Move to West Oakland

Dear Friends of Lincoln,

Lincoln Child Center’s headquarters is returning to West Oakland!

In 1887, four years after we were founded as an orphanage in Oakland, and thanks to a generous gift from the philanthropic Crocker family, we moved from East to West Oakland and changed our name to the West Oakland Home.  In 1929 we moved to Lincoln Avenue in the Oakland Hills and became Lincoln Child Center, our name and headquarters location for the past 84 years.

In 2012, we made the strategic decision to return to our West Oakland roots, and continue our mission to serve children, youth and families in their homes, schools, and communities. Our move not only reflects our strategic direction, but also our focus on community- and school-based services. In addition to our West Oakland headquarters, Lincoln serves families through our facilities in Hayward and Pittsburg.

Lincoln’s services impact close to 4,000 children and youth through its 14 programs in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. The move to our new West Oakland headquarters reflects our deliberate desire to meet youth and families where they are, in communities where they live, work, and attend school. We look forward to seeing this number grow in the communities we serve, as we find ways to further our vision of a positive and equitable future for all children and youth.

Our programs and services provide preventative, early intervention and intensive levels of service to children and youth in public and charter schools in Oakland and Pittsburg as well as through probation and foster care.  We are passionate about keeping families together whenever possible and helping children and youth build skills that enable them to cope, in spite of poverty, substance abuse or exposure to violence. We help young people struggling with drug use and mental health challenges; teens who want to learn about being entrepreneurs; families who need help finding resources for jobs and housing; and support for grandparents, aunts, and uncles who are caring for their relative children. Additionally, we provide summer literacy programming, support for children leaving group homes for permanent homes, and special education services that are tailored to meet each child’s unique learning and mental health needs.

We invite you to learn more about us here.

Sincerely,

Christine Stoner-Mertz
President & CEO