Rise East
A $100 Million Campaign for the Children and Families of East Oakland
DISCOVERY• STRATEGY • NAMING • BRAND IDENTITY • CAMPAIGN • PARTNERSHIP
When five organizations share a goal but not a story, how do you build the one thing that makes collective action real?
Most coalitions can align around a vision on paper. The harder problem is getting organizations with their own histories, their own communities, and their own earned trust to see themselves inside a shared identity and act from it. Without that, even the most ambitious plans stay plans. Plans don't move people. Stories do.
Oakland Thrives came to us with a ten year plan to reimagine life in a 40x40 block section of Deep East Oakland, home to the city's largest concentration of Black residents. Behind it stood five organizations with deep roots in the community: Oakland Thrives, Black Cultural Zone, Brotherhood of Elders Network, East Oakland Youth Development Center, and Roots Community Health Center.
The goal was audacious: raise $50 million locally and unlock a matching $50 million from Blue Meridian Partners. What needed to be built was a shared identity all five could carry together, and a campaign that the Black families of Deep East Oakland could see themselves inside.
We worked with all five organizations to build something each of them could stand inside and be proud of. A name that could carry the weight of the vision. A brand identity and photography that reflected the real people, real families, and real community doing the work. Strategic messaging that held the same voice across every material, from the investment report to the campaign assets to the website and gear. All of it rooted in East Oakland, built for a community the Bay Area too often overlooks.
In August 2023, community leaders stood together in Deep East Oakland and announced Rise East to the world. By March 2025, the coalition had raised $100 million. The $50 million raised locally triggered the full Blue Meridian match. The money is already moving into properties, partnerships, and programming along the corridor. We remain strategic partners in the work.
What We Delivered
Discovery and research, naming, brand identity, photography, messaging framework, campaign materials, investment report, website, and ongoing strategic partnership.
