Growing up in a whirlwind of households – spun around from her parents’ home to foster care, to apartments of various relatives and back to multiple foster homes again – it was hard for Danika Anderson to consider stability as the norm.
“I kind of got used to it, the constant moving — my brothers and I were in foster homes in Hayward, Richmond, Tracy, all over the place,” said Anderson, who is now 27 and will earn her associate in arts degree this fall.
She’s also living in a stable housing situation with her three kids thanks to several years of life-coaching, housing and job-search support from Beyond Emancipation (B.E.), an Oakland nonprofit that assists youth who’ve come from the foster-care or probation systems as they move into adulthood and independent living.
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Founded 25 years ago, Beyond Emancipation is the primary provider for youth aging out of care in Alameda County. It has received funding this year from Share the Spirit, an annual holiday campaign that serves disadvantaged residents in the East Bay. Donations will help support 41 nonprofit agencies in Contra Costa and Alameda counties. The grant will be used to provide gift cards and meals to clients and their children during the holidays.
“My life would’ve been terrible if it hadn’t been for B.E.,” Anderson said. “They really looked out for me when I needed somebody.”
Indeed, the parade of housing situations throughout her childhood and teen years was emotionally disruptive and could have led to a much different outcome, she said. While some foster parents had been kind – particularly one Anderson loved who had introduced her to church — others were not.
“There was a lot of disrespect,” she said. “There was a foster parent who wanted to keep me and my brothers, but we felt like she just wanted the money. She would put us outside early in the morning so she could have company over.
“By the time I was 17, almost 18, I wanted to emancipate myself from the limited situation I was in. Really very literally,” she said. “So I ran away.”
That’s when Anderson made her first contact with B.E. Her biological dad was the one who encouraged her to check out the agency’s offices on Hegenberger Road in Oakland, and she immediately appreciated the kindness of the staff.
“I was kind of nervous. I didn’t really know what (B.E.) was, but the first worker I met up there, she took the time out to do an intake and made me feel welcome,” Anderson said.
Still, it was not until she was 23 that she took advantage of B.E.’s programming and coaching support. In the interim, she had taken some college courses, had given birth to her two sons and was pregnant with her daughter. But the pattern of moving around from one unstable living situation to the next continued, as if ingrained in her DNA. When her last living arrangement became abusive, she turned again to the organization for help.
“I really started to think as a mother, that now that I have kids I can’t keep moving around like that in situations that might not be safe,” she said.
The folks at B.E. quickly worked to get Anderson in transitional housing.
“We’ve worked with Danika for several years,” said Julia Lakes, the organization’s director of development. “Some young people we connect with, we’re able to really work with long-term.”
Case managers, called coaches, first help young people with practical tasks like getting bus passes and opening checking accounts, and then guide them toward their long-term goals.
“We ask a young person what they need and what they want their life to look like,” Lakes said. “So many of them are used to being shuffled around from house to house and don’t have a lot of agency. Youth with experience in foster care often fall through the cracks. The vast majority we serve are Black and (Latinx) youths who are already up against so much. And now with COVID, people need our support more than ever.”
Lakes says Anderson is a wonderful example of someone who doesn’t let her past define her.
“Danika has a really bubbly, warm personality,” Lakes said. “She’s the first person in her family to go to college. She’s had a lot of hardship in her life, but she’s really resilient.”
Anderson will graduate from an online university with a degree in healthcare information management this fall, she said, with an ultimate goal of becoming a social worker. With B.E.’s help, she may have landed a job with another Oakland nonprofit that supports disadvantaged students.
And she continues to work with her B.E. coach, checking in with her nearly every week and telling her all about what’s happening in her life, Anderson said.
“At B.E., they really do look out for the foster youth, if you take the time and actually go there,” she said. “They don’t make you feel bad about your situation. They help you and they don’t judge. Just be honest with them and tell them your whole situation, and they’ll do whatever they can to help you.”
Share the Spirit
The Share the Spirit holiday campaign, sponsored by the Bay Area News Group, funds nonprofit holiday and outreach programs in Alameda and Contra Costa counties.
To make a tax-deductible contribution, clip the coupon accompanying this story or go to www.sharethespiriteastbay.org/donate. Readers with questions, and individuals or businesses interested in making grants or contributions, may contact the Share the Spirit program at 925-472-5760 or sharethespirit@crisis-center.org.
