Pilot Projects

Economic Opportunity Initiative

City of Sunnyvale/NOVA Workforce Development - Bay Area Tech Career Advancement Initiative

Increase access to sustainable Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) careers for Bay Area low- and moderate-income workers. Leveraging new career pathways research, the Initiative will create and deliver career navigation curriculum content for students of the Oakland-based Stride Center. The Initiative will also work with employer advisors and industry partners to create internship and employment opportunities for students, and share the curriculum and outcomes with regional workforce stakeholders in the fast growing ICT industry.

Community Health Partnership - Santa Clara County Health Services Workforce Collaborative

Establish a Workforce Collaborative designed to unify efforts of healthcare providers, workforce development organizations, labor unions, community colleges and community based organizations in order to provide job search skills, career pathway information, and focused training (including digital literacy) for low wage non-clinical healthcare workers in Santa Clara County. Program will identify the essential skills, education and training required to advance from LMI to middle-wage non-clinical health jobs, and develop an Education and Training Program targeting these requirements. The Collaborative is intended to serve as a replicable model for other healthcare occupations across the Bay Area.

Contra Costa Community College District - East Bay Skills Alliance

Launch a new workforce intermediary in the East Bay with the goal of aligning decision-making about education, workforce development, and economic development priorities for the regional community colleges, universities, workforce boards, government, and economic development agencies. Pilot a set of activities that will build a value proposition for the establishment of a new intermediary organization and develop a business plan for the intermediary to sustain the institutional structure of this new entity. Public funding resources will be leveraged to drive a coordinated workforce and economic development system that meets the needs of both job seekers and regional employers.

Contra Costa County Department of Conservation and Development – Northern Waterfront Economic Development Initiative

Develop a strategic Action Plan to guide the economic revitalization of the Northern Waterfront. The Action Plan planning process will provide a vehicle for residents, community organizations, local governments, education and workforce training organizations, and private industry to engage in a meaningful conversation about what capacity building efforts would best serve economic development objectives for revitalization of the area.

East Bay Community Law Center - A Blueprint for Creating Pathways to Ownership for Low and Moderate Income Workers in the SF Bay Area

Adopt a multipronged approach to grow the worker-owned business sector by: creating a Cooperative Academy for Low- and Moderate-Income (LMI) workers and training organizations; researching and preparing a guide for scaling worker-owned businesses in emerging Bay Area industries; and preparing an action plan for retaining existing jobs and preserving businesses in which the owners are retiring by selling the businesses to their employees. The Cooperative Academy will meaningfully engage LMI workers and provide cohort-based education, training, business coaching and legal representation to ensure the success of worker-owned startups.

Monument Impact - Success Concord

Strengthen and expand economic opportunities, address debilitating barriers and develop clear upwardly-mobile employment pathways for low- and moderate-income workers in Concord, California. Project will develop and implement an intensive, culturally competent case management model by creating individualized employment action plans for at least 40 LMI, primarily immigrant workers.

Multicultural Institute - Improved Skills, Better Wages and New Opportunities for Latino Day Laborers and Other Immigrant Low-Income Workers

Provide training and support services for Latino immigrant day laborers and other low-income service workers to enhance economic opportunities, allow for retention of current work and expand employer networks for these LMI workers. Training will include Spanish GED-prep courses, computer skill-building workshops, small business courses, and “Life Skills” workshops aimed at enhancing LMI worker opportunities. Project will focus on helping workers to command higher wages through improved self-marketing and via group solidarity to maintain a fair-wage floor at hiring sites.

San Francisco Bay Area Labor Foundation – Formula Retail Sector Economic Opportunity Project

Research and analyze the formula retail sector (i.e. corporate-owned chain stores and restaurants) in San Francisco and develop model policies and programs to improve job quality and expand support for low-wage workers and locally-owned businesses. The partnership will specifically evaluate feasibility of implementing a formula retail living wage ordinance that would be the first of its kind in the nation.

Sonoma County Economic Development Board – Self-Employment and the Road to Economic Security

Promote entrepreneurship and self-employment as a viable “relief valve” for crowded job market seekers in the $18-30 salary range. Project will increase entrepreneurship outreach to LMI, female, Latino, veteran, disabled and senior target groups, develop an entrepreneurship educational pipeline and continue Business Retention and Expansion (BRE) program efforts.

