What a Better New Normal Could Look Like
From PPE shortages to a more resilient community: An Interview with FabCity Oakland
In the first part, “Can Cities Produce Everything They Consume?” we were introduced to FabCity Oakland as one of the answers to not only responding quickly to the early crisis with Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) shortages, but also as a model for building long-term economic, climate, and community resilience. Below is the second part to learn from Danny about what the future holds for FabCity Oakland and how we can help to make it the new, better normal.
How do we sustain this energy and apply it to a new business as usual? How do we have a new normal that prioritizes and centers community, people, and planet? I couldn’t pretend to know what this means for the future of FabCity Oakland, so I reached out to Danny Beesley, CEO of IdeaBuilder Labs and Co-Founder and Chairman of the board of FabCity Oakland, to share his experience and thoughts. The following conversation* has been edited for clarity:
Lisa: For those new to FabCity — what would you like to highlight about FabCity broadly and then specifically for Oakland? Why is Oakland ideal for a FabCity and FabLab?
Danny: In 2014, the City of Barcelona and FabLab Barcelona made a commitment to produce all they consume by 2054 and invited cities globally to join them in the same commitment, calling it FabCity (see FabCity Oakland FAQs and the FabCity Manifesto for more details). FabLab itself was started at MIT in 2001. FabCity Oakland, which started in 2018, set out with a particular on equity, beyond the standard principles applicable to all FabCities.
Lisa: It is amazing how FabCity Oakland was able to produce so many PPEs with so many partners and community members in such a short amount of time back in April. What kinds of challenges and struggles did you all face in navigating the process and everything for the first time during such a time of need?
Danny: The initial pain points were primarily around access to raw materials. There were almost no plastics to be found — one of the times, we had called up a material broker who had some available only to find out they were completely cleaned out an hour later. We ultimately connected to Coca Cola, which has shipped us 27 tons of materials to date.
Through working on these, I learned that another factor is that many of the medical PPEs, including face shields, are not reusable. They are meant for only single use.
Lisa: Since the initial stages of Covid-19 and the shortage with PPEs back in April, what else has been happening with FabCity Oakland?
Danny: In terms of Covid-19 response, we were at the peak of activity back in April to May. As of now, temporary activities have ended, while permanent activities are continuing forward. Temporary activities included the mask-making factory in Alameda (we had to vacate after five weeks and moved to a Downtown Oakland site, where we were open for five weeks). Permanent activities include continuing the production of PPEs for the college district coordinated by a group of 3–4 people and dedicated production of face masks and face shields at separate locations.
A couple of elements impacted us:
1) Funding to continue to fund staff and everyone doing the work: We had raised $30k centrally, which was enough to pay key folks who were coordinating the work and who had to since return back to work, and are now down to $1k. It is even more critical now with volunteer burnout. There were also many other folks doing similar work, some of whom have received funding to continue.
2) Volunteer burnout: Volunteering was rampant at the beginning, but now we are experiencing volunteers burnout. In the initial stages, we had developed a lot of new relationships: there were many volunteers and partners coming in because of the shelter-in-place and everyone either had to stay at home without job or work from home. But since work has resumed for many of those who had been laid off or let go, only a handful of volunteers have been able to continue with the more permanent efforts since it would mean sacrificing their livelihoods. The momentum might have been easier to sustain if there had been an existing organization holding everything, but because it was a response in the moment, everything was new, including many of the relationships.
Starting next week, we will be running a workforce development project for opportunity youth (16–24 year olds) in Oakland. We will have 10 youths working in PPE production at various places for the summer. The project came about through our existing relationship with the Oakland Workforce Development Board that connected us to the Alameda County Health Department, which has funding for internship stipends. The intent was initially for Spring semester college students, but, because of the pandemic, it has been adapted for a summer workforce program.
Lisa: What does the future hold for FabCity Oakland?
Danny: There will be a vote with the Oakland City Council to expand the small workforce project into a larger one between the Workforce Development Board and UCSF, which is focused on children health and equity. We are also redeploying the mask factory in Oakland for employment.
Beyond that, we are looking at federal grant opportunities to help fast track FabLabs, which are positioned well for needed rapid response while supporting employment and entrepreneurship.
Lisa: For FabCity Oakland to be the now and future, what needs to happen? What would you like for cities and states to know and do to realize their local FabCity?
I would like to see the U.S. government and California specifically make a public announcement and commitment to have the ability to produce life-saving equipment at a minimum. Andrew Cuomo had declared the inability to produce PPE was not only unacceptable, but also a national security issue.
Democratic presidential candidate and former VP, Joe Biden, has an economic development plan that is also a step in the right direction: a $400 billion, four-year increase in government purchasing of U.S.-based goods and services — using the purchasing power of the federal government to incentivize U.S. production. It is good policy to “use dollars to purchase things locally made and that ends up in your constituents’ pockets.”
Lisa: Our communities have so much to worry about and think about as it is. What are some simple things folks can do to help or support FabCity Oakland specifically, or the FabCity, circular economy/local manufacturing and production movement generally?
Danny:
- Vote with your dollar! Choose to purchase local.
- Educate and encourage your family, friends, networks to also purchase locally.
- Use your sphere of influence to move this forward. If you’re a politician, draft up some effective and real policies. If you’re a business owner, shift your supply chain locally.
Lisa: Finally, what would you like to leave folks with about the purpose behind FabCity and FabLab?
Everything you purchase comes from somewhere. We purchase goods from overseas because of lax labor laws and environmental regulations. We need to have more local production. “When multinational corporations lose, everyone else wins.”
There are many exciting research and developments happening in manufacturing such as with biotools and biomaterials, that will allow for a closed loop production and the hope is that Oakland will be a FabCity Oakland by then.
Many thanks again to Danny for taking the time to chat with me about FabCity Oakland and FabLabs.
FabCity Oakland, through its very existence, challenges the corporations that have eliminated jobs here only to exploit cheap labor elsewhere, that have grown unchecked and decimated resources without regard for what happens throughout the entire production, that want to preserve the status quo for the few. What happens when everyone from the youths to the elders of our communities understand where their goods are from, how our goods are produced, where our goods end up; when our community members have a say in not only our consumption, but also our production; when landfills and environmental degradation or pollution no longer exist; when our communities are empowered to use their skills and also imagine; when BIPOC, marginalized, and historically excluded communities are considered first for long-term, dignified, living wage plus careers?
A world that is equitable, resilient, and sustainable can be possible, starting with equity-centered FabCities. A common vision can come true when it has community support and political will. We have a lot of work left, but at least we know how to get part of the way there with FabCity Oakland.
*Conversation occurred on July 14, 2020.
Lisa is currently based in the East Bay, where she works to advance environmental and economic equity in local communities. She is passionate about bridging environmental, racial, and economic justice with community-centered civic engagement. In her free time, she enjoys birding, tending to her seedlings and zombie plants, and exploring the East Bay Regional Parks and National Parks with her partner.
