Dear friends,

Welcome to the first issue of Bay Localize News!

This Spring has been an incredible time of growth for our work, beginning with our official project kickoff in March, and continuing on through May with a well-attended Localization Strategy Summit at the Oakland Mayor's Office (see below).

Rising gas prices have forced our addiction to oil onto the front pages and evening news, creating opportunities for rethinking our outmoded dependence on car-centered transport, and for bringing the production of food, energy, and vital goods back to our communities.

A critical opening for change is certainly here -- now it's up to us to re-forge local networks, re-connect with one another, and re-discover our sense of place on this earth.

Toward a socially just and ecologically balanced Bay Area,

- Aaron Lehmer, David Room and the Bay Localize team

• Forest Conservation Council Adopts Bay Localize
• Project Kickoff Attracts 125, Launches Localization Effort
• Summit at Oakland Mayor's Office Unveils Localization Strategy
• ALERT: South Central Farm Under Threat - Support this L.A. Gem!
• Alemany Neighbors Plant Seeds of Food Security, Youth Opportunity
• Events Roundup: Recent and Upcoming Gatherings
• Support or Get Involved with Bay Localize Today!

Forest Conservation Council Adopts Bay Localize

After being incubated by Post Carbon Institute for its first several months, Bay Localize is now a fiscally sponsored project of the Forest Conservation Council (FCC), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Bay Localize was formally adopted in May as part of FCC's Green Spaces Program, which promotes more compact, self-reliant urban economies, protects urban forests, and resists automobile-dependent development.

Bay Localize is pleased to join forces with the Forest Conservation Council in our mutual efforts to build an ecologically balanced, relocalized economy.

Project Kickoff Attracts 125, Launches Localization Effort

On Friday, March 31 at Oakland's Laney College Forum, over 125 concerned residents took part in the official launch of Bay Localize, which featured a wide range of leaders in the peak oil and community revitalization and relocalization movement.

Julian Darley of Post Carbon Institute gave an overview of current oil and gas trends and how relocalization can help communities respond to growing energy scarcity. Dave Room of Energy Preparedness and Bay Localize explained how the project is working to bridge the gap between what communities are now consuming overall and what we might produce regionally to meet local needs. Jason Bradford of the Willits Economic LocaLization (WELL) project described how engaging with residents and a range of key leaders has been critical to advancing a localization agenda in his community. Nicole Lee of the Ella Baker Center described how her organization's Reclaim the Future program is forwarding a green collar jobs initiative in Oakland that will help lift people out of poverty.

The following day, around 45 people participated in a daylong workshop on relocalization conducted by Jason Bradford and Brian Weller of WELL. Participants explored ways to foster greater community awareness of the need to live sustainably, how to frame messages around common values, how to organize local groups, and how to motivate people into action.

Summit at Oakland Mayor's Office Unveils Localization Strategy

In recognition of the growing interest in localization among community groups, green entrepreneurs, and policymakers, the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE), the International Forum on Globalization (IFG), Redefining Progress (RP), Post Carbon Insitute (PCI), and Bay Localize came together in early April to begin exploring how we might work together to forward a comprehensive localization strategy for the 9-county Bay Area.

On May 10, we jointly hosted a localization strategy summit at the Oakland Mayor's Office attended by over 60 nonprofit and green business leaders, food security analysts, renewable energy specialists, and several elected officials and public agency representatives. Michael Shuman, author of Going Local and The Small-Mart Revolution, spoke about the viability and competitiveness of small businesses and ways to increase support for them at the local level. At the gathering, our working collaborative unveiled a draft report we co-authored entitled Building a Resilient Bay Area Economy, which assesses the potential for pursuing coordinated economic localization in the key sectors of energy, food, manufacturing, and finance.

In the coming months, BALLE, IFG, RP, PCI, and Bay Localize will be coordinating three working groups focused on enhancing the viability of local business enterprises, assessing various local and regional policy measures that could advance economic localization, and empowering communities and grassroots organizations interested in forwarding relocalization strategies.

ALERT: South Central Farm Under Threat - Support this L.A. Gem!

Under pressure from a wealthy developer, the City of Los Angeles is preparing to take over the 14-acre South Central Farm that has provided food, open space, and family activities to the local community since 1992.

As one of the largest urban gardens in the United States, the South Central Farm feeds 350 low-income families by providing fresh fruits and vegetables on daily basis. Fourteen years ago, the area was a wasteland -- and in the wake of the L.A. uprising then-Mayor Bradley and Doris Block of the L.A. Regional Food Bank entered into an agreement allowing it to be used as a community farm.

However, through a backroom deal in 1996, the farm was offered to a developer at a discount. In 2002, the developers sued the city and a settlement was reached giving the farm to them for a significantly below-market price, just over $5 million. To repurchase the farm, the developers are now insisting on over $16 million. Around $6 million has already been raised by the South Central Farmers. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has the ability to pay the rest of the selling price from the City budget, or further challenge the original sale. However, he has done neither.

