East Bay Mandana Community Recovery Center 

A Spiritual Rebirthing 
 

 
 
What is a Community Recovery Center? 
 
Community centers are public locations where members of a community may gather for group activities, social
support, public information, and other purposes. Community centers are seen as playing a major part in the concept
of community development and democracy because neighborhood groups attend to people's needs, desires and
aspirations. A Community Recovery Center that addresses the destructive consequences of compulsive behavior is
organized around the need to provide a safe place for members to experience recovery from their symptomatic
addictions. These behaviors are typically rooted in family-of-origin dysfunction such as alcohol and substance abuse,
trauma, abandonment, neglect and incest. For these troubled souls, the Community Recovery Center becomes the
center for its own social welfare and expression; to peer into its own mind and life, to discover its own social needs and
then to meet them so the members can lead more productive and fulfilling lives.

What is Community Programming? 
 
Community programming refers to ongoing events specifically designed to address critical challenges that face a
community. They are group efforts undertaken to address local challenges such as the homeless, underemployment,
non-productivity in the workplace, health costs, disease caused by self-neglect, mental and emotional afflictions,
environmental issues and violence. The World Bank is evaluating to what extent Community initiatives enhance the
national response, with the idea going forward, government and stakeholders will use these findings to better structure
their design and implementation of community-based programs.

Who is East Bay Mandana Community Recovery Center? 

East Bay Mandana Community Recovery Center is the non-profit public benefit corporation organized in August 2010
to preserve the use and identity of the defunct Mandana Community Recovery Center located in two contiguous
structures at 3989 Howe St. and 187-40th St. in Oakland, CA. In 1975, the century old private residence was turned into
a community recovery center that focused on substance abuse counseling. Mandana Community Recovery Center was
founded in 1989 at the corner of Mandana Blvd. and Lakeshore Blvd. In 1994, Mandana Community Recovery Center
merged with the Howe St. community recovery center. Mandana Community Recovery Center operated from its
current location until June 2010 when state, county and agency funding cutbacks forced its closure.
 
Why is East Bay Mandana Community Recovery Center Unique? 

Since 1975, Mandana Community Recovery Center served as a hub and base community for addiction recovery. The
members gave it life and spirituality and made it a place for hope and betterment for all those who crossed its
threshold. Mandana Community Recovery Center has offered a safe, home-like haven and support each year to tens
of thousands of recovering addicts. Services were disseminated through an array of recovery and prevention
curriculum including Twelve Step Group support programs, sober living support and counseling, educational events
and community wellness programs designed to strengthen and heal the East Bay and adjacent communities.
Mission Statement of East Bay Mandana Community Recovery Center 
 
East Bay Mandana Community Recovery Center is aimed at connecting individuals suffering from dysfunctional
compulsive addictions and/or disorders, who want to take greater responsibility for their health and well-being, with
other like-minded individuals. East Bay Mandana Community Recovery Center is not meant to replace therapy,
clergy and medicine, but work in an integrative way to teach people to abstain from the destructive consequences of
addictive behavior, understand the nature of their psychological disorder, and to be part of a functional, wholesome
and non-exploitive community that supports well-being and is grounded in love, compassion and spirit.
East Bay Mandana Community Recovery Center’s Core Programs
East Bay Mandana Community Recovery Center is a place where addicts and others suffering from dysfunctional
compulsive behaviors may find hope, a sense of belonging, can come to understand their disease, and find new ways to
manage their obstacles. These individuals arrive at East Bay Mandana Community Recovery Center’s doors, alienated
and hopeless, drowning in addictive substances and self-destructive processes. They need a place where they feel
accepted by those understanding their experience.

Meetings
East Bay Mandana Community Recovery Center provides rooms for Twelve Step Recovery Groups in a safe setting
that is welcoming, supportive and nurturing. The members have typically experienced traumatic personal difficulties or
illness, and are seeking a new approach to coping and transformation. The individual new to recovery is
overwhelmed, frightened, unsure and perhaps even suicidal. The individual seasoned in recovery is a comforting force
to the newcomer. And when multiple Twelve Step Recovery Groups cross paths in one location, a wonderful synergy
occurs, enhancing the recovery of all members. This synergy accelerates the discovery process; a benefit many members
attest to. East Bay Mandana Community Recovery Center has spacious rooms for established group meetings, as well
as smaller rooms that can facilitate new start-up meetings as the need arises. This sizeable number of rooms is
necessary as East Bay Mandana Community Recovery Center hosts up to 11 meetings daily, average 64 meetings
weekly, translating into 60,000 visits each year. Twelve Step Recovery Groups are as diverse as human nature and
include, but are not limited to the following programs:

