Who We Serve

Gregory Brannon moved into the California Hotel in 2013. He served in the Navy from 1986 to 1990 as a “radio man,” connecting land-based messages to the officers on the ship. Through his service, he had the opportunity to play basketball with locals all around the world. He is now retired from the Emeryville Community Services Recreation Department. He was the Recreation Manager there for 14 years and had always enjoyed establishing relationships with the community as a whole.

When he moved into the California Hotel, he kept to himself as he acclimated to the new environment. After 1 ½ years, he decided to get to know his neighbors. He thought if he had something to offer, then he needed to be involved and help his community. He was invited to a resident leadership meeting, where he learned more about EBALDC and the work the organization was doing for the neighborhood. He started volunteering to get pastries and coffee three times a week for the meetings, and the meetings quickly turned into a daily coffee hour for residents. It was a time for neighbors in the building to get to know each other. He plans to add newspapers to the meetings for people to read on a daily basis and discuss current events. He believes that when “there’s food in the stomach, there is less attitude and people humble themselves.” He was quickly made chair of the resident leaders in the building. One of the items of discussion for the resident leaders include programming for the empty liquor store lot before EBALDC’s affordable housing buildings gets built, like a playground space or a family recreation center with an early curfew.

He also coaches high school basketball. He sees the sport as a vehicle to bond and support the youth he coaches, and share life lessons through the court. His main message to his team is “how much better your life would be when you help people.” We need to get the next generation to adopt that behaviour. Somewhere along the way, that message got lost with all the shootings happening here.” He recently adopted his three year-old grandson and is stepping out of retirement.

Naomi Tonsall lived at Jack London Gateway since 2009. She moved to Oakland from San Francisco in 1975 due to her job and the want to be closer to her children. She previously lived in Oak Center Homes right after the construction of the Interstate 980, where families and houses from different neighborhoods around West Oakland were moved to the coop. She lived there for 27 years, participating in the coop’s board, and  was the assistant manager and manager onsite.

At Jack London Gateway, she enjoyed the new, ecologically-conscious construction of the building and the amenities it offered, including the beautiful garden, nearby schools and transportation, and the feeling of safety for the children on the property. Most of the residents were predominantly Asian, which prompted her to reach out to English-speaking residents for social gatherings and encourage them to be more engaged. In that capacity, she is slowly getting more involved with the Resident Leadership Council, such as voter registration and events to fund community projects.

Naomi has always found West Oakland to be a decent place to live. She has seen the area develop and change over the years, and she’s quite happy with her community here. She is active in church and very involved with her family, as she now regularly babysits her great-niece, who keeps her busy during the week.

Shirley Chung immigrated to the United States from Vietnam in 1979. She left her small business in fashion and the friendships that supported her for a new country where she had nothing but her own grit and dreams. She landed in Oakland where her sister also lived, and was reunited with siblings that had arrived in the Bay Area at different points in time. She fell in love with Oakland for its diversity, and fell even more in love with her new country for the freedom it offered. She found a bookkeeping position to keep her afloat; and more significantly, her place as a volunteer for the Tzu Chi Foundation, providing disaster relief around the world. Having volunteered for the Foundation for over 12 years, her volunteerism also expanded to her local community in East Oakland, especially when it came to homelessness, an issue close to her heart. As the eldest sibling who was used to taking care of everyone in her family, she views the residents in her neighborhood as her extended family and felt compelled to do something to help improve the neighborhood.

Shirley is one of the original residents at Madison Park Apartments and lived there for more than 20 years. She has been the president of the former resident association at the building. She is multi-lingual and knew Cantonese, Mandarin, Vietnamese and some English. She acted as a volunteer translator during a time when property managers didn’t know how to speak Cantonese to the predominant Chinese community in the building. She also shared tenant concerns with management. Shriley recently became involved in the Resident Leadership Council again in early 2016. During her time, she has worked on voter engagement projects, like registering voters at Swan’s Market despite her mobility issues, and various fundraising events. She is now advocating for the importance of assigning floor leaders at Madison Park, who act as communication liaisons for their neighbors on the floor, and offering her time for planning and nominations of these positions. EBALDC honored her work and dedication to our community with the 2016 Lynette Jung Lee Resident Leadership award.