Save the Omni

Dear Friends and supporters of the Omni Commons.

All of us at the Omni Commons wish you, our friends and supporters, a safe and healthy holiday season. This has been a difficult and challenging year for so many people because of the pandemic and resulting economic crisis. It has been and continues to be difficult and challenging for those of us at the Omni Commons. That’s why we’re asking you to make a generous donation to our GoFundMe or Facebook Campaigns to save the Omni Commons, which continues to face a financial challenge. Donations to our Facebook campaign on #GivingTuesday, Dec. 1, are matched,

GoFundMe Campaign

Facebook Campaign

Four years ago, the collectives that make up the Omni Commons obtained a loan to purchase the building at 4799 Shattuck Avenue in North Oakland. Since then, we have offered event space to the wider community and workspace to collectives on a sliding-scale basis. The Shelter-in-Place order issued in mid-March in response to the pandemic, as well as subsequent restrictions, have prohibited the gatherings that rent our event space and provide half of the income to make our monthly loan payments and keep the Omni Commons open.

We have been able to keep the building open for the essential services that some of our collectives provide to the community. Additionally, we collaborated in forming the North Oakland Mutual Aid Drive together with other community organizations. The Omni has become a local distribution site for the curbside and low-income communities, disproportionately people of color, in North Oakland. We’re using our ballroom and entrance hall to gather canned food, water, masks, hand sanitizer and other items, and then distribute these items to those who need them.

While the Omni Commons continues to keep the building open for our collectives to offer essential services, we now face a big challenge. In the midst of pandemic restrictions limiting our income, we must refinance the original five-year loan on the building by May 1, 2021. We’re working hard to save enough money to show lenders that we are able to make loan payments until restrictions are lifted and it’s safe to open up event rentals again. So, we’re asking you, our friends and supporters, to make a generous contribution to our GoFundMe campaign to Save the Omni Commons. If you can make a contribution to help us through this crisis, we will thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
 

Donate to Our GoFundMe Campaign

Donate to Our Facebook Campaign

Love and solidarity,

The Omni Commons Collectives

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Sudo Mesh

Sudo Room