These past weeks I have been really struggling…I was already
feeling the weight of what my friends and family endure and overcome each day.
Many of those friends- those family are
the folks who make up the Urban Mentors Network. As I have been prayerfully carrying those
worries and cares paired with deep admiration, some questions arose over how
Urban Mentors functions and whether what we are doing is effective. It has weighed me down with concern and
sadness.
After more than nine years of working in the traditional non-profit
world I watched services follow funding or studies and I saw vulnerable youth
pay the cost. If a county changed its policy or buddied up to a new
organization services could change rapidly – youth could lose therapists or mentors,
they had grown to trust. What the youth or their families needed or wanted mattered
when it could, but often funding sources had the last word.
While I was working in this world I was building and
maintaining authentic, long term, messy relationships with youth and families
in my neighborhood. I was living in East Oakland and I was outside my own culture,
away from my own family and folks took me in as their own. They also allowed me
the privilege of loving their children. These were the relationships that sealed
my commitment to Oakland…not a “save the world” idea or my hope of changing
others…they changed me and allowed me do life with them. We held each other’s
joys, celebrations, fears and pains…we still do.
I arrived in Oakland in 2000, misguided and well meaning. In
2017 I hold so much gratefulness for the ways Oakland has loved me, taught me
and trusted me to be a part of the family. Today I am so grateful for the
parents of Urban Mentors, who have been through hell and back but keep fighting
for their children, they fight for me and they fight to make Oakland better for
everyone. Over 17 years I have seen so
much perseverance and transformation- very little of it was due to Urban
Mentors but all of it has helped make Urban Mentors what it is. They and their
children have a voice in every decision and vision that comes into existence
through Urban Mentors. Urban Mentors Network is more than a program…we are a family
of parents, youth and volunteer mentors working together to build positive community
and our hope is to empower our youth to lead and serve while having a safe
place to explore who they are and who they want to be. Everyone has a voice in
Urban Mentors and everyone brings something to the table helping build a strong
beautiful broken family…funding will never determine the quality or the length of
our relationships. We are doing life together. We are fighting for each other.
Sometimes we look like other programs, often we don’t – because we
are so much more than a program. This Thanksgiving season I will reflect on 17
years or relationships, 17 years of memories and miracles that shape who I am
and shape what Urban Mentors is. I will seek to push through this heavy-
hearted season and find my joy knowing I am blessed.
The greatest privilege I have ever been afforded is to do life
with all of you. You courageous, strong, talented, underestimated family of
world changers…Thank you Urban Mentors Network, thank you East Oakland for
being more than words will ever explain. Thank you for taking me in and loving
me. Thank you for encouraging me and sacrificing along with me to build this
community. Thank you for forgiving me when I messed up or thought I knew more
than I did. Thank you for mentoring me into a more authentic, stronger woman. I
have tears in my eyes, praying we get another 17 years together…hopefully many
more.
