Community Development

The Community Development program aims to catalyze change by investing in people – giving low-income families and people of color the tools for economic success, and in places – creating neighborhoods that are vibrant, diverse, sustainable centers of opportunity. We seek to achieve this vision by building a platform for housing and economic security for low-income families.

Goal and Objectives

Goal: Increase affordable housing and economic security, so that individuals and families can build sustainable livelihoods and communities.

Objective One: Support high performing organizations and community-based efforts that increase and preserve the supply of affordable, location-efficient housing; improve economic self-sufficiency; and rebuild wealth in communities of color. 

Stable housing is the foundation for good health, academic success, civic engagement, and assets accumulation. In the Bay Area many people lack decent, affordable housing, living wage employment, safe streets, quality schools, access to public transit, and access to healthy food. While some residents move away from the urban core to find affordable housing, the resulting transportation costs can make this a losing trade-off. We provide funding to organizations engaged in community development initiatives that support and empower residents, and develop and preserve accessible and affordable homes tied to well-functioning, environmentally sustainable neighborhoods.

We also support organizations that help individuals and families attain economic self-sufficiency. The Bay Area suffers from a severe mismatch between median income and housing costs (1). According to the United Way of the Bay Area, one out of five local households does not earn enough to make ends meet (2). Most of these families have at least one working adult, yet still face damaging choices between paying for housing, utilities, childcare, and healthcare. In addition to quality jobs and housing, families need support to bolster their income, savings, and assets. We support organizations that promote personal economic stability and help families plan for the future through financial services and education.

(1) Harvard University Joint Center for Housing Studies, “The State of the Nation’s Housing 2010.”
(2) United Way of the Bay Area, “Struggling to Make Ends Meet.” 2009.

• Expand, maintain, and preserve a range of quality affordable and supportive housing options for lower-income individuals and families
• Create or expand mixed-income, mixed-use, healthy and sustainable communities, including efforts to promote energy savings in affordable housing, and expand transit access for low-income residents
• Increase household income, reduce debt, and build savings and assets through access to appropriate and effective credit and capital, responsible banking services, and assistance with credit repair, financial coaching, and homeownership

In addition to direct and immediate community investment, we recognize that deeper systems change is needed to create a fair and inclusive region where all people have access to the opportunity for success and a healthy life. We support efforts reforming community opportunity structures that improve well-being and quality of life for low-income communities and communities of color. Through our partners, we aim to reform unfair financial practices, raise awareness of disparate impacts on low-income communities and communities of color, and mobilize residents to advocate for better resources. Structural constraints such as land costs and political or public opposition are barriers to increasing affordable housing, so we support local, state, and national efforts to change the policies that create and maintain these conditions.

In keeping with our social justice values, we aim to reverse the enduring effects of discrimination and inequitable patterns of investment. While 22% of local households fall below a basic self-sufficiency standard, that number is closer to 40% for Latino and African American households (3). We support policy and advocacy efforts that close the racial wealth gap and build local control of community assets working with people historically left out of the economic mainstream.

(3) United Way of the Bay Area, “Struggling to Make Ends Meet.” 2009.

We will support:

• Organizing and advocacy to develop, protect, and implement local, regional, state, and federal policies supporting affordable housing and housing rights, including: inclusionary zoning, tenant protections, land-use policies, community benefit agreements, sustained funding sources, and greater public and political acceptance
• Organizing and advocacy to address the impact of the economic crisis on low-income communities and communities of color and rebuild community assets: including consumer financial protections, responses and alternatives to predatory financial services, and financial institution accountability
  
  

Priority will be given to efforts that:

• Are rooted in and/or serve residents of high-need neighborhoods, as defined by indicators of unemployment, foreclosure, high housing costs, high crime rates, lack of basic amenities, linguistic or geographic isolation, etc.
  
• Specifically address disparities affecting communities of color
• Use a culturally competent approach to build the self-sufficiency of high-need populations including formerly incarcerated individuals and limited-English immigrants and refugees
• Promote environmentally sustainable neighborhoods and responsible land-use planning
• Leverage stimulus funding and public-private investment
• Integrate and co-locate services, reflecting a holistic approach and understanding of how housing and economic security connect with health, education, youth development, and other issues
• Use evidence-based and innovative approaches to ending poverty and creating economic self-sufficiency
  
  

The Community Development Program will not fund:

• Group homes or residential programs for people with special needs
• Emergency housing and shelter programs
• Efforts that are not targeted at lower-income families and individuals
• Financial education curricula or programs in isolation from other services or programs for lasting economic empowerment
  
  

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.

California Homeownership Preservation Initiative

It is predicted that 6.5 million Americans will lose their homes to foreclosure in the next five years. A quarter of all foreclosures in the country are in California. Since 2007, 315,000 homeowners have lost their homes, and foreclosure rates continue to rise in California.* In response to the state’s foreclosure crisis, the California Homeownership Preservation Initiative (CHOPI) was launched in 2008 as a two-year $5.3 million program to expand the availability of foreclosure intervention services.

Recognizing the critical role that community-based nonprofit housing organizations play in preserving homeownership for families and communities, CHOPI’s funding was intended to help those organizations hire additional staff to increase the scale of foreclosure intervention services provided to low- and moderate-income homeowners in danger of losing their homes in California.

CHOPI was spearheaded by the California Reinvestment Coalition, which advocates for the right of low-income communities and communities of color to have fair and equal access to banking and other financial services. CRC worked with The San Francisco Foundation and the California Community Foundation to direct funding from several financial institution partners to 40 housing counseling organizations covering 50 counties across the state. This unprecedented collaboration has resulted in more than 47,000 low- and moderate-income Californians receiving foreclosure assistance, 73% of whom are people of color. Services provided under CHOPI have helped prevent more than 6,600 foreclosures.

*www.dqnews.com through Q4 2008.