Angela Aguilar, an Indigenous Xicana woman wearing sunglasses while working the land in East Oakland amongst tall grasses. Photo by Brooke Anderson.
What We Feed Grows: one of the four principles of the Just Transition framework, and one of the four ingredients of Resilience-Based Organizing. When we put our heart, spirit, and body into a vision of better places for all, we organize ourselves and apply our labor to meet our needs in ways that are rooted in our cultures and histories.
Two brown-skinned folks sitting in a circle up smiling and slapping their hands together. Photo by Brooke Anderson.
Our Summer 2025 Propa Dreamweave experience—a collaboration between Castlemont High School, Civic Design Studio, and other East Oakland youth community organizations to build power using art, creativity, and education towards ecological justice—was designed around this principle. We entered the summer in a somber state after the tragic death of Castlemont High School pillar, Dr. Marvin Boomer. Affectionately called Boomer, he supported the Propa collaboration, allowing us to continue gathering at the Castle. In his honor, we slowed down and pivoted our approach to the Dreamweave. We gently set aside the strategy sessions and deep political education, and instead channeled our energy into feeding the growing projects at Castlemont High.
A young person cutting back a tree with an axe, surrounded by lush ivy. Photo by Brooke Anderson.
Our intergenerational, cross-sector cohort (with ages ranging from 14-80!) spent the week learning about projects at Castlemont, including the development of an outdoor classroom, beautifying a corner on a street adjacent to the school, the endless farm activities, and the design and development of public art by high school youth. And then we applied our labor to support the projects! Our cohort helped build picnic tables, moved compost to the farm, put pollinator plants into the soil, weeded garden beds, and more. In the process, we emphasized the life-affirming work of relationship building, mutual aid, and we asked the question: What do we hold sacred here in East Oakland?
Two brown-skinned femmes posing together and smiling behind a raised garden bed at Castlemont High School in Oakland. Photo by Brooke Anderson.
The cohort wrapped up the week cutting up melon, prepping veggies and meat for grilling, and cooking food for almost 100 people who were working at Castlemont on various projects all summer. While there were many powerful moments during the Dreamweave, the multigenerational learning and care that transpired over the week was inspirational, especially for these times. One of the youth participants shared, “I learned that youth can talk to adults without a problem or without a power difference. But we live in a society that makes us think the youth are below adults.”
Youth working the land with garden tools and wheelbarrows at Castlemont High School in Oakland, with homes on a hill and a blue sky in the background. Photo by Brooke Anderson.
May we continue to cultivate experiences for each other that feed the vision of building economies based on caring and sacredness of relationships to each other and the world upon which we depend.