About Us
With a focus on school achievement, economic mobility, and community wellness, Lincoln Families provides a continuum of preventative, responsive, and intensive support services to improve outcomes for children and families. We are committed to creating systemic change to strengthen our work in schools and communities, to remove barriers to care, and to advance racial justice and equity.
Mission & Values
Founded in 1883, Lincoln Families disrupts cycles of poverty and trauma, empowering children and families to build strong futures in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. Our approach is simple: we provide children with support and services as early as possible and make programs available to them during their school years through high school graduation. These services go hand in hand with programming that engages families and communities to create sustaining impacts.
Our six values of integrity, compassion, respect, excellence, courage, and diversity guide everything we do. They are rooted in the belief that ending cycles of poverty and trauma depend upon addressing the unique needs of children and families to build on their strengths and create pathways to a vibrant future. A critical part of our culture, our values inform how we make decisions across the organization and how we show up for families and each other.
Commitment to Equity
Health, economic and educational disparities disproportionately impact the youth and families who access our services. Respect, responsiveness, honesty, and communication are keys to creating and adapting practices and services that are welcoming and culturally responsive, and best serve youth and families. We embody this commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion in our recruitment of staff who reflect the communities we serve, with over 70% of us professionals of color. We actively hire former participants of our programs, creating a pipeline for those who have experienced first-hand transformative change through our mission. More than simply paying lip-service to cultural sensitivity, we provide ongoing opportunities for staff to continually increase the knowledge and understanding of our various communities served to become better allies to children, youth, families, service partners, and each other.
Leadership
History
In 1883, Rebecca McWade, our founder, opened her home for what would become the first racially integrated orphanage in Northern California and began Lincoln Families legacy of responding to the needs of youth and families. Our communities and our work have evolved over the years, but our track record is proven: youth attend school, engage in learning, and stay with their families where they do best.