Mandela Partners facts for kids
Mandela Partners is a special group in Oakland, California. It used to be called Mandela MarketPlace. This group is a non-profit organization, which means it's not trying to make money. Instead, it helps people in neighborhoods that don't have a lot of money. Their main goal is to make sure everyone can get healthy food and good healthcare.
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Helping Young People and Families
Mandela Partners has worked on many projects to help their community.
Empowering Youth
From 2007 to 2013, they ran a program called West Oakland Youth Standing Empowered (WYSE). This program taught young people in West Oakland about how food and health connect to fairness in society. WYSE helped make West Oakland a better place by:
- Making it easier and safer to walk around.
- Improving buses and trains so people could get around more easily.
- Cleaning up and making local parks nicer.
- Starting a garden at an elementary school.
Food for Families
Mandela Partners also had a program called Food to Families (F2F). This program offered classes and cooking demonstrations to help families learn about healthy eating. F2F especially worked with pregnant women and their families. They taught them how eating nutritious food could make them and their communities healthier. The program even helped create a cookbook called Mommas Kitchen Stove, written by experienced moms.
The Mandela Grocery Cooperative
In 2008, Mandela Partners opened The Mandela Grocery Cooperative. This is a grocery store where the workers own and run the business. It's also a place where people can learn about healthy eating. The people of West Oakland asked Mandela Partners for a store like this.
The grocery store is easy to get to, just two blocks from the West Oakland BART station. This means people from West Oakland and other parts of the San Francisco Bay Area can visit.
Supporting Local Farms
The Mandela Grocery Cooperative buys its fresh food from small and medium-sized farms. These farms are usually within 120 miles of Oakland. By doing this, the co-op helps farmers who might not have many resources. They create a way for these farms to sell their food directly to stores and other groups in the community at fair prices.
The Mandela Grocery Cooperative has won several awards for its work in making sure everyone has access to good food:
- 2012: San Francisco Bay Guardian Small Business Award - Employee Owned Business
- 2011: Oakland Indie Award -The Ripple Effect
- 2011: Ella Baker Center - Ella Award
- 2010: Robert Redford Art of Activism Award - James Berk, Mandela Foods Cooperative Worker-Owner
The Mandela Grocery Cooperative is also part of the Network of Bay Area Worker Cooperatives.
Helping Businesses Grow
Mandela Partners works with an organization called Kiva to help people start or grow their businesses. They help people in West Oakland get small loans, sometimes up to $25,000. Mandela Partners also gives one-on-one help to local business owners who qualify for these loans. They connect them with other helpful groups to support their businesses.
Current Community Projects
Mandela Partners continues to work on building strong local economies, making healthy food easier to find, and supporting family farmers. They want to create healthier communities for everyone.
Healthy Neighborhood Stores
One of their projects is the Healthy Neighborhood Store Alliance (HNSA). This project makes sure that people in West Oakland can buy healthy and affordable food right in their own neighborhoods. Mandela Partners delivers fresh food to popular corner stores in the community. They also offer nutrition classes and help these stores improve their healthy food options. The organization also holds weekly events where people can buy fresh produce.
Greener Environments
Mandela Partners is also involved in the Ashland Cherryland Initiative. They work with different community groups in Ashland, California, and Cherryland, California. Together, they created the Ashland Cherryland Food Policy Council. This council gives advice to local governments on how to create policies that lead to cleaner and greener environments for everyone.
