Posted:Monday, July 28, 2025
In Fall 2024, Massage Therapy Foundation was pleased to award a $5,000 Community Service Grant to Oakland Communities United for Equity and Justice, Oakland, CA, for their project, “JUSTtouch: Community Access to Sustainable Healing.” Through the project, a supervising massage therapist, along with students from the nearby National Holistic Institute (NHI) massage school (Emeryville, CA) provide a weekly chair massage pop-up for severe low-income and individuals of color who are experiencing homelessness.
The project got underway in August 2024, after successful recruitment of the first student extern from NHI. A pop-up massage area is set up weekly in Driver Plaza, a large roadway median where other services for severe low-income and homeless community members are provided, including hot meals, food pantry, housing assistance, community-building events and more.
The project has recently recruited three additional externs and is served by two additional consistent massage volunteers, who with the supervising practitioner provide 2-3 hours of massage weekly (weather permitting).
The project anticipated caring for 50-100 individuals during the grant period; this total has been exceeded, with 106 clients served to date. 25 of the 106 are returning clients, many who had not received care for up to 3 years, and 81 new clients. Thus far, the JUSTtouch project has provided approximately 150 hours of massage therapy to community members.
Learn more about Oakland Communities United for Equity and Justice here: https://www.selfhelphunger.org/.