Executive Director Bio

Tony Coleman, founder of One Fam, is a long-time Bay Area activist with a strong commitment to community service and selfless support to help rehabilitate at-risk individuals.

Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, his 15-year career in social justice and community empowerment organizations began as a co-founder of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, as well as spearheading the Third Eye Movement, serving as the director of One Fam and having actively worked for American Friends Service Committee.

Coleman’s genuine passion to make a difference comes from his tireless dedication to help empower, build and revitalize a community into self-sufficiency, pride and working toward common goals. As he sees it, one of the many ways to heal and mend a community is by working diligently and patiently with at-risk and formerly incarcerated youth.

Dedicated to set up these individuals for success, Coleman consistently demonstrates effective leadership using positive reinforcement, direction and guidance. As a result, he’s earned the respect of his peers and colleagues in the community organizing community.

Coleman’s street credibility and passion for struggling communities is genuine being a product of one of the grittiest Bay Area urban neighborhoods where he grew up in the notorious Tenderloin District to a single mother in a illegal drug-infested neighborhood. He understands only too well the perils of dysfunctional families, lack of positive adult role models and low social service priorities bestowed to communities such as the Tenderloin by local and regional governments.

His success story as a rehabilitated adult inspired Coleman to harness his experience and use community insider knowledge to connect with those dealing with similar circumstances. He has taken those lessons and put it into the One Fam organization helping to motivate at-risk individuals become productive and contributing members of society.