EBALDC’s Resident Leadership Council & Sponsor Spotlight: Ted Dang

Leadership Begins at Home for the Resident Leadership Council

EBALDC’s Resident Leadership Council (RLC) has elected its first Steering Committee consisting of representatives from three neighborhoods (East Oakland, Chinatown, West Oakland). Representing Chinatown are Cathy Eberhardt and Li Qiong Zhou; the West Oakland neighborhood is represented by Marjorie Goolsby and Kokavulu Lumukanda; and East Oakland by Diane McClendon and Dahman Munassar.

Created in 2011 after an EBALDC resident was inspired from a NeighborWorks America training to build a resident-led leadership body, the RLC was designed with a mission to “…connect[] neighborhoods and resources and participate[] in community engagement, with a goal to create vibrant, healthy, stable, safe, and peaceful communities.”

EBALDC’s Senior Community Organizer Davíd Cota has been working with the RLC for the past 6 years, supporting efforts to improve their communities through developing structure and leadership skills. Says Davíd, “The Resident Leadership Council’s formation story is very grassroots.” Davíd noted that “the intention [behind the Resident Leadership Council] is to develop the resident members as leaders, not only in the properties where they live but in the entire communities where they are located.”

Davíd Cota, Senior Community Organizer

This year, an RLC subcommittee researched leadership models and evaluated pros and cons of different structures. Through this process, they identified a Steering Committee as one that would work better for the RLC because it’s less complicated than elections for officers would be. Also, the RLC expressed a desire for a nonhierarchical structure—one where all members of the Steering Committee would be equal.

Additionally, the Steering Committee members’ roles aren’t strictly defined, providing flexibility for members to play different roles during their participation. Cathy Eberhardt, who became part of the RLC because she wanted “to help people so they don’t have to go through what I went through when I was homeless before getting EBALDC housing,“ was excited about the new steering committee structure: “[I]t will help us give other RLC members a chance to increase their skills and leadership and give them training at facilitating meetings and being leaders in the council. With the steering committee structure, they can rotate who facilitates the meetings and giving them skills at public speaking.”

This fall, some of the RLC Steering Committee Members who have not attended in previous years, will attend the NeighborWorks Community Leadership Institute Training to further develop their skills.

Preservation Park Pillar
Gala Spotlight: Dang Family Charitable Trust

Ted Dang, Founder and Board Member of EBALDC

We are pleased to feature the Dang Family Charitable Trust, which came in as a Gala Sponsor at the Preservation Park Pillar level. Ted Dang, one of EBALDC’s founders, once again has demonstrated leadership in his ongoing investment of time and resources into the Asian American community, our organization, and in our efforts to preserve community and culture in Oakland.

Lina Sheth, EBALDC’s interim CEO, stated: “In Ted, we have a board member that knows EBALDC through and through, understands the origins of where this organization came from, and has the vision to support the organization’s evolution to serve Oakland’s diverse communities whose success and health are deeply connected. EBALDC is grateful for Ted’s tremendous vision, heart, and will–without which this organization literally would not exist.”

Below is a Q & A with Ted:   

What brought you into the EBALDC Family?   

The increasing need for services in the Oakland Asian American community, especially in the Oakland Chinatown area, was the impetus for the Asian Resource Center, our first project. [For more on the founding of EBALDC, see a recent story on the 100th anniversary of the Asian Resource Center.]

What about EBALDC’s work most excites you?   

EBALDC is an organization that combines the vision and efforts of community folks with businesspeople.  Together, we create projects and programs that are innovative and feasible.

How does your company’s vision align with EBALDC’s vision of an “East Bay where everyone has a place to call home and the resources to thrive”?   

As a for-profit business, we broker, manage, develop, and invest in real estate for the long term.  Understanding those markets allows me to see opportunities to help others who cannot afford market-rate housing.

How does EBALDC’s work relate to your work and the transformation you’d like to see in the world?  

EBALDC is here to stay as an institutional community member.  EBALDC will benefit from the equity built up over many years and can leverage funding from other sources to do much more. Our legacy will be the community capital created, a network of like-minded folks, and a history of expertise, experience, and accomplishments.

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