Mo Young’s childhood Christmases were a busy time of year. She went with her mother, father and brother David to shop for Christmas presents. The siblings carefully picked through the rows of red and green tags shaped like Christmas ornaments, each with a name printed on it. Every tag represented a child in need of a present. Once they had their tags, they took care in picking the perfect gift for a kid they had never met. It wasn’t a chore, it was a family tradition.

Since those early Christmas drives, Young has known nothing else but giving. It’s in her blood, she said. She described her mother, born in Keizer, Ore., as a “small-town white lady” with a big heart. She described her father, a Black man from Philadelphia, as a “hippie of his time,” one who spent his younger years hitchhiking across the country. The two both went to law school at the University of Oregon where they met at a local bar playing pinball.

Her father became an administrative law judge for the state while her mother became a circuit court judge. Public servants through and through, as she described. “It was sort of drilled into my head, this is how we exist in the community,” Young said. “I was just raised that way.” She clarified that they always asked if people wanted help before stepping in. “We never assume,” she said. “Sometimes when you just talk to people, magic happens.”

All her life, Young has made magic happen. She grew up in Eugene and went to UO for her bachelor’s degrees in psychology and sociology, graduating in 2002. After a year in New York working in a wine store, she returned to Lane County where she has been ever since. She started running a program at Community Alliance of Lane County called Back to Back: Allies for Human Dignity, centered on combating antisemitism, racism and heterosexism across the county. She also partnered to start the Stop Hate Campaign,  community led project that encourages reporting incidents of harassment or hate crimes. The program helped FBI investigators track down Jacob Laskey, a notorious white supremacist. She left the job in 2007 and became the county’s positive youth development coordinator. Although it was only for a couple months, she enjoyed her time there, and is now commemorated with a mural behind WOW Hall. After a stint in Lane County Public Health, she was hired as supervisor of the Community Partnerships Program, where she has been for four years.

As much as she loves her leadership role, she lives for working with people. She is constantly looking for opportunities to “plug into the community so that I can get that cup filled. I feel that in my bone marrow.”

Her parents weren’t her only role model. When he was in college, Young’s brother David was paired with then UO advisor Lyllye Reynolds-Parker, a local legend and force for civil rights. She was a Black community leader of Eugene. Her family helped found Ferry Street Village, a historic Black community that was demolished in 1949 in order to build what is now Alton Baker park. She spent her life fighting for racial justice and is now the namesake for UO’s Black Cultural Center. According to Young, she saved her brother’s life.

While at UO, David went through “severe and persistent mental illness.” Aunt Lyllye, as her students call her, was a light in a dark time for them both. “I have no doubt that she saved his life. She was a soft place to land for so many people that didn’t have one or didn’t trust the one that was supposed to be there for them.”

Over the years, their relationship grew. Young lived right down the street from Aunt Lyllye, and would regularly check in on her. She was a “blueprint” for Young, an example of how to live in an unkind world.

“She showed up until the very last day with no judgment. Ms. Lyllye was, besides a dearly beloved family member, a role model of how to exist in a world that is not gentle.”

In February 2020, Ms. Lyllye was helping Young film a video to promote COVID-19 vaccination efforts. That day, Young was finally given the chance to give back to the woman that had saved her brother.

“She told me there was a ghost in the house,” Young said. Aunt Lyllye wanted to move out of her cramped apartment with her sister, but didn’t have the money to put a down payment on a house. Later that night, Young sent her a note asking for permission to raise the money. She never assumed, she just asked. And magic happened.

After about eight months, the fundraiser had amassed over $100,000, plenty for the house she bought and moved into shortly after.

Two years later, on Aug. 22, 2024 Ms. Lyllye passed away at the age of 78. Young says that helping her buy a house toward the end of her life is still among his proudest moments, but she insists she was just a messenger of the community’s support. Without Aunt Lyllye’s connection to the hundreds of people she helped, the money could have never been raised.

“The community loves Ms. Lyllye,” she said. “She did the work. We just gave people a really tangible way to say thank you.”

Just as Ms. Lyllye was a role model for her, Young is now a mentor to young people learning to navigate their lives with kindness. In 2018, Young was awarded the Martin Luther King Jr. Connecter Award by the NAACP in Eugene, honored at their annual Freedom Fund Dinner. In 2021, the Eugene Human Rights Commission awarded her its International Human Rights Day Award. In 2022, she
received the Heritage Excellence Award from Eugene’s Historical Society. Still, she has some difficulty accepting comparison to her dear friend and mentor.

“Don’t y’all know I make mistakes all day long?” she chuckled. “This is what happens when we put people on a pedestal. We forget that we’re just human and we’re fumbling around just like everybody else.”

With leaders like Ms. Lyllye gone, it’s Mo’s turn to step up. Of course, mentorship has no instruction manual, but Young is learning as she goes. She has long conversations with her 22 year-old niece who is involved with the Trans Alliance in Lane County. She doesn’t always have answers, but she is always happy to listen.

“It’s been delightful to not just tell her what to do, but to listen to where she’s going and her reasoning and ask questions to help her hone in on what the right path is,” Young said.

In a time as uncertain as ours, there is no shortage of young people afraid for their future. Many of the pillars Ms. Lyllye and Young worked their whole lives to erect are now on shaky ground. Even the word “equity,” which was once in Young’s official title, is not permitted to be used in an official capacity. And yet, young people continue to fight to protect what they believe is right. Young is inspired by what she sees. She wants “people with new energy” to pursue their passions. There are many like Young who will always be drawn by a deep-rooted need to help people. It may be frightening, but bravery thrives in fear.

“All of us are scared,” she smiled. “And somehow, that makes it less scary. The lesson there is, do it scared. Isn’t that the definition of courage?”