A first in a series of discussions related to Disability and Housing led by EBHO’s Director of Organizing Dolores Tejada, please join us for our Lunch & Learn on September 26th. We will discuss emerging models of affordable housing that are serving people with disabilities, an often underserved community. We will also discuss tangible ways for developers and service providers can better serve people with disabilities. Joining us will be Fatimah Aure from The Kelsey, Teslim Ikharo from the Supportive Housing Community Land Alliance, and Michai Freeman from the Center for Independent Living Berkeley. We will be recording the session and posting it to our Lunch & Learn web page shortly after the event’s conclusion.
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Fatimah Aure is The Kelsey’s Director of Field Building & Capacity. With a communications degree from Northwestern University and a Public Policy Masters from UC Berkeley, she leads The Kelsey’s efforts to grow the field of leaders, advocates and champions of disability-forward housing solutions. She dreams of a day when affordable, accessible and inclusive housing is a given for any new developments. She is fueled by The Kelsey’s commitment to a co-led movement by people with and without disabilities. She uses a cane for balance and coordination stemming from a neurological movement condition. Born and raised in San Francisco, she is now an Oakland resident with her husband Seth and dog Duke Ellington.
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Teslim is an urban strategist, community convener, and impact investor, using finance, real estate development, social services, and policy to produce positive change. With several professional lives as an investment advisor, real estate developer, and managing director of social service programs, Teslim brings experience in mental health, homeless, formerly incarcerated, and social justice disciplines to Supportive Housing Community Land Alliance.
An Oakland native, Teslim grew up in the city’s Dimond District–a neighborhood he credits with helping to shape his worldview and belief that diversity is a necessary component for creating resilient communities. He believes that proximity and access to public spaces, academic and cultural institutions, and public transit are the bedrock of inclusive, diverse, safe, and healthy blocks, neighborhoods, and cities.
As SHCLA’s first staff person and first executive director, Teslim is most excited about bridging the gap between academic research on access to high opportunity neighborhoods and SHCLA resident health outcomes. He looks forward to working to democratize beauty by adding elements of art and design to each project so that residents, and the surrounding neighborhood, feel more socially connected.
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Michai was born in Manhattan but spent their formative years living in Brooklyn, New York. After developing a neuromuscular disease at a young age, they were bused two hours from their home to attend a public school for disabled kids who were denied admission at their local school. This was at times alienating because the school resided in a neighborhood that many Black people would not walk in at night for fear of being targeted. They account this experience as their early education in inaccessible public buildings, racism, and the marginalization of Black and disabled children in the public school system (and society).
In 1989 Michai came to California to attend the University of California at Berkeley majoring in Middle Eastern Studies and studying abroad in Egypt for one year, where they were the first physically disabled student to study in Egypt. They later earned a Master’s Degree from John F. Kennedy University in Holistic Studies with a specialization in Nutrition.
Michai believes in true affordable housing for disabled and working class people, police accountability and transparency, and the full inclusion of people with disabilities.
