Kathy Chao Rothberg, CEO at Lao Family Community Development, to be honored as One of 100 Most Influential Women in Business in the San Francisco Bay Area
Lao Family Community Development (LFCD) CEO Kathy Chao Rothberg
Oakland, CA. —Kathy Chao Rothberg, CEO at Lao Family Community Development (LFCD), is acknowledged as one of San Francisco Business Times’s 100 Most Powerful and Influential Women in Business throughout the Bay Area.
Chao Rothberg and a distinguished group of influential women will be recognized at an awards celebration on Tuesday, October 3, 2023, at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square. These women will share their wisdom on leadership, community service, mentorship, and the power women have to change the world.
The recipients include politicians, technology, business titans, philanthropists, and social justice warriors.
“A new model of delivering homeless outcomes and affordable housing development comes at a price,” Chao Rothberg said. “ This is our principle: Achieving self-sufficiency is priceless.” The services provided through LFCD, under Chao Rothberg’s leadership, continuously expanded throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, rapidly responding to the explosion of domestic violence cases, homelessness, and the affordable housing crisis. LFCD graduated upwards of 80 percent of the formerly incarcerated and street homeless, and thousands of Afghan and Ukrainian refugees into self-sufficiency and permanent housing in less than 12 months. Each client was provided a menu of sustainable outcomes starting with comprehensive case management, specialized education and skills training, gainful employment with career pathways, savings and other assets, critical benefits, and improved health conditions—a life filled with new opportunities.
LFCD’s proven comprehensive and integrated delivery model has earned it numerous recognitions including the San Francisco Business Time’s 2023 Community Impact Award, the East Bay Innovation Award Runner Up, the California All Youth Community Access Award, and the California Workforce Development Apprenticeship Award in recent years.
LFCD’s innovative practices include, for example, repurposing a vacant 285-room Motel 6 near Oakland International Airport and a 107-room Vagabond Executive Inn in Downtown Sacramento into a co-located facility with partner providers, dormitory housing, growth sector vocational training such as Certified Nurse Assistant, Network and IT professionals, High School diploma for adults, job placement (including an earn and learn to career placement), health-related programs, among many other services for those who are facing a wide range of obstacles.
LFCD was formed as a non-profit 501(c)(3) in 1980 by former refugees from Laos. Today the organization serves individuals from 40 nationalities, delivers specialized client service in 35 languages, and impacts the lives of over 31,000 diverse residents annually in three northern California counties (Alameda, Contra Costa, and Sacramento). Its mission is to advance the well-being of diverse communities through culturally informed employment, housing, asset development, and education. It has served over 500,000 Californians who earn lower incomes.
For more information, contact: Brad Meyers, Resource & Partnership Development Manager, Bmeyer@lfcd.org | (510) 533-8850.