Ground

LISC Rockefeller Applicant

FOLIO

Ground is an urban platform in Oakland, transforming vacant lots and buildings to activate and restore Black economy, craft, manufacturing, shelter and sustenance.

Ground began as a project by visual artist Binta Ayofemi, working with urban forms and acts of urban imagination. Ground is a series of sites, a constellation of spaces and buildings to be transformed in East, West, and Downtown Oakland. 

Ground has ten year leases and or purchase agreements at each of the sites in East, West and Downtown Oakland; each ready to be built and transformed into Ground’s opportunity fund projects. Ground’s focus in East Oakland is restoring Black sustenance, in West Oakland restoring Black craft and manufacturing, while in downtown restoring Black owned housing, hotels, and hospitality.