1. Alcoholics Anonymous 11. Sex & Love Addicts Anonymous (SLAA)

2. Al-Anon 12. Love Addicts Anonymous
3. Adult Children of Alcoholics (ACoA) 13. Artists in Recovery
4. Narcotics Anonymous 14. Co-Sex Addicts Anonymous
5. Co-Dependents Anonymous (CoDA) 15. Debtors Anonymous (DA)
6. Marijuana Anonymous 16. Survivors of Incest Anonymous
7. Cocaine Anonymous 17. Hepatitis C Support Group
8. Nicotine Anonymous 18. Drop-in Relapse Prevention Support Group
9. Overeaters Anonymous (OA) 19. Workaholics Anonymous
10. Sex Addicts Anonymous (SAA) 20. LifeRing Secular Recovery

Educational Programs 
 
Education programs complement Twelve Step Recovery Group support. Members and the general public attend
presentations on recovery issues such as domestic violence, inner child healing, relationships and boundaries, and on
remedies such as body/mind/spirit integration, visualization, therapy modality options, meditation and yoga.
Educational programs add depth, variety and choice to the members’ recovery process. In addition, East Bay
Mandana Community Recovery Center services the surrounding communities by reaching out to members and the
general public by providing free monthly HIV testing, hepatitis screening and therapeutic health & wellness programs.

Member Participation Programs
Member participation programs include volunteer programs and appreciation events. Volunteer programs utilize East
Bay Mandana Community Recovery Center’s greatest asset, its members. Volunteer programs allow members to fulfill
the service component of their recovery commitment while building self esteem. Appreciation events are held on a
regular basis. They include recovery anniversary celebrations, general East Bay Mandana Community Recovery Center
membership meetings, and a monthly pot-luck. These social functions are hosted by East Bay Mandana Community
Recovery Center and Regional Centers of Expertise and serve to promote the attractiveness of East Bay Mandana
Community Recovery Center to newcomers as a desirable destination for achieving sustainable recovery through their
chosen modality, Twelve Step Recovery Groups or otherwise. When the dignity of the members and of the recovering
community is acknowledged, recovery is enhanced.
 Interim Officers & Directors 
East Bay Mandana Community Recovery Center 
 
After normal operations are made certain, which is projected to take place over six to twelve months, a
Nominating Committee will be organized to assist the Founding Directors in recruiting and retaining an
Independent Successor Board of Directors.
 
Amani Ellen Loutfy, President, Founding Director 
Amani brings to East Bay Mandana Community Recovery Center 15 years' management experience, focused
on non-profit business development and best practices. She has strong analytical skills and is extremely savvy
with the internet and social network technologies, and carries an understanding of web publishing and
content management. Amani has worked with such companies as Burning Man, Ignition Northwest (as a
charter director), Black Rock Solar, WorldChanging, iCopyright, Static Factory Media and Bill Graham
Presents in multiple capacities, from Director of Public Relations to Executive Director. All of this coupled
with her extensive and varied experience both in and out of the public sector, in industries ranging from
special events management to community-focused nonprofit organizations, makes her an ideal fit as
operational ‘ground control’ for the East Bay Mandana Community Recovery Center team. Amani believes
that all things are possible when collaboration is at the heart of any endeavor.
 
James Jordan – Vice President, Founding Director 
James has supported the East Bay recovery community for over 17 years. Creating a safe place for those in
need is a driving vision in James’s life. A resident of the East Bay for the majority of his life, James earned a
BA from UC Berkeley in English in 1995. James has over a decade of professional experience in project
management and team building at major corporations including Wells Fargo and United Healthcare.

Becky Redfield ­ Treasurer, Founding Director 
Becky arrived in the Bay Area from Jakarta, Indonesia in 1997, bringing a young family in tow. A batik
textile designer in Madison, Wisconsin, for 10 years, her credits include a BA in Linguistics (Madison) 1986, an
interior wiring certificate, telephone pole climbing school, and 3 years as an Indonesian interpreter for the US
Department of State. She has designed and managed work flows at a network security company, in light
industry and currently in local government. Becky is dedicated to re-opening the doors of Mandana House.

