Meet Maxwell Park: Nafeesa Ahmed-Bey

“I wanted my children to be leaders, not followers.”

In 1977, Nafeesa Ahmed-Bey moved to Maxwell Park in with her then nine-year-old son and four-year-old daughter. She worked for the California State Dept. of Health Services for 24 years, eventually managing a staff of 21 before retiring. Her son is now a tech executive, and her daughter is a pediatric nurse practitioner (and living back in Maxwell Park!) She is the proud grandmother of three.

Ahmed-Bey grew up in Philadelphia, the daughter of a white mother and a black father. “It was an interracial marriage at a time when that didn't happen,” she recalls. “When we had to move, our mother would need to go and get the rentals finalized. We would show up only after it was signed, sealed, and delivered. There was a time when we moved into an Eastern European neighborhood and we were there for just a few days, maybe a week, before they came to our house at midnight with torches. A police car was sitting right there to make sure that the mob - not us - wasn't injured. They gave us some money and told us to get out of there by the end of the week. We had a difficult time, and my father taught us from an early age to think for ourselves and to be survivors.”

When asked about raising her family in Maxwell Park, Ahmed-Bey said it was a deliberate decision. “I chose this place because it was close to everything. It wasn’t in the hills where you’d need a car to do anything. You could walk places in Maxwell Park. The 47 bus line stopped in front of my house. And it was diverse, and everyone was, and is, very friendly.”

Today, Nafeesa lives with her husband Michael, and their home is filled with photos of her children and memories of their many accomplishments: from serving in the Peace Corps to creating award-winning graphics for the New York Times. “I raised my children to form a cornerstone of self-respect, and I needed to do that in an environment that was healthy. And Maxwell Park is, in my opinion, a very healthy environment. I'm really glad I raised my children here.”