In this issue:
	From Eviction to Homeownership
	Touchdown for Bay Area Sports
	Neighborhood Festivals Increase Local Volunteerism and Vibrancy
	Funder Spotlight: Citi

 From Eviction to Homeownership

Residents Pioneer Land Trust Co-op

Residents of 53 Columbus cut the ribbon to the renovated building.

For Yu Chiu Kwan, a monolingual Chinese American that struggled against eviction for years, homeownership was "hard to dream of in the past." Today, Kwan is president of the Columbus United Cooperative, the first affordable housing co-op in San Francisco's Chinatown and the first in the city to adopt an urban land trust model.

After winning an 11-year fight against displacement, Kwan's family and 20 others will collectively own and manage their building. The San Francisco Community Land Trust (SFCLT) will steward the land to ensure units remain affordable. Community partners helped residents renovate the building and form a cooperative after City College of San Francisco – which had purchased the property for its new campus – agreed to sell it in 2006.

After resisting eviction for 11 years, residents formed an affordable housing cooperative and became owners of their units.

In a neighborhood facing development pressures where few own a home, the model has provided housing security for residents dependent on Chinatown's linguistic and cultural networks. "Generations in the future…will still have ownership and be able to stay here," said Ru Mei Peng, a resident-owner. "Not afraid of being evicted – that is very important."

The project pioneers the urban land trust model in San Francisco – a promising strategy for preserving affordable housing and strengthening communities. "This is really a model that empowers, strengthens and stabilizes low-income communities by increasing the skills of its members, by developing leaders, by increasing individual and community assets and by retaining low-income people in the communities they’re rooted in," according to Amy Beinart, Executive Director of SFCLT.

LISC was among the private and public funders that provided financial support for the building’s rehabilitation, which employed "green" building techniques to improve units and community spaces, seismic and fire safety, and accessibility for disabled and elderly residents. Cathie Lam, a Senior Community Organizer at the Chinatown Community Development Center, said, "we hope that this sets a precedent for people who have limited income to be able to own their own residence."

 Touchdown for Bay Area Sports

It was a "warm and fuzzy" affair at Galileo High School.

Thousands of Bay Area youth will be able to practice and play on two new state-of-the-art sports fields, thanks to renovations made possible under the National Football League Grassroots Program, a partnership between the NFL and LISC. The new fields, located in San Francisco and Richmond, will fill the needs of youth sports teams and physical education programs serving thousands of youth that currently lack secure and reliable facilities.

In Richmond, local residents, public officials, and community leaders celebrated a groundbreaking for a new sports field at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Park. The field, abandoned for as long as community residents can remember, will be rebuilt with high grade synthetic sports turf. Oakland Raiders legend Jim Otto was on hand to present a $200,000 check to the City of Richmond and the Richmond Children's Foundation at the ceremony last August. When the field is complete next year, it will serve over 1100 children and youth each week from local schools, sports programs, and the adjacent community center.

Neighborhood kids practice football at the groundbreaking event in Nystrom.

"This new field is at the heart of the Nystrom United Revitalization Effort (NURVE)," stated Joan Davis, CEO of the Richmond Children's Foundation. "The new sports field will link two adjacent schools and will serve as a centerpiece of the neighborhood," Davis said.

Nytrom's new field "symbolizes more than just football," according to Rae Jackson, coach of the Richmond Eagles youth football team. In an area facing high rates of poverty, unemployment and youth violence and obesity, the field can be "a beacon of light," "a safe haven" and a place where youth can "learn proper nutrition [and] how to communicate with each other," Jackson said.

Rev. Norman Fong, from the Chinatown Community Development Center and a Galileo High alumnus, helped warm up the crowd.

Across the bay in northeast San Francisco, All-Pro football legend Guy McIntyre spoke before thousands of excited students at the grand-opening of the new George White Field at the Galileo Academy of Science & Technology on October 9. As the only football field in that quadrant of San Francisco, the synthetic turf field will serve over 2000 students in sports teams and physical education programs at Galileo and thousands of youth across the neighborhood and city.

