u/urbancompassionproj

All the hard work on East 12th is paying off. What used to be one of Oakland’s most notorious illegal dumping corridors is becoming cleaner, greener, and cared for again.

Because of our volunteers, we’re now seeing trees planted, vegetation returning, and planter pots being installed across the corridor to help deter future dumping and it’s working!!!! This transformation took thousands of volunteer hours, relentless cleanups, and a community that refused to give up on this area.

track our efforts here: https://www.instagram.com/urbancompassionproject

or here: https://www.tiktok.com/@urbancompassion510

sign up to clean up: https://urbancompassionproject.org/events/

Yesterday, 55 volunteers cleared 16,000 pounds of illegal dumping from two Berkeley sites that the city itself cannot access (one was a private lot and the other was by an encampment where were built a relationship with our homeless neighbors. This says a lot about how complicated and neglected some of these spaces have become over the years and why community action matters so much in actually getting things done on the ground. One of the biggest differences we’ve noticed working in Berkeley is how much easier it has been to collaborate directly with the city, communicate about barriers, and actually have conversations around long term solutions instead of constantly hitting walls every step of the way.

We’re especially excited about 1331 Second Street because we don’t want this to just become another cycle where an area gets cleaned and then forgotten again a few months later. The goal now is to push toward building an urban garden and community space there because beautification and accessibility are some of the strongest forms of dumping deterrence we’ve seen. When neglected land is transformed into something people actively use and care about, the entire energy of a space changes and it becomes much harder for illegal dumping to take root again.

Huge thank you to everyone who showed up yesterday and helped move thousands and thousands of pounds of debris by hand. This work is exhausting, dirty, and expensive, but seeing communities come together to completely transform spaces in a single day continues to remind us why this movement keeps growing.

track our efforts here: https://www.instagram.com/urbancompassionproject

or here: https://www.tiktok.com/@urbancompassion510

sign up to clean up: https://urbancompassionproject.org/events/

today instead of just clearing an illegal dumping hotspot, we spent the day working alongside Oakland Urban Farming Project and an incredible group of young people from Head Royce School helping build and strengthen a community farm on land that was once heavily impacted by dumping and neglect.

spaces that are activated, cared for, beautified, and used by the community become natural deterrents against blight. urban farms, gardens, gathering spaces, public art, and maintained community areas help stop dumping before it starts. when people feel ownership and pride over a space, it changes the environment around it.

this is a huge part of what UCP 2.0 is about. for years, illegal dumping and homelessness have been treated like they’re just part of living in oakland instead of humanitarian and environmental crises that should never have been allowed to get this bad. entire neighborhoods have been forced to live surrounded by mountains of trash and neglect that would never be tolerated in wealthier communities. meanwhile, millions of dollars continue circulating around these crises while the conditions themselves often continue getting worse.

since 2021, UCP volunteers have cleared millions of pounds of illegal dumping across oakland and beyond. what started as a few people showing up with gloves and trash bags became one of the largest grassroots cleanup movements in the bay area because thousands of people were tired of waiting for change.

over the years we’ve realized cleaning alone is not enough. if policy, enforcement, infrastructure, maintenance, and accountability do not change, the cycle simply repeats forever. communities should not have to rely on volunteers every weekend just to maintain a basic quality of life.

that’s why we’re expanding beyond cleanups and putting a much larger focus on advocacy, beautification, urban farming, and long-term deterrence strategies.

behind the scenes, we’re continuing to push for:
• faster city response times
• accessible and free dumpsters for communities
• enforcement against serial illegal dumpers
• long-term maintenance strategies
• beautification projects and urban gardens
• stronger accountability from institutions that have allowed this crisis to spiral

our goal is to help create neighborhoods where dumping becomes far less likely to happen in the first place.

today’s collaboration with Oakland Urban Farming Project and the students from Head-Royce School is just the beginning. we want to continue transforming neglected spaces into places that actually serve the community across oakland and eventually across the bay area.

the goal has never been for UCP to exist forever but to render ourselves obsolete.

track our efforts here: https://www.instagram.com/urbancompassionproject

or here: https://www.tiktok.com/@urbancompassion510

sign up to clean up: https://urbancompassionproject.org/events/

we’ve spent months asking the city for more support, especially access to dumpsters so communities can actually deal with the scale of illegal dumping across oakland. on paper, each councilmember and the mayor have 12 dumpsters allocated for community use. the resources are supposed to exist.

but according to the Oakland City Auditor, 78 of those dumpsters went unused and not made accessible, just sitting there while neighborhoods continued dealing with growing piles of trash.

at the same time, we (urban compassion project) spent $135,000 in community-raised funds last year on dumpsters and disposal just to keep up with demand and get through cleanups the city wasn’t supporting in a timely way.

https://www.oaklandauditor.com/new-audit-report-assesses-the-city-of-oaklands-fight-against-illegal-dumping-offering-recommendations-for-improvement/

track our efforts here: https://www.instagram.com/urbancompassionproject

or here: https://www.tiktok.com/@urbancompassion510

sign up to clean up: https://urbancompassionproject.org/events/

we’ve spent months asking the city for more support, especially access to dumpsters so communities can actually deal with the scale of illegal dumping across oakland. on paper, each councilmember and the mayor have 12 dumpsters allocated for community use. the resources are supposed to exist.

but according to the Oakland City Auditor, 78 of those dumpsters went unused and not made accessible, just sitting there while neighborhoods continued dealing with growing piles of trash.

at the same time, we (urban compassion project) spent $135,000 in community-raised funds last year on dumpsters and disposal just to keep up with demand and get through cleanups the city wasn’t supporting in a timely way.

https://www.oaklandauditor.com/new-audit-report-assesses-the-city-of-oaklands-fight-against-illegal-dumping-offering-recommendations-for-improvement/

track our efforts here: https://www.instagram.com/urbancompassionproject

or here: https://www.tiktok.com/@urbancompassion510

sign up to clean up: https://urbancompassionproject.org/events/