East Oakland nonprofits get chance to win $50M grant to revitalize neighborhoods

OAKLAND, Calif. - A soap and candle-making factory is expanding in East Oakland. What makes it unique - is that it's run by a non-profit, helping to put people in the local community back to work.

Now, Rise East, a consortium of four non-profits that work together to support the factory and other programs, is asking for the community's help to reach a fundraising milestone.

When you walk into the Clean 360/Glow 360 factory on 86th and International in East Oakland, the soothing scents of soaps and candles surround you.

Workers can make as many as 20,000 bars of soap by hand, every day.

The factory is run by the Roots Community Health Center, one of several non-profits that's part of the neighborhood revitalization group, Rise East.

"This is one of the most impoverished places in East Oakland," explained Aquil Naji, the center's hief operating officer. "The people you see in here are from this community. Most of them can walk to work, bike to work. We're hoping to expand these structures so we can revitalize East Oakland."

Rise East found out it could get a $50 million matching grant from the national foundation, Blue Meridian Partners. 

The money would expand programs like the Clean 360 soap factory, which had four, full-time workers and nine paid apprenticeships. They focus on employing people who are formerly incarcerated and people who were formerly unhoused.

"I want people to know, people still have hope," said Damian Bradley, the factory supervisor at Clean 360. "People who come out of jail and bad situations - you can always come out on top."

Bradley came to work at the factory a decade ago.

He left behind a life selling drugs on the street. Back then, his mother's words weighed on his conscience.

"She always told me, 'You know what you're doing is wrong,' when I was able to come here. I saw that. I saw that and I changed," Bradley said.

Now his daughter is now about to graduate from San Francisco State. She wants to become a doctor. Bradley is able to walk his teenage son to school nearby, every day.

"Working here has helped me overcome some obstacles that I had," he said.

Rise East has raised about $26 million for this program and dozens of others it runs. It is halfway to its fundraising goal.

Kaiser announced Tuesday that it will contribute $2 million. Other Bay Area Foundations are contributing funds, as well.

In the meantime, Clean 360 will continue selling their hand-made soaps and candles at their new, expanded warehouse at 8610 International Blvd. in Oakland.

They also have a storefront on 41st and Broadway.

And they sell their goods online, at Clean360.org.