Updates From Our Community

Life can throw unimaginable challenges our way, but some stories remind us of the incredible strength that comes from adversity. Tashinda Richardson’s journey is one of resilience, courage, and the unwavering love she has for her two children. As a mother, a lawyer, and a Navy veteran, Tashinda’s life took a difficult turn when she faced not only a painful divorce but also the devastating impact of domestic abuse.

Adela Peña has worked all her life as a live-in caregiver. She lost her job when the woman she took care of for 20 years started to need specialized nursing care. Losing her job also meant losing her housing and she had no immediate family or friends that she could lodge with so she turned to EOCP through a referral.

When Kamal Young began working at EOCP as a case manager in the summer of 2021, his first client was Yaya. Despite facing significant health challenges and having no income to secure permanent housing, Yaya remained positive and lighthearted, often making Kamal laugh. The road to stabilizing was long for Yaya.

East Oakland Community Project (EOCP) is actively seeking passionate and dedicated individuals to make a difference for our unhoused neighbors as an EOCP Board Member.

These are times that call for action. More than ever, we must actively support what we believe in, to listen to what our heart speaks.

EOCP’s daily work and proven impact is stronger through your steadfast support.

Your investment in EOCP helps us transform lives.

Housing instability is a very stressful situation, not only for the adults but the children also. All families seeking the next step in their journey towards permanent housing find much more than a shelter bed at EOCP.

EOCP has been a beacon of hope for many unhoused people, including families. A great recent example is Stacy and his daughter who stayed at our Family Matters shelter for eight months while working diligently with their case manager to secure permanent housing and other community supports.

Today, December 3, 2024, people from all around the world are coming together to celebrate generosity.

EOCP’s Family Matters shelter is a space that creates beautiful possibility: Since its door opened in June 2020, families with children arrive onsite ready to make a change in their lives, and transition from homelessness to a life of stability.

Ronnie Forbes lives in Livermore, CA in subsidized permanent housing provided by the Veterans Administration. He works as the Executive Director of One Nation Dreammakers, a nonprofit organization located in Alameda County that prepares and delivers healthy food to people in need. He is passionate about the work he does. His life is stable now but nine years ago that was not the case.

Meet Elton Cox who is an 81-year old resident at our Crossroads shelter. During the last three years, he came in and out of several facilities and hospitals due to his mental health issues but always winded up at Crossroads to stabilize through services and obtain a permanent housing placement. Because of his multiple ins and outs from shelter, it has been challenging to help him find a home.

At EOCP, we build personalized, trusting, and authentic relationships with people experiencing homelessness so they can begin working towards their self-sufficiency goals. One of the ways we develop relationships with people who are unhoused is by building community during their stay with us. At our Crossroads shelter, for example, residents partake on bingo night which takes place on Wednesdays, twice a month.

Maureen Burns is a Veteran who has turned her life around. She migrated to Oakland from out of state full of hope because she had secured a job as an ordained minister. She packed her van and travelled with her service dog only to find out that the job had fallen through. For several months, she was unhoused and unable to secure housing since she lacked a steady income source.

Meet Kamal Young, a four-year member of EOCP’s Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) team who works as a Medical Case Manager for a vulnerable group of clients. Since the late 1990’s, EOCP has served individuals and families living with HIV/AIDS through 25 dedicated shelter beds at our Crossroads shelter. Our team is composed of an onsite Medical Case Manager, who works alongside our Outreach Worker and our Case Management Services Manager. The team is cohesive in making contact, serving and providing aftercare for people living with HIV/AIDS in Alameda County.

Jaycee Lora was connected to one of EOCP’s field-based housing programs, where staff provides services needed by families, anywhere in the community. She was unhoused and had limited income to support herself and her teenage child. She was also pregnant. Jaycee is going to school to become a Medical Assistant and is completing a paid internship at a cardiologist office. Upon graduation, she will become a full-time employee at this medical office.

Actor Delroy Lindo celebrating the holidays with children at EOCP

As this year comes to a close, we are inspired and driven by the support of our vision of a thriving, healthy, multigenerational community for the people of East Oakland and Alameda County. Every day, EOCP strives towards this vision by providing unwavering care for people of all ages as they as they survive the challenge of homelessness.

During this holiday season let us not forget about the increasing numbers of unhoused families and children in our community. At EOCP, every unhoused family seeking stability finds much more than shelter – they are also welcomed by a team that provides intensive support and connects parents and children to permanent housing and needed supportive services.