Over the past decade, LISC's NFL Grassroots Program, which uses football as a catalyst to promote youth development, has supported the construction or renovation of ten football fields across the Bay Area. For more information about the NFL Grassroots Program and the new fields, please visit www.bayarealisc.org and www.bayareanext.org.

 Neighborhood Festivals Increase Local Volunteerism and Vibrancy

Members of the African Drum Ensemble kept traditional arts alive and brought neighbors together at the 7th annual Excelsior Festival.

Live music, local artists and vendors, and even a petting zoo filled the streets of Bay Area neighborhoods this fall, when ten community-run events brought thousands together to celebrate local culture and take part in free family activities. Kids, families, and community groups organized festivals and live music to bring neighbors together in San Francisco's Chinatown, Excelsior, Oceanview-Merced-Ingleside, Portola and Visitacion Valley neighborhoods. In Richmond, Jazz on the Vine and the Music on the Main series brought 1500 locals downtown for live music, food and wine.

In addition to bringing affordable entertainment to areas with few low-cost public activities, the events helped build a sense of community and connect residents to local resources. When neighborhoods have "an exchange of culture, an exchange of music, an exchange of ideas, then they grow as a community together, and they learn to be with each other in a peaceful manner," said Delanzo Pope, who performed at the Excelsior Art and Music Festival with the African Drum Ensemble. "We're always seeing the spotlight put on this area in a negative light, and we're here to make sure things are shown in a positive light."

Community residents watched local artists perform international music and dance at the Excelsior Festival.

Local events play a vital role in neighborhood improvement, according to organizers. "The whole point of the neighborhood festival is to build community pride and get community involvement from the residents," said Ling Liang of the Portola Neighborhood Steering Committee and the Ocean Avenue Revitalization Collaborative. "It's a very important part of revitalization."

With event budgets down by half in some cases, local volunteers played an even bigger role in planning, publicizing and running this year's festivals. Organizers said that festivals are especially important in the tough economic climate because they help attract visitors and investment. The Excelsior festival demonstrated "what wealth...not just economic wealth, but cultural wealth, historical wealth, social wealth, there actually is here," according to Eric Brewer-Garcia of the Excelsior Action Group (EAG). In areas that see little or negative media attention, these events are "an opportunity for...folks to come and see that there is a reason to be in this community - there is a reason to set up shop and stay here," said Cristy Johnston of EAG.

Made possible with support from State Farm, the City of San Francisco, and other sponsors, nearly all of the events are part of Bay Area LISC's Neighborhood Marketplace Initiative, which supports community leaders, merchant groups and community-based organizations in low-to-moderate income areas to lead revitalization in commercial districts.

 Funder Spotlight: Citi

In a region with a severe shortage of affordable housing, Citi has been a committed partner to building the capacity of nonprofit affordable housing organizations through its support of Bay Area Local Initiatives Support Corporation's (LISC) Housing Development Training Institute (HDTI). This year-long program intensively trains new project managers in affordable housing development and has been supported by more than $500,000 in grants from the Citi Foundation over the past six years. The Citi Foundation has been a longtime supporter of Bay Area LISC, providing more than $800,000 in grants since our relationship began in 1997.

In addition to funding HDTI, Citi has expanded its support to complementary initiatives at Bay Area LISC over the past few years. These programs include Green Connection, which advances green practices in affordable housing development, and the Neighborhood Marketplace Initiative, which supports economic revitalization in low-income commercial districts.

"Citi is proud to support Bay Area LISC and its efforts to increase affordable housing," said Cheryl Evans, Citi Community Relations Western Regional Director. "Through this important training program, LISC provides tools and resources to help local developers and project managers develop and build housing to meet the needs of all Bay Area residents."

Since the program's founding 18 years ago, Bay Area LISC has trained nearly 150 professionals in Northern California, raising the standards in the field and providing a valuable opportunity for professional development. "Our HDTI graduates have helped build over 15,000 units of affordable housing. The program has played a key role in broadening the impact of over 50 nonprofit affordable housing organizations across the Bay Area," said Stephanie Forbes, Executive Director of Bay Area LISC. "Our success would not have been possible without Citi."