BLACK CULTURAL ZONE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION

The mission of the Black Cultural Zone CDC is to unapologetically center Black arts, culture and economics as we collectively design, resource, transform and build collective power for our communities.

The purpose of the Black Cultural Zone Community Development Corporation, a California nonprofit corporation founded in 2019, is to "innovate, incubate, inform and elevate community driven projects that allow our people and culture to "THRIVE".

• Innovate: to make changes in something established, especially by introducing new methods, ideas, or products
• Incubate: to maintain at optimal environmental conditions for growth and development.
• Inform: to communicate knowledge
• Elevate: to lift something up, to promote, or to boost

We work on behalf of and with the Black Community with a focus on current and legacy East Oakland residents, businesses, entrepreneurs, organizations and artists. Our work, however, is of benefit to the larger Oakland community particularly those most at risk of displacement here in Oakland. The barrier we face is the rising cost of living amidst stagnant or declining community wealth for legacy and current community members. The barriers to wealth building are tied to disproportionate levels of high unemployment, high underemployment, low business ownership and limited economic opportunity. This suppression reflects decades of public/private disinvestment and other systemic and institutional barriers.