Workforce Highlight: Domonic at Community Foods Market

Community Foods Market (CFM) opened its doors in June 2019 after a decade-long effort to address the food access needs in West Oakland. In addition to food justice, this noteworthy grocery store is dedicated to the recruitment and retention of employees from the community they serve.

Earn2Learn graduate Domonic, pictured in front of Community Foods Market.

Sharing in both values and commitment to the wellness and empowerment of the communities we serve, AHC partnered with CFM again this summer as a worksite for our Earn2Learn program. Earn2Learn intends to connect local youth with Oakland’s medley of businesses, providing training in workplace readiness, self-confidence, and career projection, all with the ultimate result of employment.

Since 2014, AHC has guided 134 youth into positions within our network of Oakland business partners. Participants have expressed that Earn2Learn helped them gain essential hours of job experience, granting access in the future to positions with varied skill sets and experience requirements. Domonic was one of many youth participants to receive paid mentored training and subsequent work that built a solid foundation for navigating a workplace.

For four days a week, Domonic would wake up at 6am to shower, eat breakfast, and take the bus to arrive in time for his 8am shift at CFM. As an entry level grocery stocker, his learning curve was steep. During a worksite program check-in, one supervisor mentioned that Domonic "had a lot of potential and showed good character", and was working consistently to improve his area of focus: communication skills.

Domonic was receptive to the feedback, and would demonstrate measurable improvements in his performance towards the end of the program. During his last week, Domonic asked his supervisors if he could be officially hired. They said yes, and now Domonic begins work at 5am, four days a week, still dedicated to his work at Community Foods Market.

Domonic’s journey to employment at CFM demonstrates how a combination of community resources and mindful business practices continues to be a necessity within West Oakland, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. As CFM profoundly states: “Our vision is to become an empowering, inspiring and transformative place to work for our employees and to enable them to feel a sense of purpose in their work. We strive to create a workplace environment where our employees are empowered to make a difference and are continuously developing and improving themselves.”

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Women's History Month: Aeeshah Clottey (AHC Co-Founder)

March is Women’s History Month. We’d like to take the time to acknowledge the trailblazing women that are within our midst now. Women that have paved the way and dedicated themselves to laying a strong foundation for others to build, grow and thrive. First, we will acknowledge our co-founder and leader of the Attitudinal Healing Connection (AHC) in Oakland, Mrs. Aeeshah Clottey (known by many in the community as Ms. Aeeshah).

Born in Louisiana and the youngest of 12, she grew up picking cotton and being reared by her tenacious older sisters, heroic mother, and hard-working father. At age 15, Aeeshah migrated west to help her elder sisters who had settled in East Palo Alto to work and raise families. It was there that she finished high school, became the valedictorian of her class and got a full scholarship to UC Berkeley. At Berkeley, she became fully awakened to the impact of racism, witnessing how its insidious nature manipulated humanity’s capacity to live in unity. Her spiritual and philosophical evolution and the tumultuous civil rights movement of the 60’s led her to join the Nation of Islam. 

Dedicated to the Black liberation movement, she found that her journey had not ended as she sought truth through books that spoke to higher conscious thinking, awareness, and spirituality. At this point, she was introduced to a set of books, "A Course in Miracles," which connected her to a burgeoning Attitudinal Healing community in Tiburon, CA. This new relationship catalyzed a profound and effective shift in her thoughts and direction. Aeeshah knew there was more to learn and understand—her path led her into an inner journey of healing and a deeper connection to her purpose.  

In 1989, she co-founded AHC with her life partner and husband Kokomon Clottey. Since then, she has traveled the world, supported the development of other Attitudinal Healing Centers globally and written the published books: Beyond Fear, Twelve Spiritual Keys to Racial Healing (revised and published as Color Theory) and Eternal Quest for Happiness.

Through her work, passion, and commitment, she envisions a world where everyone is loved, educated and valued. Her notable projects involve parent and community engagement, workforce development for youth, and teaching the values of being a good neighbor while imparting the benefits of public housing. She is a woman beyond her time with the unique ability to connect with all communities and build an array of diverse allies to support the work of AHC.