Groups get out the word to shop locally ,

Andrew S. Ross    Sunday, March 28, 2010

We’re excited at Oakland Grown to have been highlighted along with Buy Local Berkeley, San Francisco Locally Owned Merchants Alliance, Hometown Peninsula Independent Business Alliance, SFMade and the East Bay Express in this SF Gate article. Jeff Milchen, co-founder of the American Independent Business Alliance, recently brought together an amazing group of folks to discuss how to strengthen the collective power of our groups in the Northern California region.  I’m looking forward to participating in future gatherings. Read more about the who, what and why below.

~tina tamale

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“Everyone there learned a lot from each other,” said Erin Kilmer-Neel, a board member of the Oakland Merchants Leadership Forum, which runs the recently begun Oakland Grown drive. “To find out how others structure their campaigns and solve certain problems was really helpful.”

How real?: The movement has a lot of believers. The independent business alliance, founded in 2001, has 65 affiliates and is working with dozens of other shop-local groups and, more recently, with independent trade organizations. “I think we’re seeing this escalate rapidly,” said the group’s director, Jennifer Rockne.

read more here

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Bank bailouts fuel Move Your Money campaign ,

Oakland Tribune  by Angela Woodall

Even though alternative outlets have benefited from government bailout money and pursued similar interests to the very banks from which they are trying to distance themselves, credit unions and community banks increasingly are hailed as a welcome alternative to the “too big to fail” institutions blamed for risky transactions that put their profits over their customers’ security.

read more here

4th Annual Oakland Indie Awards – It’s nomination time! ,

More info at http://oaklandunwrapped.org/indies/

Please take a few minutes to nominate the Oakland
business or artist(s) that inspired you this year.

Nominations Due by March 24

Click here

Save the date!
Come to the Awards Party May 14

Cheer on the winners as you enjoy food from
over 20 different Oakland restaurants, local beer, wine, tea,
coffee, and chocolate, DJ spinning Oakland music,
cool products from Oakland Unwrapped stores, and more!

Friday, May 14, 2010
5:30 – 9:00pm
Jack London Pavilion
(Formerly Barnes & Noble)
98 Broadway, Oakland

Tickets

Early Bird Tickets
$15 each or 2 for $25

After April 1
$20 each

Buy Tickets here

Getting there:

Bike valet
by East Bay Bicycle Coalition

Parking
Available in Jack London Square

Bus
Accessible by Multiple AC Transit Lines

BART
11 Blocks from 12th St. City Center Station

Ferry
Docks at Jack London

Spread the Word!

Find the Indies on Facebook

Tweet About the Indies

Sponsor the Event!

Help support this inspiring event, and get
exposure in front of Oakland lovers, businesses,
nonprofits, policy makers, bankers, investors, and more!
See our sponsor details and packet here

Volunteer

Opportunities available prior to and day of event!
Contact Andrea Walker for more details.
510.663.2253 x301
awalker@onecalfoundation.org

Support the Oakland community when you shop
Oakland Unwrapped!: Oakland’s Online Marketplace

Thank you to our sponsors!

Move to Amend ,

“We the corporations”

On January 21, 2010, with its ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court ruled that corporations are persons, entitled by the U.S. Constitution to buy elections and run our government. Human beings are people; corporations are legal fictions. The Supreme Court is misguided in principle, and wrong on the law. In a democracy, the people rule.

We Move to Amend.

We, the People of the United States of America, reject the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United, and move to amend our Constitution to:

• Firmly establish that money is not speech, and that human beings, not corporations, are persons entitled to constitutional rights.
• Guarantee the right to vote and to participate, and to have our votes and participation count.
• Protect local communities, their economies, and democracies against illegitimate “preemption” actions by global, national, and state governments.

Signed by 40,395 and counting . . .

To read more and to sign the petition, go here

H&M and Wal-Mart destroy and trash unsold goods ,

Shine by Yahoo Fashion + Beauty by Joanna Douglas

Cynthia Magnus holds up unworn, destroyed clothing she found in the garbage. Photo by Suzanne DeChillo/New York Times

This week the New York Times reported a disheartening story about two of the largest retail chains. You see, instead of taking unsold items to sample sales or donating them to people in need, H&M and Wal-Mart have been throwing them out in giant trash bags. And in the case that someone may stumble on these bags and try to keep or re-sell the items, these companies have gone ahead and slashed up garments, cut off the sleeves of coats, and sliced holes in shoes so they are unwearable.

read more here

Huge thanks to all who gave to the Blogoaksphere Food Drive! ,

ABetterOakland.com by V Smoothe

If you didn’t donate earlier this month, and are now wishing you had, go for it! The Food Bank set a goal of raising a total of $200,000 from their virtual food drive for the holiday season, and right now, they’re only at $123,541.53. So please, help if you can.

I also want to extend a huge thanks to all the bloggers who participated in the virtual food drive, either with posts asking their readers to donate or by placing donation buttons on their sidebars (and in several cases, both). It feels so nice to do something together. I’m hoping that next year we can do it again (or maybe pick a different cause to raise money for, who knows) and have even more blogs participate! Anyway, big thanks to participating blogs Living in the O, Future Oakland, City Homestead, Today in Montclair, Rebuilding Oaktown, Diary of an Oakland Shopgirl, Back to Oakland, Oakland Grown, and Welcome to the Prescott-Oakland Point Neighborhood. I was totally terrified when I first set up the virtual food drive that nobody would donate and no other blogs would want to do it, so getting so much participation just thrilled me. Thank you all so much!

read more here

Express Launches a New Beer and Live Music Venue

EastBayExpress.com by Robert Gannon

The East Bay Express is sticking its toe into the beer and entertainment business with the launch of EBX Bleeding Heart Lager and Club X. In keeping with the newspaper’s commitment to localism, the beer is brewed a few blocks from the Express’ office, and the 500-capacity club is conveniently located downstairs from the paper’s headquarters.

read more here