Dear EBHO Community,
It is with a heavy heart that we write to inform you of the recent passing of two housing leaders in our community: Reverend Phil Lawson and Resident Leader Melody Parker.
Rev. Lawson was the originator of EBHO’s faith program (founded in 2004 as Interfaith Communities United, now Faith & Justice) and worked to involve faith communities in EBHO’s work of housing justice until retiring in 2011.
Melody Parker graduated from our Leadership Academy (Class of 2022), and was an active member of our Resident Community Organizing Program (RCOP) and Housing California’s Residents United Network (RUN).
The EBHO team remembers the lives and legacies of Rev. Lawson and Melody Parker below.
Please contact us at staff@ebho.org if you would like details on either of their memorial services.
Be well,
— Lindsay Haddix, Executive Director
Rev. Phil Lawson
Rev. Lawson speaking at EBHO’s 5th and 6th annual Interfaith Breakfast events.
EBHO mourns the death, and celebrates the life and ministry, of Rev. Phil Lawson. Rev. Lawson contributed to multiple social justice movements in the Bay Area and the nation over his long life. He was a creative leader and a mentor to many social justice organizers across the East Bay.
“We give thanks for Rev. Phil’s many contributions, including to our work of housing justice advocacy. We remain committed to continuing his legacy of organizing with faith communities for housing justice.”
— Rev. Sophia DeWitt, Chief Program Officer
Melody Parker
“Melody Parker had been an EBHO member since graduating from our Leadership Academy in 2022. Since then she went on to be a RUN Leader, RCOP member, and even joined EBHO as a temporary employee during our Regional Suburban Organizing Program Campaign last year.
Melody was a 3-time cancer survivor, an active member in Oakland’s Black Cultural Zone, and a good friend who knew how to make us all laugh. She cared intensely for her unhoused neighbors and was dedicated to uplifting the Black community in Oakland in any and every way she could.
Along with friends and colleagues here in the Bay and across the state, I will miss her in RUN and on the RCOP committee.”
— Damion Scott, Lead Organizer
“Every time I saw Melody by myself and in meetings, she would always enter saying, ‘Hi family.’
She would then go through the room kissing people on the forehead.
Every time she left she would say, ‘I love you.’
She was also a giving person. I’m going to miss her so much.”
— Cathy Eberhardt, EBHO Board Member and Resident Leader
Melody and Cathy worked together for several years through EBHO’s various Resident Organizing programs. They attended a Community Change Training event in New Orleans in 2023, pictured to the right.
