The Sacramento community has many champions in the fight against poverty.
Perhaps none are more dedicated than Faye Wilson Kennedy.
CapRadio caught up with Faye earlier this year at the Black Hygiene Drive in Oak Park. It’s one of the many programs she runs to help Sacramento communities in need. The year-round effort hands out essential oils, Afro piks, lotions and other products tailored to Black residents, including those living on the street.
“Hygiene products can be expensive,” Faye said. “For folks on a limited income, it may be the difference between buying food and buying a $1.99 toothpaste. And then specifically Black hair care products can be very expensive.”
Faye said these aren’t just vanity products — the oils can prevent itching, scratching and even lesions.
“People think it’s about beauty, but it’s really about health and safety. And of course we always want to look good,” she added with a laugh.
Faye is 70 years old with short gray hair and an easy smile. She’s small in stature but has a commanding presence — and impact. But Faye’s work
helping Sacramento’s most vulnerable was put on hold for two years while she was “out of commission,” as she put it, battling cancer and neuropathy during the pandemic.
Kennedy says items like wide-tooth combs are essential for Black residents. She adds that few homeless shelters provide hair and hygiene products for unhoused residents.Chris Nichols/CapRadioAs she healed, Faye said she came to grips with the fact that she’ll need to scale back some of her efforts. But, she continued, the time also reinforced her core values.
“It afforded me downtime to reflect on what kind of community, what kind of society I want to live in,” she said. “And I want to live in a society where people are interconnected, where we are helping one another.”
For years, Faye has advocated for Sacramento’s unhoused community. When necessary, she’s offered blunt assessments of the region’s elected leaders. That includes her scathing critique of officials for failing to open warming centers in Sacramento before a deadly winter storm in January 2021.
“People said ‘Who to blame?’ I blame all of them, the city council, the mayor, the board of supervisors. I blame them all,” Faye said at a vigil mourning the deaths of unhoused residents killed in the storm. “You have blood on your hands!”
Faye’s passion remains the same today. But her advocacy often takes place behind the scenes: On a typical day, you might find her sending out email blasts to organize pro-immigrant rallies at the state Capitol, or writing comments to the City Council criticizing its homeless enforcement efforts. Other times it takes the form of a press release calling on the public to donate food, tents and tarps for unhoused residents.
Faye moved with her parents from segregated Alabama to Sacramento when she was a child. She later graduated from Sacramento State with a degree in child development. She spent her career as an educator and taught child development classes at Woodland Community College. She said her focus on those in need was inspired by her family’s past.
“A lot of it has to do with where I came from — the oppression that my parents had to escape,” Faye explained.
She said her work is far from over.
“I guess I am one of those people, when I see an issue rather than complain I believe in seeing what I can do to address it,” she said.
And there’s a lot to do: Sacramento County is home to more than 6,600 people who live on the streets or in shelters each night. Tens of thousands more struggle to pay rent.
Cathleen Williams knows Faye through the Poor People’s Campaign, an anti-poverty group.
“What I find with Faye, what I admire most is her drive,” Williams said. “She will not be deterred from the mission.”
She added that Faye’s efforts to lift up those in need are even more relevant today, given the deep federal budget cuts.
“We know that the budget is going to hit poor people very hard,” Williams explained. “It’s no longer contested. We’re talking Medicaid, housing support, Section 8 which is housing vouchers, food stamps.”
Faye said she’s not counting on government to solve Sacramento’s problems. Instead, she believes it’ll be grassroots groups and young people that do the job.
As inspiration, she points to the surge of young people, of all races, who got involved in Dr. Flojaune Cofer’s race for Sacramento mayor last year.
“It’s going to be the young energy and young people that’s going to really take the torch and move it forward,” Faye said.
Looking ahead, Faye said she’ll push for change as long as she can.
Donation kits at the hygiene drive include travel size toothpaste, afro pics, vaseline, hair grease, lotions, toothbrushes, soaps and hand warmers, among other products.Chris Nichols/CapRadioHer recent fight with cancer — including rounds of radiation and chemotherapy — slowed her down. She also dealt with nerve damage from neuropathy, which forced her to learn to walk again and even how to use her hands again, she told me.
The toll on her body means she might not attend as many rallies in the summer heat or freezing cold as before.
“My body and my health comes first,” Faye said. “But I tell people, ‘I am dangerous on the computer!’ Because I know how to send an email. I’m on social media. So, I can be an advocate.”
Fellow social justice advocate Brenda Joyce said Faye Wilson Kennedy isn’t going anywhere.
“She won’t give up,” Joyce said. “I don’t care how much pain she’s in. I don’t care if she’s having a bad day. Unless she’s just really, really, really knocked low, she’s going to be there for the people.”
Watching Faye at the hygiene drive greet friends and strangers alike with a smile, Joyce added: “It’s what makes her happy.”
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