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From Trail to Sanctuary: Ninth Root’s Vision for Climate and Community Healing in Oakland, CA
In Deep East Oakland, Ninth Root is transforming the MLK Jr. Shoreline into a sanctuary for healing, resilience, and community connection.
Their project, Sacred Spaces: A Damon Marsh Trail Restoration, reimagines the shoreline as a culturally grounded space for reflection, mental wellness, and environmental stewardship. Born out of the Oakland Shoreline Leadership Academy, this community-led effort is restoring natural ecosystems while honoring local residents’ spiritual and cultural needs.
Through Greenlining the Block, Shy Walker and her team at Ninth Root has advanced this vision by building a paid leadership team, shaping the trail design through deep community engagement, hiring professional shoreline designers and engineers to complete permit ready designs and activating the space with events and stewardship programs. Their mission is clear: reconnect communities to the land and water in ways that heal, empower, and inspire.
Their unwavering commitment to building accessible green safe spaces is what resilience looks like when it’s led by the community and grounded in both culture and nature.
About Greenlining the Block:
Greenlining the Block is a bold, community-driven initiative that is changing the face of economic development in neighborhoods across the country. This innovative model puts communities in the driver’s seat and connects them with critical funding to build up their priority climate resilience projects.
By partnering with communities of color–those historically excluded from infrastructure funding and most impacted by climate change–Greenlining the Block is investing in local power, building lasting climate resilience and reversing the legacies of disinvestment fueled by redlining.
Since its launch in 2023 with an initial $6 million commitment, GTB partners have secured over $117 million in additional capital investments funding real, community-led climate solutions across the country.
