Fran Williams: Bringing People Together

In the summer of 1988, when the Santa Ana Police Department noticed an influx of calls about suspected child abuse, they were baffled by the small marks they found on some Vietnamese children.

But Fran Williams, a consultant in the field of race relations, explained to the officers that the marks were not injuries but the harmless results of a type of Asian acupuncture called coin rubbing.

Unraveling the mysteries of other cultures, and bringing those cultures together, is Williams’ specialty. It is both the subject of a course she has taught for 17 years at Rancho Santiago College in Santa Ana and the the goal of Marabou Associates, her private consulting firm.

“I am a people person, and finding a way to bring people together and helping them work together is something I take seriously,” Williams said.

This year, Williams embarked on a special project for the college aimed at eventually attracting minority faculty. To do that, she has spent the last month putting together packages of information about services and places in Orange County with ethnic appeal.

For example, she said, the pitch aimed at black women might have information on “where to find hairdressers, churches, day care, barbershops, soul food restaurants, stores that might have things you want like grits, greens. . . .”

She is also exploring residential areas, churches and entertainment that cater to ethnic groups. Eventually, she said, the school hopes to use the information in a recruiting brochure.

“Culturally, people look for different kinds of things in their socialization patterns,” Williams said. “If we really want to attract minorities to our campus, we have to make it worth their while.”

As a private consultant for the past 12 years, Williams does much the same kind of work, trying to bring cultural understanding to companies and agencies. At the Santa Ana Police Department, for example, Williams spent two days helping officers understand the customs of cultural groups in the area. For private firms, she sometimes designs projects to encourage black and white workers to interact rather than segregate themselves.

Raised in New Orleans, Williams left home after high school for Los Angeles. She received both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Cal State Long Beach, and a doctorate from Nova University in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.

Now divorced and in her 40s, Williams shares her four-bedroom home in Santa Ana with her 17-year-old foster son, Bernard, the youngest of her three children.

Part of what inspired her to become a foster parent, she said, is a basic love for people. And as part of that, she said, reaching across cultural lines to learn more about others is “gratifying.”

“I have a strong sense of pride in my African-American heritage,” Williams said, “and I am comfortable to the extent that I’ve not felt threatened by other ethnic groups. I’m fascinated by them.”