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Community Development
Program Staff
The Community Development Program (formerly the Neighborhood and Community Development Program)
focuses on solutions to poverty in the five counties we serve. Our goal is to
stabilize families and individuals by investing in an expanded supply of
affordable housing to address homelessness, and to prevent displacement due to
high housing costs. We also strive to increase the economic security of
households struggling to make ends meet through our investment in workforce
development and micro-enterprise entrepreneurial training. Additionally, by supporting safety-net services,
we aim to assist those who are homeless or in crises by providing access to
services to meet basic needs. To
leverage the greatest change, we make targeted investments in policy and
advocacy that addresses the root causes of poverty.
By supporting the foundations of stable lives and families – homes, quality jobs, and safety-net services – we build community and help make the Bay Area an even better place for us all.
For more information about the Community Development Program at The San Francisco Foundation, please contact us at 415.733.8500 or communitydevelopmentinfo@sff.org.
Initiatives and Proactive Work
Bay Area Workforce Funding Collaborative
The Bay Area Workforce Funding Collaborative (BAWFC) is an
ambitious and groundbreaking partnership between philanthropic foundations and
the State of California’s
Employment Development Department (EDD) to match some of the San Francisco Bay
Area’s most disadvantaged jobseekers with employers in high-growth economic
sectors. Visit the BAWFC page for more information.
Bay Area Foundation Advisory
Group to End Homelessness
The Bay Area Foundation Advisory Group to End Homelessness brings together local funders to identify and highlight real solutions to root causes of homelessness. This collaborative effort was launched in 2003 with the leadership of The San Francisco Foundation and the Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation, and now includes the active participation of ten foundations. Historically, most philanthropic giving has focused on emergency or safety-net services rather than permanent routes out of homelessness. Given the growing challenge of homelessness and its impact on families and communities, we share an interest in expanding philanthropy’s role in preventing and resolving this problem.
The Advisory Group has created a series of reports exploring the nexus between homelessness and other funding interests. Each guidebook highlights new research, real solutions that end homelessness, and exemplary programs with demonstrable results. Our four reports are available for download below.
- Repairing Lives, Preparing Futures: Philanthropy's Role in Supportive Services to End Homelessness (2007, PDF)
- Ending Bay
Area Homelessness: A Pivotal Opportunity
for Funders in Child Development and Education (2004, PDF)
- Ending Bay Area Homelessness: The Philanthropic Role (2003, PDF)
Affordable Housing
The need for adequate, affordable, and stable housing is one of the most pressing and widespread issues affecting families and individuals in the Bay Area. In addition to our investments in the development and rehabilitation of housing units, we support policy and advocacy to increase the availability of quality homes for all.
Anti-Poverty
Combating the root causes of poverty is at the heart of Community Development’s work. Until families achieve economic security, other basic elements of family stability like health, housing, and education are at grave risk. For this reason, we supplement our grantmaking with support for anti-poverty policy efforts at the local and state level.
Program Staff
Jessica Pitt
Bay Area Workforce Funding Collaborative Coordinator, Community Development
Gloria Bruce
Program Fellow, Community Development