New Roots Helps Refugees Get a New Start

An online fundraising campaign is under way to create food entrepreneurship training for newly re-settled refugees from various countries. Photo courtesy of New Roots Oakland.

Imagine fleeing your country and leaving behind loved ones, your business, your home, everything that you know and love. What would you take with you? How would you build a new life in an unfamiliar place?

What many refugees and immigrants bring is their passion for food, culinary skills, and an entrepreneurial spirit—some of the most important possessions they have for building new relationships and new livelihoods in the United States.

New Roots Oakland works directly with individuals who have recently arrived in Oakland and want to build a new life through food entrepreneurship. Their nonprofit food business training program provides free aid, integrating classroom learning, interactive hands-on activities, and 1-on-1 mentorships to refugees and immigrants who seek to start their own food businesses.

They need your support to continue nurturing the skills and passions of the students in their food business training program. Please take a moment to watch a video of the students and instructors in action and read more about how New Roots Oakland is changing the lives of those recently arrived in the Bay Area:

https://startsomegood.com/refugeefoodbusinesstraining

Inspired by what you see? Get involved now!

To learn more about the New Roots gardens, read this story by Edible East Bay contributor Anna Mindess: here