LifeLong Medical Care’s Labor of Love

Foothill Square, where LifeLong Medical Care’s East Oakland Health Center is located, was hit hard during the protests following George Floyd’s murder. The center was spared but the surrounding environment was in complete chaos. Josalynn Neal, the center’s Wellness Program Manager and an East Oakland native, led an effort to inspire staff and community. “Once our building was boarded up, I knew what I wanted to do, having been inspired by the numerous murals in Downtown Oakland. I had a casual conversation with my co-worker Josh, who works in the facilities department, about how depressing the boarded up windows were and how I was hoping to paint them. He told me his wife was an artist and does murals. I contacted her and gave her my vision and within a couple of weekends it was done. I reached out to previous AmeriCorps Fellows, interns, and volunteers to see if they would help. It was truly a labor of love.”

The mural is one very local, concrete example of LifeLong Medical Care’s support for our community’s fight for racial justice and equity. As you pull back with a wider lens, evidence of LifeLong’s commitment starts with CEO David B. Vliet, who serves on the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) Board where he co-leads an effort to promote diversity and support leaders from under-represented ethnic groups throughout NACHC. David is bringing his commitment and expertise to his work with the African American Response Circle Fund (AARC), which Oakland-based Brotherhood of Elders Network (BOEN) and East Bay Community Foundation (EBCF) announced on July 21st. Established in April with seed funding from foundations and individual donors, the AARC Fund is intended to help meet needs related to COVID-19, which we know is an acute public health crisis for African Americans who live, work, and worship in Alameda County.

Learn more about LifeLong Medical Care by visiting their page HERE.