Education

How Daagye Hendricks Serves Community, City Schools and UAB

Daagye Hendricks is not one to remain stationary. The Birmingham Board of Education member, businesswoman and mom of a 16-year-old, had an opportunity to become a part of the Living Donor Navigator Program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB)—and she didn’t hesitate to join.THE BIRMINGHAM TIMES —

Published

7 years ago

June 20, 2019

Oakland Post

By Ameera Steward

Hendricks wanted to not only try something different but also do something she believes in: “Diversify yourself, stay fresh, and make sure you sharpen your toolbox and your skill set.”

“The opportunity to create a [Living Donor Navigator] program or be a part of that was, of course, exciting. More importantly, … I knew I could make a difference, and that is gratifying,” she said.

More than 110,000 people in the United States are on waiting lists to receive life saving organs, and nearly 100,000 of those are awaiting a kidney. The Living Donor Navigator Program, founded in 2017, works with both recipients and donors to identify needs and guide each through the process, from transplantation to post-transplant. Hendricks is one of two patient navigators in the program.

“This body of work has never existed,” she said. “It is evolving every day as we continuously improve our standards driven by our patient outcomes.”

The initial goal was to have two transplants from the first set of classes in the first year—they ended up with more than 20.

Outreach

Because of the program’s importance, Hendricks often works weekends: “On a Saturday, even.”

“I sometimes hate losing that time away from my family, but it is always a joy to be able to help someone along the way. The benefits we have been able to receive since this program started are very gratifying, to be able to reduce somebody’s wait time for a kidney transplant to six months to a year from four to 10 years is huge,” said Hendricks.

Her duties include educational outreach, letting people know how easy it is to donate a kidney and talking about the needs for kidney donation. She also works with people who have signed up for her class and helps them navigate the process of identifying and attracting live donors. The class is designed primarily for family members of the patient, she said.

“It is hard enough to go through dialysis and fight the emotional struggles that go along with that to stay healthy enough to get transplanted,” Hendricks said. “Our goal is to teach the family members—the wife, the husband, the coworker, the church member—how to stand up and be an advocate for the other person’s care. Let us help them stay healthy enough to get transplanted. Let me teach you how to do the outreach to help save your friend or your family member’s life.”

Learning the Business

Public service is part of Hendricks’s DNA.

“That is inherently who I am,” she said. “The best part of me and my day is public service. I want to help someone else. I want to make a difference. I want to be impactful. I want to make someone else’s day or way easier for them. That is gratifying. That is why I serve.”

Hendricks, 44, learned to help others growing up with her family in Birmingham. She watched her grandfather run his restaurant, Bud’s Deli, on Finley Boulevard in North Birmingham’s Acipco neighborhood. Her grandfather’s brothers and sisters owned the Hendricks Brothers restaurant on the same block. One of her grandmothers owned a beauty shop and her other grandmother helped operate the deli business. Her parents, Elias and Gaynell Hendricks, own the Wee Care Academy day care center.

“I really didn’t know anything different,” said Hendricks. “When I was a little girl, my grandfather owned a delicatessen. … When I was about 4 or 5, I learned how to count money because he had me working his cash register. I was enthralled by that process of actually counting money and … the process of selling those goods—sandwiches, hot dogs, sodas. … That’s what really attracted me to doing business.”

Hendricks, currently in her second term as a board member, attended pre-kindergarten through fourth grade in New Jersey at Oak Knoll, a Montessori school. When the family moved to Birmingham, she went to Cherokee Bend and St. Paul’s elementary schools. She attended Altamont School from sixth through ninth grades and Homewood High School in her sophomore year, and she graduated from Shades Valley High School.

“I went to three different high schools, and that’s part of the reason why I got on the [Birmingham] School Board,” she said. “I have a very diverse academic background, and I wish I could see those types of advancements happen in public education, as well.”

After high school, Hendricks enrolled at Clark Atlanta University, thinking she was going to major in marketing, but she really wanted to be a social worker. Eventually, she changed her major to finance.

“I come from a family of entrepreneurs,” she said.

After earning a bachelor’s degree in finance, Hendricks later attended the University of Alabama to obtain an Executive Master of Business Administration degree; she has one more class to finish before graduating.

Around 2001, she moved to the Norwood community and embarked on another chapter in her life of service when she joined other residents to generate buzz, to create “… excitement about Norwood and get people interested in wanting to relocate … [to the neighborhood],” she said.

Norwood had two schools, Norwood Elementary School and Kirby Middle School, and both closed: “We realized over the years the impact that made in the neighborhood,” she said.

Hendricks worked to reopen one of those schools, and that gave her insight about the needs of her community.

“I was able to go into the [school board] position knowing some of the critical needs of my district,” she said.

Elected to School Board

In 2013, Hendricks was elected to the Birmingham Board of Education representing District 4; she was re-elected in 2017.

