Building Community, One Conversation at a Time
Phouvieng (Moose) and Spring Keosoupha are a married couple and active leaders at Lighthouse Mosque, where their shared commitment to service extends into their work with Faith in Action East Bay (FIAEB). Together, they have helped build stronger connections across their community by listening, organizing, and turning concern into action.
How It All Began
Spring’s connection to Faith in Action East Bay began about 2.5 years ago when she met Pastor Todd Benson, executive director of FIAEB, at Lighthouse Mosque during Jum’ah, the Friday service. He spoke about bringing people together to address community concerns and create meaningful change. After that first introduction, Pastor Todd sat down with Spring for a one-on-one and she shared her background and her interest in social justice. From there, the conversations grew into more collective meetings with others in the community. Over time, those meetings turned into shared work on the issues that mattered most.
“There have been times when we don’t feel like we have a voice,” explained Spring. “People like Pastor Todd have really inspired us to tell our story and give our insights. He has been a big part of empowering us as leaders in this work.”
Moose’s journey started about a year and a half ago. He was inspired by Spring’s involvement and he decided to attend a FIAEB local organizing committee meeting where he saw the power of people coming together around shared concerns.
“What I found was more than a meeting — it was a movement built on values many people in the community already held,” he said. The experience showed him how collective action could turn individual concerns into broader change. It became a space where the issues he cared about – immigration, thriving wages, and housing – could be pursued together.
“What I found was more than a meeting — it was a movement built on values many people in the community already held.”
Moose
Working Together in Faith
“I really like the idea of collaborative work and partnerships,” said Spring, “because when people come together, they often discover their concerns are the same. Safe crosswalks, for example, benefit everyone, no matter if you are Christian, Muslim, or from another community. It helps get people out of their silos and into real conversations with one another.”
She has seen how the work grows naturally. “One day you do a one-to-one, and the next day they bring three friends. People want to be involved and to feel empowered, and when people feel empowered, they can empower others.”
Moose found an easy connection between his faith values and organizing with FIAEB. “The Quran teaches that if you see a rock in the road, it’s your obligation to remove it. That is how I approach community work: identify the problem and then you remove it and take it off the table.”
The Islamic teaching about stealing reflects that same moral clarity, he explained, with harsh punishment for theft, but if someone has no food and no one has helped them, they’re not liable. “The responsibility is to make sure people are cared for. My faith pushes me to be global, not cloistered.”
For Spring, charity is not only about giving money but also about giving time. Living with disregard for neighbors means not really adhering to faith or being aligned with God. She and Moose strive to think outside themselves and stay connected to the broader community.
“I think right now society has a trend of ambivalence toward religion. I feel like people mistake FIAEB as a religious organization when it’s actually faith-based and it’s also very open. I see it getting more open as more people become involved. I don’t know how many religions in the world there are or even in our community but with FIAEB we’ve seen Muslim imams, Jewish rabbis, Christian pastors, Catholic priests, Buddhist monks, Indigenous leaders – we’ve seen so many people coming together collectively in prayer, in organizing, and it’s very beautiful. It’s something that’s very dear to my heart to be able to experience.”
“We’ve seen so many people coming together collectively in prayer, in organizing, and it’s very beautiful.”
Spring
Advocating for the Trades
As an IBEW Local 595 union electrician, Moose strongly advocates for the trades as a path to thriving wages and long-term stability. He sees Oakland apprenticeship programs and trade training routes in schools as vital opportunities for young people. Not everybody needs a college diploma to build a successful future, and people in the trades are among the top earners in America. At the same time, many skilled workers are heading into retirement with nobody ready to replace them. That gap makes apprenticeship programs even more important. Moose believes investing in the trades is one of the smartest ways to support both workers and communities.
Growing Together
FIAEB makes Moose feel and believe that the power is in the hands of the people. As leaders, they know they need to keep building confidence in what communities can do together. “People have the power to make really big changes in their own lives and in the lives of the community. That belief is what keeps the work moving forward.”
“We teach each other how to grow,” said Spring. “That’s what I feel like we are doing as an organization. We water each other and give each other that needed sun, that missing nutrient. My husband and I are really happy to be a part of this and we feel like we are being a part of the difference and making a positive change in our community. It’s a wonderful thing. It’s a blessing.”
