Orange County Register
by Lori Basheda
Tammy Tumbling knows what it feels like to be put down because of the color of her skin.
She also knows what it feels like to be raised up.
It’s why this past Juneteenth, she took $25,000 from her own bank account to launch the African American Alliance Fund.
“The cards were stacked against us as African American kids, but because of friends and allies, we were able to be successful,” says Tumbling, now 54 and executive vice president and chief operating officer of the Orange County Community Foundation in Newport Beach.
Tumbling was 17, living with her mom and four siblings in Compton, when she gave birth to a boy Sept. 2, 1983. Ten days later she started her senior year of high school.
Every weekday, Tumbling, who previously attended an all-girls Catholic school in Compton, caught a 5 a.m. public transit bus to La Habra High School, where no one knew she was a teen mom.
OCCF Executive Vice President & COO, Tammy Tumbling, founded the African American Alliance Fund to raise awareness about systemic racism and support programs that advance African Americans in Orange County and surrounding communities. Check out the article in the Orange County Register on her story, inspiration and philanthropic mission behind the fund.