“The state took over the leadership [of the school system], and that’s what motivated me to run. … I really wanted to make a difference right where I am for my child and for all the students,” said Hendricks, whose son is a student at Ramsay High School and was attending Phillips Academy when she decided run for the school board.

Hendricks said Birmingham City Schools are headed in the right direction and have their finances in better order than when she first joined the board. Her district has five schools—Hayes K-8, Hudson K-8, Inglenook School, Norwood Elementary School, and Woodlawn High School—that serve 19 neighborhoods.

“Not only are the students within those schools my customers, but the neighborhood, the parents, the community are, too,” she said, explaining that board members don’t get assistants, so she has to answer each phone call.

“There’s an expectation to be available and accessible to the community. That is critical and necessary.”

“Board members have the responsibility of not only hiring, firing, and governing the superintendent but also being public servants in our communities and being stakeholders with our parents and our corporate partners.”

Mentoring

In addition to serving on the school board, Hendricks serves as a mentor—something she began long before being elected. She meets many of her students while they are in high school and stays with them through college.

“That’s just a part of me because I know the struggles academically,” Hendricks said. “I was not the smartest student in class. I had to work hard. I had to struggle sometimes. When I see my students … transitioning into that position, I do anything I can to help.”

Hendricks’s style of help includes scholarships, subsidies, “and just being there.”

“[When they say], ‘Hey, look, it’s getting hard out here, I don’t know if I’m going to make it through next semester.’ [I’m there] being that support, saying, ‘Hey, you can keep doing it,’ or aligning resources.”

Opportunity to Succeed

Oftentimes, Hendricks believes, the only thing separating children in terms of success is the opportunity to succeed.

“If you can bridge resources, oftentimes our children will reach up and grab them,” she said. “They just don’t know where to go. … I like to connect those dots, so we can make these things easier and work together to transform the community.”

Hendricks’s love of working with students began at her family’s Wee Care Academy, where she served as vice president of operations from 1999 to 2005 before taking a position at Birmingham-Shuttlesworth Airport; she returned to the day care from 2013 to 2017.

“Working with children keeps you energized,” she said. “It makes you keep changing your perspective. It makes you broaden your opinions. Our students, our children are the future. If you want to know where you’re going, you need to talk to the folks that are going there with you. I think we often ignore or overlook the words of children. I interact better with children.”

Hendricks has worked with Wee Care in different capacities since her college years.

“That made me not only realize how important it is to listen to children … but also realize the importance of service … [and] education,” she said. “Our children who graduated through Wee Care in the past 30 years … probably have almost 98 or 99 percent college-[attendance] rate. … Seeing that in [our] business, I feel compelled to try to translate that into public education.”

This article originally appeared in The Birmingham Times.

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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

1 week 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.

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Oakland School Board Grapples with Potential $100 Million Shortfall Next Year

The school board approved Superintendent Denise Saddler’s plan for major cuts to schools and the district office, but they are still trying to avoid outside pressure to close flatland schools.

Published

2 weeks ago

December 14, 2025

Oakland Post

OUSD Supt. Denise Saddler. File photo.

By Post Staff

The Oakland Board of Education is continuing to grapple with a massive $100 million shortfall next year, which represents about 20% of the district’s general fund budget.

The school board approved Superintendent Denise Saddler’s plan for major cuts to schools and the district office, but they are still trying to avoid outside pressure to close flatland schools.

Without cuts, OUSD is under threat of being taken over by the state. The district only emerged from state receivership in July after 22 years.

“We want to make sure the cuts are away from the kids,” said Kampala Taiz-Rancifer, president of the Oakland Education Association, the teachers’ union. “There are too many things that are important and critical to instruction, to protecting our most vulnerable kids, to safety.”

The school district has been considering different scenarios for budget cuts proposed by the superintendent, including athletics, libraries, clubs, teacher programs, and school security.

The plan approved at Wednesday’s board meeting, which is not yet finalized, is estimated to save around $103 million.

Staff is now looking at decreasing central office staff and cutting extra-curricular budgets, such as for sports and library services. It will also review contracts for outside consultants, limiting classroom supplies and examine the possibility of school closures, which is a popular proposal among state and county officials and privatizers though after decades of Oakland school closures, has been shown to save little if any money.

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How Charles R. Drew University Navigated More Than $20 Million in Fed Cuts – Still Prioritizing Students and Community Health

Named after the pioneering physician Dr. Charles R. Drew, famous for his work in blood preservation, CDU’s mission is to cultivate “diverse health professional leaders dedicated to social justice and health equity for underserved populations through education, research, clinical service, and, above all, community engagement.”

Published

1 month ago

November 16, 2025

Oakland Post

Photo Caption: The campus of Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science (CDU) in Los Angeles. CBM photo by Max Elramsisy.

Charlene Muhammad | California Black Media

Earlier this year, when the federal government slashed more than $20 million in grants to Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science (CDU), the leadership of California’s only historically Black medical school scrambled to stabilize its finances — while protecting its staff and students.