Urban Habitat – Promoting Economic Opportunity at the Fremont Warm Springs BART Station

Link low-income workers, job support services, training, and employers to the Bay Area’s transit system by creating a job-training center at the Fremont Warm Springs Bart Station to create pathways to career ladder jobs. Project will work to ensure that employment remains a priority in the PDA planning process and engage low income workers in the planning and passage of the PDA plan.

Working Partnerships USA – Construction Careers Initiative

Develop and field-test a model for a Construction Careers Pipeline that increases low-wage-workers’ access to apprenticeships; meets industry needs; satisfies the provisions of AB 554; and can be replicated throughout the Bay Area. The outcome of the Construction Careers model will be to recruit, screen, train and place low-to-moderate income workers on pathways to middle-wage careers in the construction industry.

Equity Initiative

Bay Localize/Earth Island Institute – Map Your Future Project

Create a vehicle for community groups and planners to work together in an integrated program to improve access to affordable housing and transit, strengthen economic opportunities for at-risk youth, and prepare for the local impacts of climate change. The project trains youth leaders to develop community-based maps, research, and action recommendations to improve communication and collaboration between community groups, planners and policy makers. Project will create a leadership role for low-income communities in decision-making and planning processes, integrating participation in the Regional Prosperity Plan, Sustainable Communities Strategy, and climate resilience planning throughout the region.

Council of Community Housing Organizations – Community Capacity Building

Continue to play an active role in shaping the “sustainable communities” agenda for the Bay Area at the local level through knowledge-sharing, technical assistance and coalition-building with CCHO’s 20 members and a broad network of housing and social equity organizations. CCHO is focused at the San Francisco city / county scale where there is a rich patchwork of community organizations and base-building groups. These organizations and groups are also engaged in coalition efforts around regional smart growth issues with advocacy organizations across several Bay Area communities.

East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy – Revive Oakland: Making Good Jobs Real

Strengthen workforce pathways and ensure meaningful community enforcement to implement the landmark Good Jobs Policy, adopted by the City of Oakland in 2012, which will create real opportunities for underrepresented communities in the massive redevelopment of the Oakland Army Base. EBASE, the Revive Oakland coalition and hundreds of community members were critical to proposing, developing and establishing this policy. Expand this vision to incorporate jobs generated by the Port of Oakland and other agencies.

East Bay Housing Organizations – Community Engagement for Public Benefits Zoning in Oakland PDAs

Engage community stakeholders and residents in redefining a “Public Benefits Zoning” framework and building support for affordable housing and anti-displacement in PDA-related specific planning processes in Oakland. Community engagement will build on existing specific plan advocacy, the Resident and Community Organizing Program, and prior technical work on Land Value Recapture – framed as “Public Benefits Zoning” in Oakland.

Gamaliel of California – A New Vision for the Bay Area

Strengthen efforts to build a regional equity strategy in 5 counties in the Bay Area. Focus on building regional equity for public transportation spending, including advocacy for a regional youth bus pass, increase/improved public transit operations, and restored public transit lines.

Local Initiatives Support Corporation – One-Day Regional Equity Conference

Convene a one-day regional conference for up to 200 equity organizations in coordination with the Equity Collaborative and Steering Committee in October 2013. The conference will provide a forum for sharing best practices and models for engaging under-represented communities in local and regional planning projects. The conference will also build capacity among equity organizations to promote equity principles in the region.

People Organized to Win Employment Rights – Black Regional Resilience Project

Project aims to understand the root causes beneath the crisis of displacement of African American residents from the San Francisco Bay Area. Engage impacted residents to understand the underlying causes and to gather proactive solutions to stem the tide of displacement from the region.

PolicyLink – Oakland Sustainable Neighborhoods Initiative Capacity Building

Work with the Oakland Sustainable Neighborhoods Initiative – International Boulevard BRT Leadership Team and Committees to develop decision-making around priority development sites, policy frameworks for guiding development, and integration of best practices. Project will help stakeholders, plus community resident leadership from throughout the International Boulevard corridor, translate priority data analysis and best practices on BRT corridor development policy to guide policy framework for redevelopment and investment along the corridor as the BRT is constructed and operated.

