We end our Northern California staff meetings with appreciations.

In this month of Thanksgiving, I want to appreciate our team for keeping up with the intense pace of the past year and express gratitude to our partners for sharing their strength so we can all make a difference together.

So much has happened here in the last six months, and we are excited to share some news and resources. 

Our team has grown by five new people, and James Yelen, who led our regional preservation work, has moved to Chicago and is working on our national Strong, Prosperous, And Resilient Communities Challenge (SPARCC) team. 

The California Department of Housing and Community Development is deploying $1.45 billion over the next five months for Homekey. In turn, we’ve expanded the technical assistance we provided for Homekey’s first round for jurisdictions applying to Homekey’s second round of funding.  

To learn more about accessing this resource, visit the Department of Housing and Community Development’s Homekey website. Our new staff members Shanon Lampkins-Jones and Julian Tucker can also answer questions about Homekey. 

We continue to support many partners in their work to end housing insecurity and homelessness and advance a racial equity agenda. 

For example, explore the opportunities through our Section 4 Capacity Building Grants and reach out to Anaise Jean-Philippe to learn more. 

And last, we are thrilled to have been chosen by the San Francisco Foundation to serve as The Partnership for the Bay’s Future Breakthrough Grant Fellowship Provider in partnership with Coro Northern California. 

This work will be led by Caroline McCormack, and please reach out to her if interested in becoming a fellow or need additional information.

Our policy and other program work continue to steadfastly push toward the vision to make home and community places of pride, power and belonging.

We can achieve this through programs like Building Sustainable Neighborhoods and its work supporting state Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities applications, HOPE SF, Community Powered Resilience and undergirding the ongoing development of Bay Area Housing Finance Authority.

Thank YOU for the inspiration. Thanks for all that you are giving. Happy Thanksgiving.