The school is widely recognized as a vital pipeline for Black doctors and other health professionals throughout California.

Dr. David Carlisle (center), President of Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science (CDU), with two of the university’s students. Photo Courtesy of Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science.

Dr. Jose Torres-Ruiz, CDU’s Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, said the university—designated as a Historically Black Graduate Institution (HBGI)—was notified in early March 2025 that most of its major grants, including the Research Centers in Minority Institutions (RCMI) award, known at CDU as the “Accelerating Excellence in Translational Science” (AXIS Grant), would be terminated. Initially renewed, the grant was later revoked because its language did not align with the current federal administration’s priorities.

The AXIS Grant provides $4.5 million per year for five years through the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. CDU quickly reallocated other funds to protect its scientists, staff, and technicians, though some personnel losses were unavoidable.

“We didn’t want to fire them because these people have expertise that takes years to gain,” Torres-Ruiz said.

The grant is crucial, he added, funding research in cancer, diabetes, and metabolic diseases that affect the Willowbrook community in South Los Angeles, training the next generation of scientists, and supporting community outreach.

Programs at the school, including its youth and teen mentoring programs reach beyond the walls of the university, impacting the lives and quality of health care of people in the surrounding community, one of the most underserved areas in Los Angeles County.

Confronted with the harsh reality of funding cuts, the university’s leadership made an early, strategic choice to honor its foundational commitment and prioritize its students. Dr. Deborah Prothrow-Stith, dean of CDU’s College of Medicine, highlighted the school’s deliberate focus on admitting students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds — many of whom are Pell Grant recipients and graduates of public high schools.

“We are staying true to our mission, finding creative ways to prioritize what’s most important,” she said. “I’m optimistic because of our students—they are dedicated and committed to service.”

In addition, the $2 million-per-year John Lewis NIMHD Research Endowment Program, intended to strengthen CDU’s research infrastructure, was terminated with three years remaining after a February 2025 freeze on nearly all federal grants for public health, education, and infrastructure projects.

Following an appeal, CDU learned in June that the RCMI grant had been fully reinstated, along with all but eight smaller grants. The university’s next priority is restoring the John Lewis Endowment.

“We are working with NIH staff to adjust the language. Certain words like ‘diversity’ and ‘equity,’ which are core values of our institution, are now under scrutiny,” Torres-Ruiz explained.

CDU has also expanded funding sources by targeting foundations and private donors. “This may happen again. We cannot rely solely on federal agencies,” Torres-Ruiz said, emphasizing the importance of building relationships with politicians and private partners.

Prothrow Stith echoed Ruiz’s perspective on cultivating multiple funding sources. “Building bridges with private foundations helps, but it doesn’t erase the disruption,” she said.

Many students rely on federal loans, CDU leaders say. Those loans are now capped at $150,000. So, most medical students graduate with $300,000–$350,000 in debt when accounting for tuition and living expenses.

To lower the burden on students, CDU is exploring options to make education more affordable, including overlapping school years to reduce annual costs.

Students like Isaiah Hoffman and Bailey Moore epitomize CDU’s values.

Hoffman, an aspiring orthopedic surgeon from Inglewood, credits Drew for inspiring his career choice. Out of 12 medical school acceptances, he chose CDU to give back to his community and continue Drew’s legacy. Hoffman also founded H.O.M.I.E.S. Inc., a nonprofit pairing Black K–12 students with mentors to support academic and personal growth.

Moore, 23, from Southeast Washington, D.C., pursued CDU to address maternal health disparities she observed in her own community – an underserved area of the nation’s capital city. “CDU pours into you. It emphasizes service, and I hope for a world without health disparities,” she said. “Drew may be small, but Drew is mighty. It was created out of necessity to save lives and empower communities.”

CDU President and CEO Dr. David Carlisle acknowledged during the Aug. 28 “State of the University” that the institution faces ongoing challenges. Political threats and grant disruptions contributed to a sizable unrestricted budget deficit, despite achievements over the past year.

Successful appeals and alternative sources of funding, led by Vice Provost Dr. Ali Andallibi, have now restored all the monies previously lost in research funding, he said.

Carlisle expressed gratitude to L.A. Care Health Plan and Sutter Health for providing multimillion-dollar scholarships and highlighted that CDU would welcome approximately 1,050 incoming students—near its highest enrollment ever. “I’m deeply grateful for the resolve, diligence, and unwavering commitment of everyone here, even when the path is not easy,” he said.

At the gathering, Carlisle referred to the sounds of ambulances passing by with blaring sirens as- the “music of healthcare,” while students and the school’s leadership attending expressed resilience in their speeches and conversations. The activities of the day captured the institution’s focus on education, service and advancing health care across disadvantaged communities in California – and beyond.

Video Report: How Charles Drew Stayed Strong Amid Federal Funding Cuts