Natalie Aguilera, Executive Director of Native American Health Center, opens $85M Oakland project linking housing, health care and culture
Photo credit: Choctaw Nation via togetherweremore website.
Natalie Aguilera, Executive Director of Native American Health Center and Women of Color LeadStrong Class of 2021 alumna, is helping lead the opening of a groundbreaking new community development in Oakland centered on housing, health care, and cultural healing.
Recently featured in Tribal Business News, the Native American Health Center celebrated the opening of “Flicker,” an $85 million community-centered project that brings together affordable housing, health care services, and Native cultural space under one roof.
The development includes 76 affordable housing units for families earning between 20% and 50% of the area median income, a 19-room dental clinic, and dedicated gathering spaces for powwows, drum circles, beading circles, and other culturally rooted programming. The project reflects the organization’s belief that housing stability, health care access, and cultural connection are deeply interconnected.
As a leader helping guide this visionary work, Natalie Aguilera’s leadership reflects the transformative and community-rooted vision that Women of Color LeadStrong alumni continue to bring to organizations and movements across the country.
In the article, Aguilera shared:
“Flicker represents what is possible when we treat housing as healthcare and center culture as a critical part of healing.”
For more than 50 years, the Native American Health Center has served Native and underserved communities throughout the Bay Area through holistic, culturally grounded care. The opening of Flicker marks a major milestone not only for Oakland, but also for the broader movement toward equitable, culturally responsive community development.
We celebrate Natalie Aguilera and the entire Native American Health Center team for bringing this vision to life and for demonstrating what becomes possible when leadership is grounded in healing, culture, and community care.
Learn more about NAHC: https://www.nativehealth.org/
