How an East Bay Ohlone land trust became a fundraising powerhouse

"Later it became a parking lot for Fourth Street shoppers. Soon the asphalt will be gone, a major step toward transforming the parcel into an Indigenous-controlled space honoring ancestors, nature, culture and the 5,000-plus year history of Ohlone people on the shores of San Francisco Bay. It's part of the Let the Land Breathe! campaign put on by the Sogorea Te' Land Trust, which acquired the land, part of the wider West Berkeley shellmound, in 2024."

"The transformation is funded by the fast rise of Sogorea Te', which over the past five years has become one of the wealthiest Indigenous urban land trusts in the nation, with $54 million in assets. The trust raised $1 million in just three months toward removing the pavement, much of it from a single Zoom call, said Gould. Donors decided that they wanted to be a part of this historical event, she said."

For more than 80 years the block on Fourth Street between University and Hearst avenues remained paved after Spenger's Restaurant laid asphalt there in 1946 to provide parking for customers. The paved area later served as a parking lot for Fourth Street shoppers and will soon have its asphalt removed to become an Indigenous-controlled space honoring ancestors, nature, culture and the 5,000-plus year history of Ohlone people on the shores of San Francisco Bay. The project is part of the Let the Land Breathe! campaign by the Sogorea Te' Land Trust, which acquired the parcel in 2024 as part of the West Berkeley shellmound. Sogorea Te' has grown rapidly, holding about $54 million in assets and raising $1 million in three months to fund pavement removal, and members have painted a blue creek across the lot to mark the site.

Read at www.berkeleyside.org