Lincoln Board Member Spotlight: Alice Myerhoff
Alice Myerhoff
Lincoln Board Member and Ambassador for West Oakland Initiative
For the last 6 years, I worked at a news organization focused on education. Being at EdSurge exposed me to many conversations around equity, particularly as it pertains to education. Though the work I was doing was generating revenue to support getting more visibility and exposure to these issues, I felt a pang of wanting to do more. When you learn about the many hurdles that kids who have experienced trauma and poverty have to face, you want to do something about it but don’t always know what or how if you aren’t a social worker. I think people are learning more about these inequities now while we are in our current state with COVID-19 bringing education as we knew to its knees. Kids in low-income families are dealing with things like lack of access to technology and wifi (how does one learn remotely when you don’t have a computer?), lack of space to study quietly, underfunded schools, teachers who aren’t properly trained...the list goes on. As I learned more, I wanted to do more to make a difference in the world.
As I looked for ways to give back, I came across Bike Zambia which was a fundraising bike ride from Lusaka (the capital of Zambia) to Victoria Falls. It’s 325 miles, mostly off-road, and definitely a stretch for me both because I had never ridden so far and because I had never done any fundraising and each rider had to raise at least $4k. The funds we raised were for HIV awareness and prevention in that country and we made a real impact raising collectively more than $100k. This was a transformative experience for me, as our group of riders got to meet and hear from the organizations that we were raising money for: World Bicycle Relief, Grassroot Soccer and a local health-focused organization called ZHECT. The highlight of this trip was at the end at a Grassroot Soccer tournament. I hung out on the sidelines with a small group of 9-year-old girls who taught me some of the pattycake-style games they enjoyed and asked me if I was coming back the next day. It was hard to say goodbye. After this, I knew that I would always find ways to do more for the world and for society.
This is what led me to Lincoln Families. The opportunity to serve on the board here at Lincoln meant that I could do more to help a community closer to home. One of the things that I’m so impressed by at Lincoln is the holistic approach to supporting kids through services that strengthen and engage the family and community around them. Lincoln engages a network of caring adults to surround youth and support their healthy development. Staff work with kids where they are at, both emotionally and geographically (in schools, at home, etc.).
I am a new board member, so I am still learning about the many successes Lincoln has had and I am just getting my feet wet on my focus program, the West Oakland Initiative (WOI), which works with students, parents and teachers to tackle attendance and literacy gaps. Working with schools in West Oakland, WOI consults with teachers and staff to create a more welcoming environment and break down barriers to learning. And working with families, WOI identifies students struggling with reading, behavior issues and often trauma and then builds relationships with the student and their family. This allows the staff to help the families build routines and structures in the home to support the student. Sometimes something simple, like finding a way to help the parent get the student to school on time, can make a huge difference.
I am so proud of the work that Lincoln Families is doing and especially of how the organization has managed to continue to provide support through the shelter-in-place.