Lincoln Program Spotlight: Mandela Family Resource Center
HOME IS WHERE PRIDE IS
For Chris Nguon, Supervisor of the Lincoln’s Mandela Family Resource Center, and Mandela’s entire team of Family Navigators and Residence Service Coordinators, West Oakland is not just the place wherein Mandela resides, nor is it merely the community they serve: above all, for Chris and many of the team, Mandela is home. Having grown up in West Oakland, Mandela’s work is personal for Chris: “Many people we work with are people I grew up with. So many people helped me along the way in West Oakland. So many people went out of their way to assist me, to help me. That’s the West Oakland way, looking out for each other.”
THE WEST OAKLAND WAY
The Mandela FRC team seeks to embody Lincoln’s rich history in West Oakland in its service to families. A neighborhood rooted in pride for family, community, and advocacy, Mandela instills all of these West Oakland values in its services which range from early childhood development supports in partnership with First 5 Alameda County to essential emergency assistance navigation services. There’s a long history of activism in the area—namely, within the Black community of West Oakland. “West Oakland is a relatively small community, and if you’re from West Oakland or spend some time in it, you know somebody who knows somebody,” Chris describes life on the West side of the Town.
RESILIENCY AND INVESTMENT
There is a strong sense of resiliency within the West Oakland community. This trait is apparent especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Both families served and Mandela team members—caregivers that are parents in their own homes—balance many responsibilities. Mandela FRC has pushed to come through for the community in its needs, providing a range of supplies: from laptops for remote learning to the partnership with Mandela Groceries and First 5 Alameda County to provide fresh groceries to over twenty families with “birth-to-5” children in West Oakland on a regular basis.
The incredible Mandela team does not hold back in their service to the community. For Chris, he describes an ever-changing goal to invest: “I always sort of knew that part of my professional work would always be in West Oakland.” The group of Family Navigators and Residence Service coordinators embody Lincoln and West Oakland values in the integrity and cultural competency steeped in the services provided.” As Nguon puts it: “We truly try to meet our families’ needs without judgment or expectation: they know what’s best for themselves, and we’re not going to tell them what they need.”
PROMISES KEPT AND PROMISES TO KEEP
The Mandela Family Resource Center in many ways is a promise kept. Former Lincoln CEO Christine Stoner-Mertz made a verbal commitment for Lincoln to be a part of the West Oakland community, to have a physical address in the neighborhood and hire staff from West Oakland—all of which were fulfilled at the opening of Mandela in Fall 2019.
Still, there is work to be done and further promises to keep, reflects Chris: “We’re still a relatively new program. In West Oakland it takes time to build trust, because that trust has been broken many times. Honesty and consistency and following through in our work is what we need to continue to do.”
In West Oakland and Mandela FRC, the future is bright. Seeing the growing needs, Chris hopes to begin a comprehensive English as Second Language program, particularly for the many Middle Eastern and Yemeni families that call West Oakland home. Also, there are hopes to expand the youth development program that serves birth-to-five families to wide-ranging programming for youth of all ages. If nothing else, the Mandela FRC shows that the community-based, community-driven Family Resource Center is a model to strengthen neighborhoods and disrupt cycles of poverty and trauma.