Activism

OCCUR Offers Guidance to Nonprofit Leaders in the East Bay

Across the East Bay, community activists, nonprofit professionals, neighborhood leaders, and families struggling to overcome difficult circumstances understand how essential, proactive, and effective OCCUR has been for all these years. Their capacity-building initiatives have elevated the fortunes of many nonprofit and faith-based organizations, including the Lend a Hand Foundation, a highly successful Oakland-based nonprofit that has benefited tremendously from its ongoing association with OCCUR.

Published

4 years ago

May 4, 2022

Oakland Post

Idealism motivates the skilled and dedicated professionals and volunteers who have kept OCCUR relevant for decades.

By Lori Shepherd

Since the 1950s, OCCUR has been functioning as a catalyst for change in Oakland’s marginalized and deprived communities, becoming a fixture in the East Bay region, focusing on cultural, social, and economic development in areas that need their expertise.

Idealism motivates the skilled and dedicated professionals and volunteers who have kept OCCUR relevant for decades. Over the years, the nature of the challenges they face have changed, as they are currently working to find solutions to homelessness, school closures, dwindling Black homeownership, and a lack of access to learning technical knowledge and skills that prevents members of underserved communities from finding suitable employment. OCCUR was formed to assist people of color and other marginalized groups who have been most victimized by long-term inequalities of wealth and opportunity, and their dedication to that mission is reflected in their determination to evolve and grow.

The Lend A Hand Foundation is a youth-focused nonprofit that offers vital assistance to children, adolescents, and families facing arduous challenges or debilitating life circumstances.

Their diverse initiatives are designed to help the underserved experiencing poverty, deprivation, illness, or other stressful emergencies, by providing them with access to immediate essential aid and life improving goods and services of all types. Lend A Hand has received the most attention for its free backpack program, which provides school-aged children from deprived communities with backpacks stuffed full of all the crucial supplies they require at the start of each school year.

When the Lend A Hand Foundation opened its doors in 1997, it had little to rely on good intentions. Funds were short and experience at running a nonprofit was even shorter. Executive Director Dee Johnson knew she would need help to keep the project viable, and that’s why she began attending the free workshops OCCUR offers for aspiring nonprofit organizers.

“The workshops brought so much enlightenment to what was needed to survive,” Dee Johnson told us during a recent interview.

Sponsored jointly by OCCUR and the San Francisco-based Foundation Alliance with Interfaith to Heal Society, or FAITHS, the ‘A Model Built on Faith’ workshop series is offered annually at no cost to administrators and volunteers who run or serve faith-based or secular charity organizations in the Bay Area. The workshops combine individual coaching with small intensive group exercises and activities and are designed to help participants develop the skills and knowledge necessary to build stable organizational structures, find financing sources, create highly impactful individual and community uplift programs, and promote the empowerment of marginalized neighborhoods and people.

During the pandemic, the staff at Lend a Hand developed and implemented a comprehensive plan of action that included a safe and effective mix of virtual and in-person engagement. Despite lockdowns and quarantines, they continued to deliver vital assistance to the most vulnerable.

According to Johnson, the organization’s involvement with OCCUR played a big part in their capacity to rise to the occasion.

“Having gained a lot of knowledge from the esteemed management team, coaches, and facilitators, we were able to sustain,” she said. “Had we not received the knowledge through all the workshops we attended, we would not have been able to face the challenges when this very frightening situation occurred.”

Lend A Hand plans to distribute their signature backpack school supply kits to 25,000 underserved students in Oakland and Alameda County for the 2022 – 2023 school year.

Recently, OCCUR was in the news for a most surprising reason. In March the offices of the organization were burglarized and vandalized. Despite this temporary setback, organization leaders have no plans to slow down.

“With the ramping up of our capacity-building programs, OCCUR is not letting the burglary derail us,” Charla Montgomery, OCCUR’s program consultant, told the Post News Group. “Now more than ever, it is important that OCCUR reaches as many communities as possible and all those committed to positive change throughout the Bay Area.”

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Activism

Oakland Post: Week of December 24 – 30, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of – December 24 – 30, 2025

Published

16 hours ago

December 25, 2025

Oakland Post

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

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Activism

Lu Lu’s House is Not Just Toying Around with the Community

Wilson and Lambert will be partnering with Mayor Barbara Lee on a toy giveaway on Dec. 20. Young people, like Dremont Wilkes, age 15, will help give away toys and encourage young people to stay in school and out of trouble. Wilkes wants to go to college and become a specialist in financial aid. Sports agent Aaron Goodwin has committed to giving all eight young people from Lu Lu’s House a fully paid free ride to college, provided they keep a 3.0 grade point average and continue the program. Lu Lu’s House is not toying around.

Published

5 days ago

December 20, 2025

Oakland Post

Tania Fuller Bryant, Zirl Wilson, Dremont Wilkes, Tracy Lambert and Dr. Geoffrey Watson. Courtesy Oakland Private Industry

Special to the Post

Lu Lu’s House is a 501c3 organization based in Oakland, founded by Mr. Zirl Wilson and Mr. Tracy Lambert, both previously incarcerated. After their release from jail, they wanted to change things for the better in the community — and wow, have they done that!

The duo developed housing for previously incarcerated people, calling it “Lu Lu’s House,” after Wilson’s wonderful wife. At a time when many young people were robbing, looting, and involved in shootings, Wilson and Lambert took it upon themselves to risk their lives to engage young gang members and teach them about nonviolence, safety, cleanliness, business, education, and the importance of health and longevity.