Public Health Institute – Rules of the Road: How to Engage Public Agencies in Land Use, Transportation and Air Quality Decisions to Promote Equity and Public Health

Bridge the engagement gap – the lack of knowledge about how various agencies make decisions, and how members of the public can influence the process – by providing targeted trainings and follow?up technical assistance to under?represented communities. This issue is one of the barriers to meaningful community involvement in land use and transportation issues, particularly as they relate to public health and equity issues. Helping to build their capacity to better navigate political processes, build relationships with policymakers and testify and submit comments will make agencies’ process and outcomes more dynamic, useful and reflective of community concerns.

Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation – Citywide Leadership Academy Project

Train residents from low-income and immigrant neighborhoods to give them the hard skills they need to become leaders in their community. This unique citywide collaboration will provide 8 months of training in San Francisco history and land use, while developing skills in critical analysis and public speaking. The core goal of this program is to develop and empower leaders in San Francisco’s lowest income neighborhoods. Citywide Leadership Academy is a collaboration of five community-based organizations.

Urban Habitat – Planning Institute for Leadership

Train members of seven community based organizations in urban planning from a racial and environmental justice perspective. These schools are intended to build the capacity of local organizations to address the land use and transportation patterns that shape access to economic opportunity for low- and moderate-income workers. Curricula will be developed collaboratively with community based organizations in order to most effectively support their work and priorities.

Youth United for Community Action – Promoting Equity from the Bottom Up

Work with low-income residents of East Palo Alto to identify challenges and solutions related to access to economic opportunity. Engage residents through leadership development, education and organizing to participate in the Regional Prosperity Strategy project.

Youth United for Community Action – Promoting Equity in Affordable Housing

Through a multi-level strategy of leadership development, education, organizing, legal advocacy, and media production, this project will incorporate East Palo Alto residents in the City’s planning processes to promote equity principles, particularly in housing.

Housing the Workforce Initiative

Causa Justa::Just Cause – Development without Displacement

Publish a “Development without Displacement” Report to provide a Comprehensive Anti–Displacement Framework for stakeholders involved in community planning processes associated with Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) in the Bay Area. Drawing from the team’s current work around AC Transit’s new Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system along the International Boulevard corridor in Oakland, develop a tool that is applicable to numerous areas that expect and are planning for TOD. Create the report with input of residents living along the International Boulevard corridor, the San Francisco Mission District, West Oakland and other neighborhoods.

Chinatown Community Development Center – San Francisco Small Sites Acquisition and Stabilization Project

Develop a sustainable and scalable model for the acquisition and preservation of existing affordable housing units on small sites, and lay the groundwork for implementing that model to identify opportunity sites within four Priority Development Areas in San Francisco where disadvantaged communities are at greatest risk of displacement.

East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation – Pre-Development Assessment for the 11th and Jackson Site

Incorporate community benefit principles and reduce the construction costs for the site on 11th and Jackson in Oakland Chinatown through improved design and programming. Create an alternative financing plan (including possible mixed-income structure) to deal with the loss of Redevelopment. Communicate the results of targeted investment along public transit corridors, and lessons learned about how mixed-use buildings with affordable housing can have positive externalities to the surrounding neighborhoods.

East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation – Healthy Havenscourt Neighborhood

Address a community response to neighborhood stabilization efforts near a new Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line along International Boulevard in Oakland’s Havenscourt neighborhood. Project will organize and engage residents, businesses and schools around issues of affordable housing, economic security and the risk of displacement. Neighborhood stakeholders will help to develop a Havenscourt Neighborhood Plan that will outline the priority social factors and contain goals with achievable outcomes for the BRT project.

East Bay Housing Organizations - Implementing Land Value Recapture to Support the Production and Preservation of Affordable Housing Near Transit

Provide guidance to elected officials, agency staff, and community members on an innovative method to fund affordable housing - Land Value Recapture (LVR) and Public Benefits Zoning. This method captures a portion of the increased land values created by public investment and re-zoning, and targets it for affordable housing development and preservation.