Rick Weinstein, Secretary, Founding Director 
Rick brings his vocations as a major fundraiser and life insurance sales executive to East Bay Mandana
Community Recovery Center. After earning a BSBA from Ohio Sate in 1978, Rick became a CPA with Price
Waterhouse. Rick later worked for various private companies and entrepreneurial start-ups in the oil & gas,
real estate, pharmaceutical, long-term care, automotive service and multi-level marketing industries. Rick
transitioned into financial planning in 1991 and has been a top life insurance salesman since 1995. Rick now
devotes more time to fundraising for major charitable causes with an emphasis on environment, medical
technology, health & well-being and social services. He currently lives in Oakland with his partner and two
felines. Rick is the proud father of two adult children.

“By this, the dreamer crosses to the other shore. And by a like miracle, so will each whose work is the difficult, dangerous task of
self-discovery and self-development, be portered across the ocean of life.” ---- Joseph Campbell (1904 – 1987)
T o the dismay of all who have experienced its life changing support services, the defunct Mandana Community
Recovery Center closed on June 20, 2010. This closure was a result of draconian cuts in public agency and
government funding which impacted Horizon Services Inc., a non-profit social services organization that operated
Mandana Community Recovery Center the past 16 years.
Since 1975, Mandana Community Recovery Center served as a hub and base community of recovery activity in a
unique and special way. The members gave it life and spirituality and made it a place for hope and betterment for all
those who crossed its threshold. Mandana Community Recovery Center offered a safe haven and support to tens of
thousands of recovering addicts per year through an array of recovery and prevention programs including Twelve Step
programs and sober living support services.
So many people have turned their lives around at Mandana Community Recovery Center that a proactive committee
of concerned citizens came together when notice of the pending closure was announced on May 4. After conducting a
searching and fearless business inventory, the committee quietly set about formulating an ambitious goal of reopening
the facility as East Bay Mandana Community Recovery Center by fall 2010, expanding its reach throughout the East
Bay and improving its services for the thousands of recovering addicts still suffering and needing a safe community of
support.
To achieve this goal, the committee is now forging ahead by organizing a nonprofit public benefit corporation doing
business as East Bay Mandana Community Recovery Center. East Bay Mandana Community Recovery Center is
filing its articles of incorporation with the office of the Secretary of State and the Attorney General’s Registry of
Charitable Trusts. East Bay Mandana Community Recovery Center intends to apply for federal and state tax-exempt
status by filing applications with the Internal Revenue Code and California Franchise Tax Board, respectively. East Bay
Mandana Community Recovery Center shall promote best practices by espousing fiscal and fiduciary responsibility,
transparency, accountability, diversity, sustainability, effective governance and relevance.
East Bay Mandana Community Recovery Center will connect addicts, who want to take greater responsibility for their
health and well-being, with other like-minded addicts. East Bay Mandana Community Recovery Center is not meant
to replace therapy, clergy and medicine, but work in an integrative way to teach people to abstain from the
destructive consequences of addictive behavior, understand the nature of their psychological disorder, and to be part
of a functional, wholesome and non-exploitive community that supports well-being and is grounded in love,
compassion and spirit.
To preserve the use and identity of East Bay Mandana Community Recovery Center, we need your 
generous contributions TODAY in order to: 
 Enter into a flexible month-to-month rental agreement that will:
a) Permit group meetings of ten or less people to resume in the 4 rooms fronting 40th St.
b) Permit group meetings of twenty or less people to resume in the back garden room.
c) Provide space in the back offices to house East Bay Mandana Community Recovery Center’s volunteer,
administrative and development staff.
 Hire security to facilitate a seven-day weekly meeting schedule.
 Fund organization and start up expenses including legal, accounting, website & consulting.
After a trial period proving normal operations, and to ensure that a full array of recovery services 
continue unabated, we will need your generous ONGOING contributions in order to: 
 Enter into a long-term total occupancy lease.
 Hire a full-time Executive Director to implement best-practices to manage the facility, assist the Interim
Directors in retaining an independent governing Board of Directors, formulate a needs assessment, develop a
strategic plan, and oversee public relations and the media.
 Implement short and long term development strategies that will cover staffing, security and capital
improvements to ensure sustainable operations for the next generation of members who cross the threshold.

Your generous contributions can be made by check to: East Bay Mandana Community Recovery Center
Send by mail to P.O. Box 20286, Oakland, CA 94611
Website ebmcrc.org | Email info@ebmcrc.org | Tel (510) 473-5353