Lambert sold hats and T-shirts at the Eastmont Mall and was visited by his friend Wilson. At the mall, they witnessed gangs of young people running into the stores, stealing whatever they could get their hands on and then rushing out. Wilson tried to stop them after numerous robberies and finally called the police, who Wilson said, “did not respond.” Having been incarcerated previously, they realized that if the young people were allowed to continue to rob the stores, they could receive multiple criminal counts, which would take their case from misdemeanors to felonies, resulting in incarceration.

Lu Lu’s House traveled to Los Angeles and obtained more than 500 toys
for a Dec. 20 giveaway in partnership with Oakland Mayor Barbara
Lee. Courtesy Oakland Private Industry,

Wilson took it upon himself to follow the young people home and when he arrived at their subsidized homes, he realized the importance of trying to save the young people from violence, drug addiction, lack of self-worth, and incarceration — as well as their families from losing subsidized housing. Lambert and Wilson explained to the young men and women, ages 13-17, that there were positive options which might allow them to make money legally and stay out of jail. Wilson and Lambert decided to teach them how to wash cars and they opened a car wash in East Oakland. Oakland’s Initiative, “Keep the town clean,” involved the young people from Lu Lu’s House participating in more than eight cleanup sessions throughout Oakland. To assist with their infrastructure, Lu Lu’s House has partnered with Oakland’s Private Industry Council.

For the Christmas season, Lu Lu’s House and reformed young people (who were previously robbed) will continue to give back.

Lu Lu’s House traveled to Los Angeles and obtained more than 500 toys.

Oakland Post

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Activism

Desmond Gumbs — Visionary Founder, Mentor, and Builder of Opportunity

Gumbs’ coaching and leadership journey spans from Bishop O’Dowd High School, Oakland High School, Stellar Prep High School. Over the decades, hundreds of his students have gone on to college, earning academic and athletic scholarships and developing life skills that extend well beyond sports.

Published

5 days ago

December 20, 2025

Oakland Post

NCAA football history was made this year when Head Coach from Mississippi Valley State, Terrell Buckley and Head Coach Desmond Gumbs both had starting kickers that were Women. This picture was taken after the game. Courtesy photo.

Special to the Post

For more than 25 years, Desmond Gumbs has been a cornerstone of Bay Area education and athletics — not simply as a coach, but as a mentor, founder, and architect of opportunity. While recent media narratives have focused narrowly on challenges, they fail to capture the far more important truth: Gumbs’ life’s work has been dedicated to building pathways to college, character, and long-term success for hundreds of young people.

A Career Defined by Impact

One of his most enduring contributions is his role as founder of Stellar Prep High School, a non-traditional, mission-driven institution created to serve students who needed additional structure, belief, and opportunity. Through Stellar Prep numerous students have advanced to college — many with scholarships — demonstrating Gumbs’ deep commitment to education as the foundation for athletic and personal success.

NCAA football history was made this year when Head Coach from
Mississippi Valley State, Terrell Buckley and Head Coach Desmond
Gumbs both had starting kickers that were women. This picture was
taken after the game.

A Personal Testament to the Mission: Addison Gumbs

Perhaps no example better reflects Desmond Gumbs’ philosophy than the journey of his son, Addison Gumbs. Addison became an Army All-American, one of the highest honors in high school football — and notably, the last Army All-Americans produced by the Bay Area, alongside Najee Harris.

Both young men went on to compete at the highest levels of college football — Addison Gumbs at the University of Oklahoma, and Najee Harris at the University of Alabama — representing the Bay Area on a national level.

Building Lincoln University Athletics From the Ground Up

In 2021, Gumbs accepted one of the most difficult challenges in college athletics: launching an entire athletics department at Lincoln University in Oakland from scratch. With no established infrastructure, limited facilities, and eventually the loss of key financial aid resources, he nonetheless built opportunities where none existed.

Under his leadership, Lincoln University introduced:

Football
Men’s and Women’s Basketball
Men’s and Women’s Soccer

Operating as an independent program with no capital and no conference safety net, Gumbs was forced to innovate — finding ways to sustain teams, schedule competition, and keep student-athletes enrolled and progressing toward degrees. The work was never about comfort; it was about access.

Voices That Reflect His Impact

Desmond Gumbs’ philosophy has been consistently reflected in his own published words:

“if you have an idea, you’re 75% there the remaining 25% is actually doing it.”
“This generation doesn’t respect the title — they respect the person.”
“Greatness is a habit, not a moment.”

Former players and community members have echoed similar sentiments in public commentary, crediting Gumbs with teaching them leadership, accountability, confidence, and belief in themselves — lessons that outlast any single season.

Context Matters More Than Headlines

Recent articles critical of Lincoln University athletics focus on logistical and financial hardships while ignoring the reality of building a new program with limited resources in one of the most expensive regions in the country. Such narratives are ultimately harmful and incomplete, failing to recognize the courage it takes to create opportunity instead of walking away when conditions are difficult.

The real story is not about early struggles — it is about vision, resilience, and service.

A Legacy That Endures

From founding Stellar PREP High School, to sending hundreds of students to college, to producing elite athletes like Addison Gumbs, to launching Lincoln University athletics, Desmond Gumbs’ legacy is one of belief in young people and relentless commitment to opportunity.

His work cannot be reduced to headlines or records. It lives on in degrees earned, scholarships secured, leaders developed, and futures changed — across the Bay Area and beyond.