Learning to lift your voice

February 2021

East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation

45 Stories for 45 Years

Contributor: David Cota, Senior Community Organizer, EBALDC

I met Jessifer at a meeting led by the Healthy Havenscourt Collaborative, a group of partners working with neighborhood residents to improve educational outcomes, workforce development, housing and local business development convened by EBALDC. A resident of the Havenscourt neighborhood, Jessifer obviously had a lot of passion and recognized the potential in her community, and had the potential herself to make a big impact herself, but wasn’t quite sure how to do it right. 

She understood that the way to make the changes she wanted to see was for leaders like herself to be more involved, and get more community members to have a say in the decision making process. I was inspired by Jessifer’s obvious passion and met with her to see if she would be interested in support to find out what her unique skills are, and to help her build those skills. 

Together, we identified public speaking and messaging as the two skills she was most interested in developing. We worked closely together for two years to help build the confidence, and the experience, she needed to lift her voice as part of her community. At first, she was developing meeting agendas. Then, she was leading the icebreaker at community meetings and facilitating at town hall meetings. Eventually she said, “I think I can do this,” and has been a powerful force in Havenscourt ever since. 

It is my privilege to work with leaders like Jessifer as a community organizer with EBALDC. When I immigrated to the U.S., I was also very shy and wasn’t sure if I could get involved in my community, the way that Jessifer wanted. I was part of a union of janitorial workers and the union organizers and leaders of that institution gave me the skills I needed for my own leadership development. If I learned to lift my voice, anyone can. And if you share what you’re good at you can make a different life. 

Engaging with the community and supporting community leaders to develop the skills they need to achieve the impacts they seek is a key pillar of our work at EBALDC. It is the critical piece of achieving the impact the organization has had over 45 years; I appreciate so much being able to give back the skills I learned. 

As EBALDC marks our 45th anniversary, we will be gathering more stories like this one from our friends, family, community members, partners and more stakeholders that have made our impact possible. We would be honored for you to join us:

  • Follow us on social media: @EBALDC

 

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