An encampment has been established to protect this urban gem, and celebrities like Julia Butterfly Hill, Joan Baez, and Ben Harper have come together calling for the permanent protection of the farm for community use. "This is the Promised Land," community leader Dele Ailemen stated on the encampment's first day. "It was land that was promised to this community by the Mayor of Los Angeles after the 1992 uprising. It will not be taken away by broken political promises."

Please suppport the South Central Farm by taking action at www.southcentralfarmers.org!

Alemany Neighbors Plant Seeds of Food Security, Youth Opportunity

On May 11, 2006, members of Bay Localize joined residents of San Francisco's Alemany neighborhood for a stakeholder meeting to support the future of the Alemany Farm. With several acres of vegetables, fruit trees, a greenhouse, and a pond next to a Housing and Urban Development property for low-income residents, the largest urban farm in San Francisco has enjoyed a dynamic history of employing at-risk youth to grow organic produce to feed the surrounding community.

"I'm dedicated to getting this place going again, so our youth can have jobs," declared Alice Caruthers, Director of the Alemany Residents' Management Corporation. Formerly administered by the San Francisco League of Urban Gardeners (SLUG), the farm suffered from vandalism after SLUG faced organizational difficulties. Now the Residents' Management Corporation (RMC), the tenants' own nonprofit, is organizing to get the farm program back on its feet. The RMC recently hired articulate young Alemany resident Dominic Hoskins to be the farm's youth supervisor.

Through a collaboration with local organic gardeners and the Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center, residents and volunteers have cleaned up much of the garden and planted veggies such as collard greens for the coming year. Still, much remains to be done, especially in terms of rehabilitating the greenhouse. In addition, much of the farm is located on land owned by the San Francisco Department of Parks and Recreation, with which residents are discussing options to ensure the long-term sustainability of the farm.
"Teachers all over San Francisco would like to take their classes to a farm, but transporting kids to farms on the Peninsula becomes too costly," noted Bernal Heights resident, teacher, and Bay Localize volunteer Beth Copanas. "Having a farm right here in San Francisco would be a great resource for teachers, kids, and schools."

For more information about the Alemany Farm or how to get involved, contact Allison Lum at the Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center at alum@bhnc.org or 510-206-2140.

Events Roundup: Recent and Upcoming Gatherings

The Bay Localize team has been busily participating at various events in recent months, connecting with incredible groups that are leading the way toward local self-reliance and presenting our vision of a relocalized Bay Area.

Bay Localize Co-founder David Room spoke at a recent CounterCorp screening in San Francisco of the pro-local film Independent America, presented at the Earth Day Festival in Sacramento, gave a talk on energy preparedness at the Local Solutions conference in New York City, and served on a panel on bioregionalism at Stanford University. Network Coordinator Aaron Lehmer recently gave a presentation on relocalization as part of the Soulutionaries Social Series at the Alameda Point Collaborative (to listen to the presentation, please click here) and co-led a workshop with David Room in Sacramento on community responses to peak oil. Bay Localize's Brian Holland also spoke at a recent meeting of the San Francisco Oil Awareness group.

Bay Localize also took part at the Green Home Expo in Berkeley, the Sustainable World Symposium in San Francisco, and the Ella Baker Center Solutions Salon in Oakland.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

• 28th Annual Harmony Festival, June 9-11 in Santa Rosa, featuring a diverse musical lineup, camping, and arts, health and ecology exhibits.
• "Reclaiming Public Space for Livable Cities," a Commonwealth Club event featuring Enrique Pe?alosa, Former Mayor of Bogot?, Colombia, on June 19 in San Francisco. For tickets and more information, click here.
• Simple Living Gathering, September 9 in Oakland. Bay Localize will be presenting at this event.

Look for announcements of upcoming gatherings on our online Events page.

Support or Get Involved with Bay Localize Today!

Support Bay Localize!

We strongly urge you to support this project to assess relocalization opportunities in the Bay Area. Your contribution will help propel this vital work forward.

To make a tax-deductible contribution, please click on the online donation button at the right, or write a check or money order made payable to Center for a Sustainable Economy (our fiscal sponsor) with "Bay Localize" in the memo and mail it to:

Center for a Sustainable Economy - Bay Localize
436 14th Street, Suite 1218
Oakland, CA 94612
Thanks for your support!

Get Involved with Bay Localize!

Bay Localize is a largely volunteer-run project. There are many volunteer opportunities ranging from working on promotions, events, and media, to fundraising, research, community outreach, and developing the localization assessment model to apply at the neighborhood level.

For more information on volunteering, please contact Aaron Lehmer at aaron@baylocalize.org.

About Bay Localize News
Bay Localize News features regular news and updates from Bay Localize, a growing network of nonprofits, businesses, and municipal leaders working to build a more resilient, self-reliant, and socially just economy.

EDITOR: Aaron G. Lehmer

CONTRIBUTORS: Aaron G. Lehmer, Kirsten Schwind

For more about Bay Localize, please visit our website at http://www.baylocalize.org.

Contact Us:
Bay Localize
436 14th Street, Suite 1218
Oakland, CA 94612
Tel: (510) 834-0420
Web: http://www.baylocalize.org