Announcing our $100K UBI syndicate in support of Bay Area Restaurant Workers
Since the pandemic began, we launched 13 Fund to research high-leverage solutions to local issues, and new nonprofits led by under-represented groups to address them.
Family and immigrant-owned restaurants have been hit especially hard last year. So we focused our initial research on assessing how to help. We identified a range of causes — falling sales, limited access to capital, rent debt, and labor flight.
Labor flight was the least addressed challenge facing restaurants. 30% of restaurant workers are undocumented. On top of lack of access to healthcare and financial security, their status meant they did not qualify for federal support this year. Restaurant workers have been leaving the Bay Area in record numbers as a result. Their departure, not VCs fleeing to Miami, will be felt long after the pandemic subsides.
After much diligence, we identified one new group addressing this issue effectively — Oakland Workers Fund. Oakland Workers Fund is a grassroots mutual aid organization supported by Moments Cooperative and Community Space, an LLC, and fiscally sponsored by SOMArts, a 501c3 nonprofit. Oakland Workers Fund provides direct relief to restaurant workers who are struggling to pay rent, utilities, or support their families, specifically focusing on those most vulnerable populations in their communities, undocumented workers and others who are unable to receive government aid.
We were drawn to their model, as we felt it was a corollary to solutions like universal basic income.
In the past year, Oakland Workers Fund has redistributed over $127,000 in funds directly to 234 workers (out of 580 applicants). Beyond the direct financial resources Oakland Workers Fund provides, their organizers also work closely with their applicants, providing assistance with other applications, food/housing/testing resources, translation services and more for hundreds of struggling restaurant workers and their families. With four core organizers who are QTBIPOC women and non-binary restaurant workers themselves, we found the founders had first-hand experience of what the workers they were supporting needed.
We had met with several other promising organizations — including SF New Deal and La Cocina — who were running innovative programs to support the local food industry. But we were particularly moved by Oakland Workers Fund and their focus on the restaurant worker, which did not seem to be as addressed by other giving efforts. To date, 100% of their funds have gone directly to worker relief.
And in due course, the impact of their efforts has already been felt.
Salvador is a father of 4 who supports his family here and in Honduras. Throughout the pandemic, he has struggled to retain work in the food service industry in the Bay Area and found himself with no work due to the pandemic and no financial support due to his immigration status. He has been in and out of the hospital the last year with an undiagnosed health emergency and no health insurance, accruing severe hospital bill debt. With Oakland Workers Fund support, he has been able to pay rent, bills and help feed his family.
Keyana is a single parent born and raised in Oakland, who was laid off from her food service job due to the pandemic. She subsequently found herself and her child unhoused and with no financial support due to an error in the system when she applied for EDD. With Oakland Workers Fund support, Keyana was able to pay for a motel to house herself and her child and continue to pay urgent bills and feed her family.
In the principle of seed investing in Silicon Valley parlance, we felt that dedicating our capital to a nascent organization like Oakland Workers Fund — and one filling an unmet need in the market — would have the highest dollar-to-impact potential. Further, we established a syndicate of donors across the tech community to donate alongside us.
We’re excited to accordingly announce $100,000 in funds to be donated to the Oakland Workers Fund program. Donations will be provided in quarterly installments, over the course of the next year for sustained giving. Participants in the syndicate include:
Bilal Mahmood (Founder, 13 Fund), Jason Shen (Founder, 13 Fund), Sachin Agarwal (Founder, GrowSF), Gustaf Alstromer (Partner, Y Combinator), Andrew Cheung (Spedtime Ventures), Calvin French-Owen (Founder, Segment), George Huo (CEO, Paygarden), Grant Lee (CEO, Gamma), Sandy Lee (Controller, Plaid), Adam Samet, Kendall Saville (Owner, i15 Media), Tess Saville (Talent Partner, Shopify), Michael Siebel (Managing Director, Y Combinator), Spenser Skates (CEO, Amplitude), Sophia Tu (Director, IBM Foundation), Jeffrey Wang (Chief Architect, Amplitude), Kalvin Wang (Founder, Nava PBC), Christine Yen (CEO, Honeycomb), and Grow SF
We’re encouraged by how this new capital will support hundreds of restaurant workers in the year ahead. That in turn will enable the Bay Area community and economy to stay vibrant as we slowly emerge out of the pandemic.
If you’d like to contribute to the Oakland Workers Fund and provide critical support for essential restaurant workers, please visit: https://www.oaklandworkersfund.com/donatenow
To contact 13 Fund, please DM us on Twitter at @bilalmahmood or @jasonshen
