East Oakland Nursery

From Barbed Wire to Beloved Community Space

With direct community involvement from day one, Planting Justice transformed an empty lot barricaded with barbed wire into a beautiful, healing space loved by the community. The original PJ nursery provides economic opportunities for the predominantly Black and Spanish-speaking Sobrante Park neighborhood, a community impacted by systemic oppression and violence. This site is run and staffed by people directly from Sobrante Park, including 12 family members who work alongside their parents and siblings. It serves as a safe, peaceful place for community members, an organizing space for the Black Sobrante Park Healing Council, and a place of prayer and land rematriation for local Native people through the Sogorea Te Land Trust.

Developing a Nature-Based Economy

Plants grown here produce hundreds of pounds of food as well as seeds and propagation materials for thousands of new trees each year. Through this production, the nursery has created jobs for 15 formerly incarcerated staff who came through our reentry program and creates paid opportunities for around 100 youth interns each year. Through our education programs, we engage thousands of youth each year thru field trips, planting the seeds of further work in food sovereignty and community engagement.

People come here and treat this space like a park. A place to get off the concrete, walk through some mulch paths, eat some fruit, learn about plants, be in a supportive environment. It creates a job for many folks from here. It’s the only place like this I’ve ever been to.

- Joe Urias, Director of Horticulture, Planting Justice since 2015