A Place, A Vision, A Collaborative
The Brotherhood of Elders Network remains deeply committed to a long-term vision: a thriving, multi-generational Deep East Oakland where Black residents can stay, return, heal, prosper, and build power. At the center of this work is our role within the 40x40 Council, a collaborative effort with Black Cultural Zone, East Oakland Youth Development Center, and Roots Community Health to reverse decades of disinvestment in the 40x40 area of Deep East Oakland.
The 40x40 is the flatlands of Deep East Oakland from Seminary to the San Leandro border, and MacArthur to the Bay. It is the heart of Oakland’s Black Community, home to the largest remaining Black population in the city (30,000 residents). It has the largest concentration of Black legacy residents and Black businesses in Northern California. Together, we are addressing systemic inequities and reversing decades of disinvestment through community-driven solutions to create a future where Black people thrive in the neighborhoods they helped to build.
40x40 Council serves as the neighborhood backbone for the Rise East Plan which we steward in partnership with Oakland Thrives as a model for Black community transformation that can influence cities across the country. Rise East is a 10‐year plan shaped with input from more than 400 current and legacy residents and community stakeholders. With a historic $100 million secured for this effort, it is a down payment toward building intergenerational wealth, health, and wellness for every Black family, youth, and community member in Deep East Oakland.
As we move into the next phase of this work, our 2026 priorities within the 40x40 focus on two interconnected areas: Power Building and Learn & Grow.
Power Building in Deep East Oakland
As part of the 40x40 Council, the Brotherhood is stewarding power-building efforts that center community leadership, shared decision-making, and collective action. Power building means shifting resources and autonomy to the people most impacted and creating opportunities for residents to shape the culture, policies, and conditions that affect their lives.
In 2025, we launched this work through two 40x40 convenings that brought together residents, community leaders, organizations, and local businesses to connect, share hopes and dreams for the neighborhood, and build skills to flex both individual and collective power. In 2026, we are deepening partnerships and strengthening solidarity across Deep East Oakland as we continue building economic, cultural, political, knowledge, and people power.
Learn & Grow: Investing in Youth and the Future
As neighborhood anchor partners of the Rise East plan, the Brotherhood is also co-stewarding the Learn & Grow pillar alongside East Oakland Youth Development Center. This work centers young people as essential to the future of Deep East Oakland.
Through Learn & Grow, we are strengthening the full ecosystem that supports young people and families in Deep East Oakland, from early childhood through young adulthood. This work expands neighborhood-based early care and education by supporting childcare providers, activating trusted community spaces as early learning hubs, and building a network of culturally rooted early care centers, while also investing in Black educators and parents through shared learning and navigation supports. For older youth, Learn & Grow increases access to opportunity through youth-led exposure to programs across the 40x40, digital tools and storytelling that amplify youth voice, and a youth innovation hub that connects young people to entrepreneurship training, mentorship, apprenticeships, and real-world business experience within their own community.
These efforts will lay the foundation for learning, based directly on what young people told us they need to thrive, expose hundreds of youth to culturally affirming opportunities, and build a youth-centered community of practice rooted in care, possibility, and collective responsibility.
Together, these priorities reflect what the Brotherhood brings to the 40x40 Council: organizing and operations, fundraising, power-building strategy, youth development partnerships, political stewardship, and communications, all in service of a generational effort to restore the 40x40 as a place where Black life can flourish.
