Clean Start: How a New Soap Factory in Deep East Oakland Offers Residents a Fresh Start

Damian Bradley at work at the Clean360 Soap Factory at 8610 International Blvd, which was opened by Roots Community Health Center in September 2023.

The first thing visitors notice as they step off bustling International Blvd and into the Clean360 warehouse in Deep East Oakland is the powerful aroma of serenity – a wave of lavender passes through the air followed by a stream of mint, and then possibly a note or two of cinnamon. 

The second thing they might notice is shop supervisor Damian Bradley, a towering figure in a Raiders sweatshirt who oversees the candle-and-soap making operation. 

Located in the heart of Deep East Oakland’s 40x40 block neighborhood – which borders roughly between Seminary Ave. to the San Leandro border and from MacArthur Blvd. down to the waterfront – that has experienced generations of underinvestment, the Clean360 factory represents a beacon of hope that employs 12 apprentices who can make 20,000 bars of fragrant, beautiful soap every day. Opened by Roots Community Health Center in September the pristine warehouse also offers opportunities for those who have been disconnected from the workforce for an extended period of time or have experienced significant barriers to employment and may not have basic job-readiness skills. 

Bradley, now 47, grew up in the 40x40 and had never held a “formal tax-paying job” before he joined the operation nine years ago. 

“I fell in love with making soap and watching something caustic – like lye – turn into something beautiful,” Bradley said. “Watching people transform their lives here is inspirational too.”

Clean360 is just one of the foundational programs in the 40x40 that would benefit from deeper investment through the Rise East 10-year plan, said Aquil Naji, Chief Operations Officer for Roots Community Health Center. 

Since Naji developed the soap-and-candle operation, he has witnessed 400 apprentices work their way through the intensive 16-week training process. In that time they learn chemistry to develop fragrant products, the manufacturing process to make-and-ship products, and the realities of retail service (by both working at a downtown storefront and online marketing).

“Our mission is to move our apprentices into a stabilized life,” Naji said. “The wages can help with housing insecurity and food insecurity. But the magic happens when we get them on a career path. We want individuals to get employed at places where they want to be employed, and doing the things they want to do.”

The 40x40 could use a deeper commitment to job development, and Rise East provides that commitment. It’s home to the largest concentration of Black residents in Oakland (more than 30,000) and half of the Black families who live in poverty citywide live in the 40x40. Forty-three percent of the Black families in the focus area have household income less than $50,000. Third grade reading and 8th grade math proficiency rates are two-to-five times lower in 40x40 area schools than Oakland Unified School District overall. 

Bradley grew up on 55th Ave. and went to Horace Mann Elementary, then graduated from Fremont High School. 

“I was a good kid with good manners and all that, but my brother and I still got pulled into the streets for a long time,” he said. 

Then, in 2011, tragedy struck: Bradley’s brother Marcellus was shot and killed across the street from his mother’s Oakland home. The trauma rippled through Bradley’s family and overtook their lives, he said.

“I saw what it did to our family and I didn’t want that to happen to me,” Bradley said, recalling an immediate pledge to leave the streets behind and “stop doing what I shouldn’t be doing.” 

But even then, it was hard to change. Still grieving and experiencing depression, Bradley said he kept “one foot” in the streets because, “You can always be your own boss on the streets.”

As he continued to try and navigate two worlds, Bradley met Naji and Dr. Noha Aboelata, Roots’ founding CEO. They offered him a spot in their new workforce development program, which was still getting off the ground. 

Yet even after Bradley started his apprenticeship, he wasn’t convinced a five-day a week job was for him. With a wife and two young children to support, Bradley said he thought about returning to the streets until a fateful conversation with his wife. 

“She told me, ‘Roots gave you a chance when no one else would.’ And I thought about Aquil and Dr. Aboleta giving me this opportunity, and it all clicked. Since that day, there was no turning back.”

Today, nearly a decade later, the new Clean360 warehouse hums with activity as it prepares for the end-of-year holiday push. Naji anticipates the team will move 2,500 large gift baskets filled with handmade soaps, candles, lotions and oils before Christmas.

“This is not welfare,” Naji said. “This is ‘help-fare.’ We are helping people learn to live a sustainable life – and to never look back, and to never qualify for social services again because they’re doing so well.”

Before Clean360 moved into the 4,000-square foot space earlier this year, the building was another boarded up storefront on International Blvd. Naji already has plans for Roots to purchase the vacant building directly next door and renovate it into a wellness center for youth and families.

“The money we receive (for Rise East) – we have a greater responsibility to those who provide funding than the tenants of the agreement,” Naji said. “We need to protect the investment.”

For Bradley’s part, stepping into the Clean360 warehouse everyday now brings a sense of pride and mission. He watches the apprentices as they start their journeys onto a sustainable life. He overhears and listens to their initial conversations, and he recalls feeling their early skepticism – and then he cherishes the moment when they stop talking about the streets and start talking about their mission at Clean360. 

“You can see the system change first hand right here,” Bradley said.