Creating an Inclusive Economic Action Plan
As a studio, our work is situated in an unusual (and never dull!) intersection of design, city planning, placemaking, economic development, and entrepreneurship. The projects we get most excited about have all of these elements, so when we were introduced to the LISC and East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative’s (EBPREC) 7th Street THRIVES project, I knew this would be a project well aligned with our goal for 2023 to do purposeful work.
Recently, EBPREC purchased Esther’s Orbit Room, a former blues and jazz establishment on 7th Street in West Oakland. It’s their first commercial property purchase and they are transforming the space into a community resource. As a part of this endeavor, EBPREC also partnered with LISC to generate an inclusive economic strategy for the corridor to reactivate the corridor and make 7th Street fertile ground for incubating and fostering Black and Brown businessses.
To support this effort, we were brought in to help write their Inclusive Economic Strategy Report. This included a review of the dozen plus prior reports for the area, generating graphics such as street sections and mapping, and to project manage the report creation and feedback process. Being able to work on this project was a welcomed return to my city planning training. Prior to embarking on my entrepreneurial journey, I did my masters in city planning with a focus on urban design and economic development (most of my research was on public and pseudo public space).. While I use many of the tools I learned at UC Berkeley, I was often frustrated with the top down approach to city planning and exclusive nature of the field— my perspective is that having experienced and lived in a place, you are an expert, even if you don’t use planning jargon ( far too often planning is siloed). The 7th Street THRIVES project was well aligned with my personal perspective; stakeholders with lived experience were given as much credence as economists and planners. Overall, the group invited to weigh in and guide the direction of the project came from a wider sector than in typical planning processes— including entrepreneurs, community leaders and organizers, residents, developers, and more.
The report is almost complete and soon we will move into the implementation phase to begin short term activations and lay the groundwork from mid and long term strategies. We’re so excited to embark on this next phase and help develop the structures to ensure this vital corridor is stewarded and available to Black and Brown communities for years to come.