History
Milestones
1980s – Vision and Foundation
1980: Lao Family Community Inc. of the Bay Area (LFCBA) was founded in Richmond, CA, in the living room of Executive Director Chaosarn S. Chao, as a branch of a Santa Ana–based nonprofit created by Hmong leaders.
1983: Opened our first office at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church in Richmond and secured our first Contra Costa County contract to deliver social adjustment and career services for Laotian, Mien, Hmong, Khmu, Lue, and Akha refugees. Soon after, Salvadoran refugees joined our client community.
1985: Expanded to Oakland and secured contracts with the California Office of Emergency Services and Alameda County to serve Vietnamese, Cambodian, Laotian, and Salvadoran refugees.
1986: Began offering employment, ESL, and social adjustment services to Afghan, Eritrean, and Ethiopian refugees in South Alameda County.
1990s – Establishing Roots
1990: LFCBA became Lao Family Community Development, Inc. (LFCD), broadening its mission to include affordable housing and community development. Secured major contracts for employment, On-the-Job Training (OJT), English as a Second Language (ESL), and housing rental education and assistance. Expanded services to San Pablo, CA.
1992: With support from the Chao family, transformed a fire-damaged church on 23rd Avenue & Foothill Boulevard in Oakland into a vibrant community center. Received our first Oakland youth contract, connecting 1,500 high school youth to summer jobs. Became a CalWORKs program leader.
1993: In partnership with the City of San Pablo and Contra Costa County, acquired 2.5 acres of land to develop a mixed-use community with 32 units of affordable housing (LIHTC), commercial space, and community facilities.
1996: Operated more than 20 U.S. Department of Education “El Civics” Citizenship ESL classes across California, from Sacramento to Long Beach, enabling thousands of immigrants and refugees to naturalize, gain employment, and access childcare.
1997: Expanded again in San Pablo with a new 5,000 sq. ft. community and small business center. Became a leader in CalWORKs services in Contra Costa County.
2000s – Expanding Horizons
2000: Launched the Individual Development Account (IDA) matched savings program with EBALDC, later expanding with EARN and the City of Oakland. Led a 13-agency coalition that significantly expanded ESL and citizenship services across Northern California.
2006: Appointed a new Executive Director, bringing expertise in affordable housing, mixed-use commercial development, and resource growth—ushering in the next era of leadership.
2007: Expanded to South Sacramento, opening an office serving Hmong, Russian, and Mien refugees with victim-of-crime services.
2008: Expanded facilities with a new community and education annex in San Pablo and redeveloped a 30,000 sq. ft. former warehouse in Oakland—supported by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Community Development.
2010s – Strengthening Communities
2010: Celebrated LFCD’s 30th Anniversary with over 1,000 guests in Oakland. Expanded Even Start Family Literacy and afterschool mentoring programs.
2011: One of only five organizations statewide awarded the Chevron California Economic Development Partnership grant for small business development in Richmond and West Contra Costa.
2012: Received multiple honors:
- Bank of America Neighborhood Builder Excellence Award (one of only 92 nationwide).
- California Parks and Recreation $3.7M grant to create a new community center.
- Sierra Health Foundation–USC Health Fellowship Capacity Grant (one of 100 awarded).
2016: Became a U.S. State Department and California Department of Social Services–approved refugee resettlement and placement agency.
2017: Won the Harvard University–sponsored Inner City Capital Connections Award. Entered thoughtfully into serving the justice-impacted and reentry populations.
2018: Opened the CARE Community Center in Oakland, now LFCD’s headquarters.
2019: Launched LFCD’s 2019–2023 Strategic Plan and the CARE Community Center Initiative, expanding economic development and mobile services for homeless individuals, reentry populations, and people with disabilities. Began accreditation process with the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) International.
2020s – Innovating for the Future
2020: Opened a 12-unit recovery and transitional housing facility for survivors of domestic violence, families experiencing homelessness, and individuals with urgent health needs.
2021: Expanded with a 30,000 sq. ft. multipurpose community center in Sacramento, a 285-room transitional housing and medical facility in East Oakland, and four CARE Casita Village social housing units in Sacramento.
2024: Credentialed by the California Department of Healthcare Management as a provider under California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM), strengthening partnerships in health, human services, and housing.
2025: Celebrating 45 Years of Community Impact – from a Richmond apartment to a regional nonprofit transforming over 500,000 lives across Northern California.
Timeline
1978 to 1980
Lao Family functioned as a self-help group staffed and led by volunteer Laotian refugees and board members, and supported with individual donations.
1980s to 1990s
Founded in the living room of Chaosarn S. Chao, Lao Family’s founding Executive Director, the organization later relocated to a church annex in Richmond, California. Lao Family served a melting pot of 90,000+ clients from various countries in Southeast and East Asia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Iran and the former Soviet Union. The initial objective was to help fellow refugees rebuild their lives in the Bay Area after escaping the political and social upheaval that ravaged their home countries. Critical needs support included family sponsorship, resettlement, airport pickup, apartment set-ups, acculturation, information and referral, case management, victim counseling, interpretation, school enrollment, social security card and identification card assistance, public health insurance access, housing, transportation navigation, basic adult education, El Civics citizenship and job assistance.
1990s to 2000s
After reincorporating in 1990 and becoming a Community Development Corporation in the mid-1990s, Lao Family grew rapidly broadening into economic initiatives like affordable housing development, neighborhood building economic projects, first-time homeownership and foreclosure intervention counseling, financing economic success and asset development initiatives, affordable health care enrollment, career pathways, CTE programs and higher education for youth and adult refugees, other Limited English Populations, the re-entry, homeless and TANF/CalWORKs populations, capacity building of emerging refugee and immigrant organizations. During this nearly 20-year period, Lao Family’s programs impacted 225,000+ low-income minority Californians.
2018
Lao Family completed the December 2018 opening of its new 30,000 sq. ft. mixed-use collaboratively-developed CARE Community Center and HQ complex.
For 45 years, LFCD has been a steadfast anchor for immigrants, refugees, and underserved communities—empowering generations to build safe, stable, and thriving futures.
Visit
Visit Lao Family at one of our 9 locations in Alameda, Contra Costa and Sacramento Counties. Access one of Lao Family’s 12 major programs and connect with one of their 100 staff members who will welcome you in one of their 35 languages spoken.