Greenbelt Alliance – Building Community Support for Affordable Housing Developments

Design and launch an endorsement program to evaluate affordable housing projects. Help gain community acceptance, establish thresholds for a level of contribution to affordable housing that market rate developments will be expected to provide in order to receive endorsement, and include outreach to and education of local residents to create local voices to say “yes” to affordable homes in their communities.

Housing Leadership Council of San Mateo County - Laying the Groundwork for Inclusive Growth in San Mateo County through the Creation of New Funding Sources and Adoption of Updated Housing Elements

Lead a campaign to encourage San Mateo County cities to adopt Housing Element Updates by 2015. Develop and build consensus for a “boilerplate policy platform” that includes best practices, model policy language, and new revenue sources that can be incorporated into local Housing Elements to support and incentivize affordability.

Marin Grassroots – Leadership, Engagement, Advocacy and Development (LEAD)

Implement a two-pronged approach to community capacity building and engagement by combining grassroots leadership training with the development of a Regional Early Warning System for Gentrification for Marin County. Leadership, Engagement, Advocacy and Development will be an action-learning community training program that will prepare participants to be effective neighborhood stabilization advocates and members of local public Boards and Commissions. By involving community members from two local Communities of Concern in this program – Canal and Marin City – the project will address gentrification and minimize its impacts on low- and very low-income households.

Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California - Housing Our Workforce: Funding Affordable Housing through State, Regional, and Local Sources, San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties

Ensure that adequate affordable housing is built for the region by using creative financing solutions to generate funds for affordable housing and promoting more effective and equitable housing elements. Provide technical assistance, analysis, and advocacy support to ensure that housing elements are well positioned to create the needed affordable homes. Project will seek to address the ambitious housing goals in Plan Bay Area and restore affordable housing funding to levels that will ensure the success of the Plan.

Northern California Land Trust – Sustainable Stewardship Program

Promote shared stewardship and build technical assistance capacity among member CLT’s on the land trust model. Provide ground lease / deed restriction oversight; resale management; and lender / funder / jurisdictional outreach and resident education. Use these newly developed resources (case studies, project analysis and feasibility tools, and California-specific project documents) to catalyze and support the development of three replicable pilot projects using the land trust model. Provide regional technical support to leverage local CLT’s track record of creating small-scale urban infill, limited equity, ownership projects through partnerships in target communities that are within areas classified as Priority Development Areas, transit-served, and Communities of Concern.

Peninsula Interfaith Action – East Palo Alto Fair Housing Project

Work with coalition partners to galvanize East Palo Alto residents in an Area Plan process in the city’s “westside” (west of Highway 101) neighborhood to mitigate displacement of up to 6,400 low-income residents and people of color, increase affordable housing options in the Peninsula, and set a model of housing preservation strategies for the San Mateo County.

Reconnecting America / California Housing Partnership Corporation – Preserving Affordable Housing Near Transit

Identify the location of concentrations of at risk affordable properties near transit and work with local governments to implement policy solutions for preserving those properties. Conduct a regional spatial analysis, and focus on three jurisdictions, including the cities of San Jose and Fremont, as well as an additional jurisdiction that will be identified through the regional analysis, to provide more specific study and recommendations. Include a Preservation Toolkit with suggestions for how other jurisdictions can approach their own affordable housing preservation needs.

Resources for Community Development – Pre-Development Assessment for Riviera Family Apartments

Serve as a seminal case study of how: (a) high quality, dense and urban affordable housing can be introduced as a key component of a healthy and stable community in a suburban city with existing infrastructure and proximity to employment; (b) financing of affordable housing at the local level can adapt to a post-redevelopment California; and (c) economic integration and jobs-housing balance can be reintroduced in a location that has already gentrified and priced out the workforce. Riviera Family Apartments will provide 55 units of affordable housing for low-income families in Downtown Walnut Creek.

TransForm – Bay Area Online Parking Database

Collect data, create a Bay Area Online Parking Database and pilot it in several communities. This project, when completed, will facilitate the development of affordable homes at each stage of planning and development process. Affordable homes, especially those with transportation demand management (TDM) strategies, should be credited with transportation benefits and reduced parking requirements. This would make more developments financially feasible and increase the number of homes in a given building envelope. Currently, most cities don’t give credit to affordable homes, neighbors oppose proposed developments and traffic models underestimate their benefits.