Letter from the Executive Director
Healthy communities are whole communities. They provide everything that people of all ages and all levels of means need to live, work, play, do business and raise families. Even as someone who has worked in community development for more than a few years, I'm always astounded by the breadth of the innovative and groundbreaking work that is going on in Bay Area communities every single day.
In Silicon Valley, an unprecedented collaborative has given itself ten years to achieve equally unprecedented goals to end homelessness and solve the affordable housing crisis. In the Bayview and other neighborhoods, people are coming together to bring fresh, healthy foods into areas that haven't seen a new grocery store for years. And to top it all off, we applaud three leaders in Oakland and San Francisco who have won much-deserved national recognition for their innovative commercial revitalization programs.
Bay Area LISC is working to build healthy, whole — and what we are calling sustainable — communities by supporting these and many other valuable, effective efforts. We've framed our work around five key goals:
- Expanding capital investment in housing and other real estate
- Increasing family income, wealth and employment
- Stimulating local economic activity and connections to the regional economy and beyond
- Improving access to quality education
- Supporting healthy environments and lifestyles
As times in the region and the nation toughen economically, we at Bay Area LISC are heartened that great work going on day-in and day-out in our communities shows the promise and the way of truly building healthy neighborhoods for all.
Stephanie Forbes
Executive Director
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Spirit of Revitalization
Bay Area leaders sweep national awards
Two local organizations and one local leader received national recognition in April for their hard work and impressive accomplishments on Bay Area commercial corridors. The inaugural Spirit of Revitalization Awards, held at LISC's Urban Forum in Indianapolis, honored those whose hard work has resulted in outstanding contributions to their communities. As a testament to the incredible talent and work that comes out of the Bay Area, each award category—Leadership, Development and Placemaking—included a Bay Area nominee among its three finalists, and in two of those categories, the Bay Area representatives won. Bay Area LISC's Commercial Corridor Revitalization & Stabilization Program is a proud supporter of all three awardees.
Leadership Award: Cristy Johnston (San Francisco) |
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As Executive Director of the Excelsior Action Group (EAG), Cristy Johnston has played a key role in organizing local stakeholders and garnering significant outside resources for the Excelsior community. In the past three years, Cristy's leadership and the partnerships she has forged have been instrumental in attracting 71 new businesses and 156 new jobs to the neighborhood. She is also the lead organizer for the annual Excelsior Festival, which drew 10,000 people in its fifth year. EAG's activities are credited with the investment of more than $2.2 million in the corridor, the increase in customer sales, and the strengthening of local businesses. |
Development Award: Fruitvale Public Market (Oakland) |
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The Unity Council's Fruitvale Public Market is a unique venture providing retail services to Oakland's Fruitvale community and providing local entrepreneurs the opportunity to build their businesses and personal wealth with minimal capital investment. All twelve businesses selected for the market are owned by minorities, women or immigrants. Together, they reflect the Fruitvale's diverse heritage as a gateway for immigrants from Latin America, Southeast Asia and the Middle East and enable neighborhood residents to buy the food and goods they want and keep dollars and jobs in the community. |
Placemaking Finalist: Portola Neighborhood Steering Committee (San Francisco) |
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The Portola Neighborhood Steering Committee (PNSC) was honored for its achievement in transforming the image of the Portola district and the San Bruno Avenue commercial corridor at the heart of the neighborhood. Since its start in 2004, PNSC has brought in funding for streetscape improvements for the commercial corridor, facilitated facade improvements for neighborhood businesses and the public library, and led a neighborhood identity campaign featuring a mural and street banners designed by local youth and an annual neighborhood festival. Thanks to the hard work of PNSC and its staff, 23 businesses have already opened and created 56 new jobs for the community. |
Homing in on Solutions
Unique coalition makes big strides in Silicon Valley
 Ending homelessness and solving the affordable housing crisis in the most expensive housing market in the nation might seem a quixotic goal, but a group of Silicon Valley leaders and housing experts has set out to do just that, and has quickly proven that it is by no means tilting at windmills.
After Bay Area LISC and Charities Housing published Housing Silicon Valley in 2007, a study quantifying a 20-year outlook on the Valley's affordable housing crisis and what needed to be done, a Blue Ribbon Commission came together and swept into action. Eleven months into its first year, the Commission has already achieved an impressive set of accomplishments:
- 5,625 housing units and Section 8 vouchers identified for extremely low income and formerly homeless persons
- free transit passes provided to the homeless
- a pilot program for restaurants to accept food stamps
- a site identified for "One-Stop" Homelessness Prevention Center
- hospitals, local shelter provider EHC LifeBuilders, and the Valley Homeless Healthcare Program (VHHP) have received approval to locate and fund a Medical Respite Facility.
- Destination: Home was launched with full-time staff to implement the Commission's action plan.
Each accomplishment is an in important stepping stone towards meeting the Commission's inextricably related goals: ending homelessness and solving the affordable housing crisis. "Providing access to both good social services and affordable housing is key in creating healthy and sustainable communities," says Stephanie Forbes, Executive Director of Bay Area LISC. "The Commission has made some big strides in its first year, but this is just the beginning."
Healthy Foods, Healthy Families
Bringing fresh, healthy foods to Bay Area communities
 Forget the French Laundry and the Ferry Building. As much as the Bay Area prides itself on its farm-fresh produce and high cuisine, many residents have few choices when it comes to finding quality, healthy, affordable foods in their neighborhoods. In these so-called "food deserts," fast food chains and liquor stores abound, but full-service grocers are few and far between.
