Education
Community Education and Outreach Programs:
Teaching adults and children in West Oakland how to eat healthier, cook healthier and live healthier
Our educational goals:
- Promote healthy eating
- Influence people's knowledge and awareness of nutrition concepts
- Teach healthy eating habits
- Develop preferences for healthy food
- Build skills in food selection and meal preparation
- Promote local sources of fresh fruits and vegetables, especially from small farmers and community-based sources
- Use diverse and culturally relevant educational formats to engage youth and adults in hands-on learning
The Community Education and Outreach Program is composed of five "interventions:"
Adult Nutritional Cooking Class
"Eating for Health and Longevity"
Popular free courses for adults focused on the preparation of balanced meals using healthy ingredients.
This course, led by cooking and nutrition instructor Lori Camille, covers:
- Creative cooking activities
- Healthy lifestyles
- Fundamental cooking knowledge
- Healthy ingredient selection
Peer-2-Peer Education Program
Founded by the youth staff of People's Grocery
Because we believe informed young people are the best agents for delivering relevant nutrition education to their peers
This program includes workshops and presentations on:
- Nutrition
- Food preferences
- Healthy eating
These workshops are targeted to elementary, middle and high schools, afterschool programs, church groups and special events.
For more information, please contact Diana Abellera at (510) 652-7607 or email her at diana@peoplesgrocery.org.
People's Grub Parties
Get your grub on!
On the second Saturday of each month, join us in a free West Oakland community celebration with:
- Guest Chef Cooking Demonstrations
- Nutrition Workshops and Games
- Guest Djs and Dancing
- Fresh Produce Giveaways
- Visual Art Exhibitions
- Poetry and Performance Art
Please contact Jeannine Etter at (510) 652-7607 for more information or email her at jeannine@peoplesgrocery.org.
Urban Agriculture
Urban Agriculture
80% of the world's population now lives in cities.
Cities are becoming important places for developing sustainable and locally-rooted food systems for meeting our nutritional needs. Many low-income residents of urban areas, such as West Oakland, do not even have access to sufficient fresh foods. People's Grocery is work to increase grow and produce food through a network of gardens and micro-farms.
Our newest program - AgPark in Sunol
This summer People's Grocery has the opportunity to grow lots of local and organic produce while providing jobs to Oakland youth. A 15 acre farm project is taking off in Sunol (southern Alameda County) called the Agriculture Park. Part working farm and part parkland, the Agriculture Park will provide farm land to People's Grocery and three other groups to grow food for their communities.
People's Grocery will use this project to create jobs for five young people and train them in sustainable agriculture, the food system, healthy eating and nutrition. The food we grow will be distributed to residents in West Oakland who rarely get the chance to eat fresh and locally grown produce. We are looking for financial support to make this opportunity a reality this summer.
Please consider making a contribution towards the launch of our 2 acre farm and help us build a stronger and healthier West Oakland, a more sustainable food system and a better experience and education for youth.
Click here to donate money to this program
Click here to read more about People's Grocery's latest urban farm project in Sunol
Click here to see the pictures of our latest volunteer workday at the urban farm in Sunol
Urban Garden Projects
We run 5 urban gardens in West and North Oakland. We grow a seasonal variety of vegetables using organic gardening techniques to ensure fresh and sustainably grown produce for the community. Our gardens are also hands-on learning labs and venues for gathering and learning together. Many groups of children, youth and adults visit the gardens and participate in workdays and workshops.
55th St Community Garden
A 4,500sf urban garden with fruit trees, shade structures, an elaborate composting program, resident garden plots, and a solar-powered irrigation system. In 2002, People's Grocery partnered with the North Oakland Land Trust to save this property from development and transform it from an abandoned and blighted vacant lot into a thriving community garden complete with 8 framed raised beds for medicinal herbs, perennials, flowers and natives plants and 20 vegetable beds that produce an abundance of seasonal produce.
