News

October 2011

Fostering Resilience in the Face of the Recession

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As the number of Bay Area home foreclosures continues to rise, The San Francisco Foundation convened leading local advocates for struggling homeowners to brainstorm solutions. On Friday, September 30, 38 representatives from local nonprofits gathered for an all-day grantee convening, “Fostering Resilience in the Face of the Recession: Strengthening Foreclosure Response and Neighborhood Preservation.”

For five hours, participants shared both successes and challenges they face serving their communities harmed by foreclosures. Among the challenges leaders identified were decreased funding for foreclosure response programs, caps in program enrollment, slow policy change, and the reluctance of the well-funded banking community to participate in foreclosure prevention efforts.

Yet participants also had several examples of positives that have emerged from the housing crisis: collaborations between nonprofits, local government, and the private sector to help stem the tide of foreclosures; linkages between housing and workforce development; and bank reform efforts. Advocates also talked about the need for an over-arching strategy that combines work in organizing, counseling, and policy arenas, as well as a media strategy to communicate the message that housing is a tool for poverty reduction.

Special guest Steve Gallagher of CalHFA Mortgage Assistance Corporation shared how the Keep Your Home, California program works and answered questions.

To learn more about The San Francisco Foundation’s Foreclosure Response and Neighborhood Preservation grantmaking program, click here.

June 2011

Organizing Around Consumer Finance Complaints, Advocacy, and Products:

Who and What You Need to Know

The current financial crisis is fueled by a lack of consumer financial protections in low-income and minority communities. While vulnerable communities need to organize and advocate for new policies to provide them relief and protection, they can also turn to existing institutions that offer new hope.

At this session the foundation convened organizing and advocacy grantees to connect and discuss ways to strengthen consumer financial protection and develop new strategies to protect low-income families.

Speakers included:

• Norma Garcia of Consumers Union
• Nancy Andrews of the Low Income Investment Fund
• Kevin Stein of the California Reinvestment Coalition
  
• Preeti Vissa of the Greenlining Institute
• Daniela Salas of the Mission Asset Fund
• Olivia Calderon of the New America Foundation
  

Download the agenda [PDF] here.

For more information about this event please contact Abony Holmes Alexander at aalexander@sff.org or 415.733.8528.

December 2010

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Workforce Development Programs

Experiences from the Bay Area Workforce Funding Collaborative, 2004-2009

On Wednesday, February 2nd the Bay Area Workforce Funding Collaborative held a discussion on evaluating the effectiveness of workforce development programs. Collaborative Coordinator Jessica Pitt presented the findings from the recently released evaluation of the Bay Area Workforce Funding Collaborative's (BAWFC) first five years of grantmaking. Conducted by BTW Informing Changing, the discussion covered the challenges of measuring outcomes for employment training programs. We also heard from BAWFC grantee Jewish Vocational Services (JVS) about its experience participating in the Benchmarking Project, a national initiative led by Public/Private Ventures.  

For more information about this convening, please visit our Calendar.

April 2010

California Homeownership Preservation Initiative Recognized for its Important Impact at the 2010 Community Reinvestment Awards

The 2010 Community Reinvestment Awards recognized the California Home Ownership Preservation Initiative (CHOPI) with an honorable mention for its important impact on California through its work to bring together financial institutions, foundations, and nonprofit organizations to increase access to services and improve outcomes for Californians facing foreclosure.

Sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, the Community Reinvestment Awards honor financial institutions for their part in seeking ground-breaking solutions to the challenges of lower-income communities. Nominations are judged for their innovation, partnerships, and impact. CHOPI was honored during the awards program at the National Interagency Reinvestment Conference on March 16th.

In response to the state’s foreclosure crisis, CHOPI was launched in 2008 as a two-year, $5.3 million program to expand the availability of foreclosure intervention services. Since then, CHOPI has helped provide foreclosure counseling to nearly 47,500 low- and moderate-income homeowners in 50 counties. Through the efforts of 40 partner organizations, 6,681 foreclosures have been prevented, many of these in communities of color, rural areas, or immigrant communities. The initiative broke new ground as an innovative partnership to increase the number of people educated and equipped to save their homes. Visit our Community Development page to learn more about CHOPI.

Resources on Foreclosures, Housing News, and Recovery Plans

To help organizations maximize their impact during the economic downturn, the Community Development program will support efforts that align investments with and/or access funds from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act programs. For up-to-date information and publications on foreclosures, housing news and recovery plans for urban neighborhoods in California, click here.