At EOCP we often say that “we meet our clients where they are at.” This could not be more true than with our Respite Care clients who have been discharged from the local public health system to EOCP for recuperative care after surgery, a long illness, or a health emergency. Our clients are unhoused without an acceptable or safe place to lay down to recuperate.

Throughout 2023, EOCP has continued to make a difference in our community by responding to the local housing crisis and supporting unhoused individuals who are on probation. Staff ensures a supportive transition from detention to the community by securing permanent housing and other community resources for re-entry individuals. In the last year alone, we served 106 people, including families with 16 children by closely collaborating with the Alameda County Probation Department.

Today is Giving Tuesday—an international day of giving.

During this holiday season of giving, remember EOCP, a local, community-based organization that is making a difference in East Oakland. We thank you for your support.

It is our intent to provide a safe and secure environment for everyone residing at our facility while they work towards well-being and a permanent housing placement.

At EOCP we honor our clients' personal stories and we believe that effective, dignified care begins with genuinely understanding a person as who they are, not just what happened to them.

At EOCP, we know that each unhoused person, no matter their struggles with mental health or substance use, carries a unique and complex set of life stories with them.

At EOCP we build personalized, trusting, and authentic relationships with people experiencing homelessness, and walk alongside them as they grow into a life of self-reliance.

Myeeka Calhoun and Carmen Hidalgo both work at EOCP’s Crossroads shelter. They joined the organization a year ago and have brought a renewed spirit to assisting unhoused individuals and families. They share their perspectives on EOCP and why working in homeless services is important to them.

EOCP's staff are the anchor of our tireless work in supporting people to break out of cycles of homelessness and transform their lives.

EOCP's Family Matters shelter is a space that creates beautiful possibility: Since its door opened in June 2020, families with children arrive onsite ready to make a change in their lives, and cross the threshold out of homelessness.

2023 has ushered in a big season of change at EOCP: We’ve welcomed interim executive leadership and hired key staff at Crossroads, our emergency shelter located in the heart of East Oakland. Our commitment to persistent, comprehensive care for families experiencing homelessness continues.

Joining EOCP as Interim Executive Director—and learning about its history, strengths, and vision—has been a bittersweet gift. I am moved by the heartfelt stories of staff, colleagues, and partners who collaborated with EOCP’s longtime leader, Wendy Jackson, across her 26 year tenure, and the reflection and celebration they offer about the incredible impact of Wendy’s leadership. One thing is clear: Wendy’s authenticity, dedication, and ethic of holistic care for EOCP’s clients has shaped all aspects of our work today.

As we near the end of the year, we are struck with gratitude and grief for our late Executive Director, the Wonderful Wendy Jackson, who passed away in October 2O22 after a hard-fought battle with illness. Wendy, who was preparing for her retirement, served 26 phenomenal years with EOCP. Wendy’s leadership at EOCP was profound, and she will be deeply missed. In partnership, in service, and behind the scenes, she led our organization’s critical work of nurturing the dreams of people experiencing homelessness—and she did so with unwavering integrity, heartfelt commitment, and a deep belief in community-based collaboration.

On the morning of October 25th, we learned that our wonderful Executive Director, Wendy Jackson, had passed away. She was an incredible leader and cared so deeply for the work of EOCP and this community. We will miss her terribly.

Please join us in thanking, celebrating, and honoring the Wonderful Wendy Jackson for her service.

While our work has expanded to serve across Alameda County, we’ve been steadfastly committed to our home neighborhood, East Oakland. This commitment is brought to life every day by our dedicated team — many of whom are lifelong East Oaklanders. Their work and their presence demonstrates: EOCP is committed to who we say we are committed to, not only in the people we serve, but also in the people whose careers we invest in and grow.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been one of the biggest challenges for our entire world. For people experiencing homelessness in Oakland and Alameda County, it was an especially heavy hit. At EOCP, we maneuvered with the flexibility, creativity, and deep commitment that we’ve embodied from day one of doing this work. Our team stepped up to adapt to the crisis, strengthen our teamwork, and keep following through. Read more about EOCP’s resilience in responding to COVID-19.

We’re sharing stories of success and growth for two families. With the support of EOCP, each of these families charted a pathway out of homelessness for themselves and their children. With resilience and commitment, each of these families is now on the road to well-being, and a new chapter in their lives.

EOCP was selected to receive a $2.5 million grant from the Bezos Day 1 Families Fund, which issues annual leadership awards to organizations and civic groups doing compassionate, needle-moving work to provide shelter and hunger support to address the immediate needs of young families.