A 2007 survey in San Francisco's Bayview found that more than half of Bayview residents travel outside of the neighborhood to buy groceries, and an impressive 94% said they would actively support new food options in the neighborhood. But why are there so few options now? A combination of real and perceived crime, misguided economic analyses modeled on suburban markets, and small, expensive sites have combined to keep full-service grocery stores out of many Bay Area communities. Grocery sales leakage (the amount of money neighborhood residents spend on groceries outside of the neighborhood) has reached $14.5 million a year in the Bayview alone and is getting worse.
Bay Area LISC has teamed up with the City of San Francisco, PolicyLink, and Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Markets to turn things around. Over the past couple years, we've helped the City of San Francisco develop a new grocery attraction and retention policy to make sure all of the city's residents have access to fresh, healthy foods. This past November, LISC and PolicyLink brought together 140 public officials, developers, private grocers, food justice activists, public health workers, and others to the Grocery Store Attraction & Development Symposium.
 In the Bayview, LISC has worked with the community surrounding the Third Street commercial corridor for years. When Bayview residents identified a new grocery store as the community's top priority, LISC stepped up and provided the critical gap financing—$6.3 million in New Market Tax Credits—to bring a new Fresh & Easy store to the Third Street commercial corridor. The new mixed-use development, with the 14,000-square-foot Fresh & Easy and 330 units of housing, broke ground in December. The store will be the first full-service grocery store to have opened in the Bayview in nearly twenty years.
Want to learn more? Download Grocery Store Attraction Strategies: A Resource Guide for Community Activists and Local Governments, a nuts-and-bolts guide from Bay Area LISC and PolicyLink designed to help communities organize a coordinated strategy for attracting new grocery stores to underserved communities.
Funder Spotlight:
Bay Area LISC is pleased to be partnering with Wachovia to build strong and vibrant communities. With a shared commitment to a holistic neighborhood-building approach combining education, financial literacy, affordable housing, small business support and more, LISC and Wachovia are natural partners. Wachovia is committed to revitalizing its communities. Wachovia's Community Development Finance (CDF) team is comprised of tenured California lending professionals engaged in the business of California and West Coast affordable housing and redevelopment finance. In addition to loan products, Wachovia takes a holistic approach to community revitalization by offering New Market Tax Credit Equity and CDFI lending sources to our markets.
Since arriving in the Bay Area, Wachovia has been quick to make a positive impact on local communities. Showing a deep commitment to the Bay Area  community, Wachovia committed $5.6 million in grants to Bay Area nonprofits in 2007. These funds will help recruit and retain teachers in schools, close the achievement gap in K-12 schools, realize the dream of homeownership for many families, and provide people with safe, affordable places to live.
"The Bay Area is fortunate to have Wachovia committed to working in local communities," says Bay Area LISC Executive Director Stephanie Forbes. "Wachovia understands that there are no one-size-fits-all solutions to the challenges so many of our communities face. We need better education, safe, decent housing, and strong local economies. Wachovia knows these things are all important and intertwined, and Wachovia's staff want to make sure that communities have the resources and the support they need to make a real difference in people's lives."
News Notes
Please join us in welcoming a number of new people to our fold:
Mariano Diaz joined LISC as Program Vice President for the West, covering LISC's offices in the Bay Area, Houston, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Diego and Seattle. Welcome, Mariano! Mariano came to LISC from the San Diego Community Foundation and previously held executive positions with Esme & Associates, The California Endowment, Blue Cross of California, Nestle USA, The James Irvine Foundation and other community service nonprofits.
Cheryl Evans, Western Division Director of Community Relations for Citi, has joined Bay Area LISC's Local Advisory Committee. Cheryl has over 25 years of experience in community development and manages a staff covering California, Nevada, Washington, Oregon, Hawaii, Alaska, and Guam.
Johnasies McGraw joined Bay Area LISC as the latest member of our team. Johnasies, a graduate of our AmeriCorps program, is splitting time between our Commercial Corridor Revitalization & Stabilization and AmeriCorps programs. Johnasies brings over four years of grassroots community organizing experience on campaigns involving energy policy, consumer protections, campaign finance reform, supporting family farms and environmental policy.
Now hiring: Assistant Program Officer, Communications & Fund Development
Bay Area LISC is hiring an Assistant Program Officer for Communications and Fund Development. The Assistant Program Officer is a mid-level position responsible for helping Bay Area LISC’s senior staff person in charge of communications and fund development. Visit our jobs page for more information.
 Now accepting AmeriCorps Applications
Bay Area LISC is now accepting applications for summer 2008 AmeriCorps members and 2008-09 AmeriCorps host organizations. Visit our AmeriCorps page for more information.
EAH dedicates largest solar-powered affordable housing community in the United States
On June 10, EAH dedicated the solar installation at Crescent Park in Richmond. With the new installation and 378 affordable apartments, Crescent Park is the largest solar-powered affordable housing complex in the nation. LISC provided a $1-million loan for the redevelopment of the project, and the National Equity Fund (LISC's affiliate) invested $46 million, its largest ever investment in a single project.
New resources available
For those who missed the earlier announcements, three new resources for community development professionals are now available. Visit our publications page for more information.
  
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