Y Garden
People's Grocery partners with the M. Robinson Baker YMCA in West Oakland to run a small but incredibly productive garden that presents a diverse set of opportunities for educating children about gardening and nutrition while growing food for the community. This is garden is rich with flowers, herbs, berries and constant rotation of seasonal vegetables grown in garden boxes supplied by the City of Oakland.
Click here to volunteer in one of our gardens
Hoover Garden
People's Grocery has linked up with Hoover Elementary School (across the street from our home base) on a garden for the kids. Equipped with garden beds specially designed for children, the garden at this school site is a safe and fun place for children to learn about gardening and vegetables. Each garden box is colorfully labeled to indicate what plants are being grown. People's Grocery thanks its dedicated volunteers for helping provide the opportunity for children in West Oakland to be out in the garden.
Ralph Bunch Garden & Greenhouse
In 2005 People's Grocery and City Slicker Farms started a garden at Ralph Bunche Middle School. This garden also had a crucial asset: a greenhouse for propagating seeds and starts. The greenhouse is essential in being able to grow a lot more food year round. Youth from the school come out and help in the greenhouse. There is also a compost system to teach students about composting, recycling and soil.
59th Street Spiral Garden
We're proud to announce that we have started work on our newest garden, the 59th Street Spiral Garden, located at 888 59th Street. We are collaborating with Spiral Gardens Community Food Security Project to reconstruct this plot of land back into the beautiful urban garden that it once was. The 59th St. garden has a unique characteristic - a little wild and very fertile - and is a great place to grow food. We are excited about the opportunity to expand our garden space in order to better serve our community.
Click here to read about the 59th Street Spiral Garden in our latest newsletter
Backyard Gardening Assistance
We've linked up with City Slicker Farms to assist West Oakland residents to start their own backyard gardens and increase their ability to produce fresh fruits and vegetables for themselves. Volunteers and staff work together to construct custom-designed gardens complete with growing beds, trellises, soil & compost, seeds & starts.
New Farm Manager
People's Grocery has hired an awesome green to head up our agriculture and gardening work. Jason Uribe has over 20 years of experience in sustainable agriculture and urban gardening. He got his first taste of gardening when living on a ranch in Utah. Prior to his position at People's Grocery, Jason taught garden-based curriculum to science classes at Longfellow Middle School in the Berkeley. He was also the Garden Coordinator for the Berkeley Youth Alternatives from 2000 through 2003, where he was responsible for over 2 acres of land, a 50-member CSA program, a farmers market stand and the training of high school student's in urban gardening. Jason has taught youth, grown food and even led ropes courses. We are super jazzed to have Jason on the team and can't wait to watch his garden grow.
Enterprises
Buy discount goods online at peoplesgrocery.org
We offer periodic specials available online at below-wholesale prices. You can purchase delicious organic foods at a fraction of the price! Keep an eye out for information on our bulk buying program and our discount online sales program.
Our Bulk Buying Program offers organic and natural foods at wholesale prices. Our commitment is to provide quality service and healthy products at affordable rates to our community. Proceeds from the Bulk Buying Program support our programs for community health and education.
About ordering in bulk from People's Grocery:
- Wholesale orders of food products can be made in bulk only.
- The prices for bulk orders are as shown in the wholesale catalog.
- Wholesale offerings generally come in cases or large bags.
- People's Grocery places a bi-weekly order of bulk foods.
- Orders must be placed by 5pm on Mondays.
- Orders must be picked up between 3pm and 7pm on Wednesdays.
- Payment must be made at pickup via cash, check or EBT card.
- A 5% fee is charged for this service that supports People's Grocery.
For more information or to make bulk purchases: Call us at (510) 652-7607. Join our mailing list and get hip to our deal of the week.
Cooperative Grocery Development Program: We are planning to launch a full-service cooperative grocery store featuring a demonstration garden and a cooking school. More information will be posted soon.
