The Problem We’re Responding To
Today, many of the essential things our neighborhoods depend on like power, healthy food, internet, and jobs are controlled by corporations outside the communities they serve. These corporations are also major sources of jobs that often take more than they give, leaving communities with unstable work, low wages, and few paths to advancement while deepening dependence on government support. When we lose that local control, we risk losing something deeper too: a sense of purpose, pride, and possibility. OakTREE is here to help bring those roots back home.
In neighborhoods in many cities like Oakland, these systems are increasingly strained, unreliable, and unresponsive. The infrastructure that delivers them is hidden, corporate-controlled, and extractive. Higher costs driven by climate chaos, and disinvestment that has undermined community self-reliance has left many with few options to sustain themselves and acquire basic resources. But just beneath the surface the seeds of a solution already exist.
The Solution: Inter-strucTure
For thousands of years, humans have lived, worked, and thrived in communities that shared labor, food, and cultural traditions. Interdependence wasn’t just a choice; it was a necessity for survival. Similarly, natural ecosystems thrived, mirroring how balance and interconnection lead to abundance.
We believe our communities already hold the wisdom, creativity and strength to thrive. Like a forest, the connections are already there, waiting to be strengthened. What’s missing is the shared structure to link it all together. OakTREE is here to grow that connection–so every neighbor has what they need and no community stands alone.
Inter-structure = Infrastructure + Interdependence. OakTREE introduces inter-structure, an open, hands-on collection of local technologies and relationships that communities can build, adapt, and govern together. This is a new form of generational wealth rooted in shared power, mutual responsibility, and community control that grows stronger over time and cannot be taken away.
eight connected solutions
Inter-structure is a holistic approach that is modeled after the forest: layered, collaborative, and alive. While many efforts focus on just one part of the puzzle, like solar & thermal panels, electrification, local food, or workforce training, OakTREE addresses a full ecosystem of opportunity, including reconnecting the interconnected relationships between neighbors.
We do this by weaving together eight connected solutions that include both physical infrastructure and human relationships. This community fabric creates outcomes that go beyond just the sum of their parts. The resulting novel combination of existing and emerging solutions enables a sustainable, holistic approach that increases community resilience, health, and wealth.
Thermal microgrid
The thermal microgrid connects renewable heat production and storage assets on a neighborhood block scale so that residents can tap into local energy production and share energy with each other.
Closed Cycle Greenhouse
The closed cycle greenhouse produces local food cost-effectively and with low emissions while generating excess heat that can be shared in the thermal microgrid.
Community E-Kitchen
The community renewably powered e-kitchen is an emissions-free hub for neighbors to get together, turn produce into healthy food, and share meals for those in need.
ev Distribution services
Community entrepreneurs can operate a delivery service for fresh produce, prepared meals, and other basic needs using electric vehicles.
Workforce cultivation
Building skills among community members so they can do the work of designing, building and maintaining the thermal microgrid, closed cycle greenhouses and other infrastructure.
Local Manufacturing
Where it makes financial sense, we’ll produce components of the thermal microgrid, greenhouses and other assets locally. Vertical integration increases community control and retains more wealth.
Community
This is the piece that ties it all together. At the core, the community determines which solutions make sense for them. They own the productive assets, keeping wealth in the community.
