Stories of Philanthropic Leadership in Advancing Regional and ...

Richmond, Calif.The second regional equity demonstration project isin Richmond, Calif. It is an area like Camden inmany ways. A Bay Area suburb, its residents—predominantly African American, Asian American,and Latino—sufferthe familiarRichmond is part of a challenges of racialdynamic, growing regional segregation andeconomic marketplace. For concentrated poverty.Richmond, the question There has beenbecomes whether somespeculation that thecity of Richmondof this regional growth cancould declarebe captured to expandbankruptcy and joinopportunities for low-income Camden in a stateresidents and to advance receivership. Fromregional equity goals. the FordFoundation’sperspective, however,there is one critical difference: Richmond is part of adynamic, growing regional economic marketplace.For Richmond, the question becomes whether someof this regional growth can be captured to expandopportunities for low-income residents and toadvance regional equity goals.In 2003, Ford partnered with The San FranciscoFoundation to launch the Richmond demonstrationproject. An initial, one-year, $450,000 grant wasgiven to The San Francisco Foundation. Some ofthis money was re-granted to three anchor groups:Urban Habitat, Contra Costa Faith Works!, and theRichmond Improvement Association. Theremainder was held by the Foundation to pay fortechnical assistance and/or consultants requested bythe three anchor groups, for their capacity buildingneeds, and to fund new partners identified as theproject evolved.The Richmond Regional Equity Demonstration hasvery different goals from the grants made underFord’s Camden initiative. Distinct from Camden’sasset- or project-based regionalism, Richmond’semphasis is on community-based regionalism. InRichmond, the focus is on the grassrootsinfrastructure, supporting organized communitygroups and people as they identify their own needsand develop a stronger ability to address those needsat the regional level, through the concept of anEquitable Development Zone.Richmond, Calif., is a San Francisco Bay Area inner-ring suburb where theFord Foundation is engaged in a community-based regionalism demonstrationproject. Connecting residents to a hot market region is one of the goals.(© Camilo Jose Vergara, www.camden.rutgers.edu/~hfcy/intro.html).According to The San Francisco Foundation’senvironment program officer, Arlene Rodriguez, theEquitable Development Zone “defines what thecommunity wants, in terms of housing, education,environment, transportation, and economicdevelopment, from any new investments in theirneighborhood.” This statement is echoed by MariaAlegria from ContraCosta Faith Works!:“The EquitableDevelopment Zone setsout the community’svision of what they wanttheir neighborhood tolook like and futureinvestments inRichmond will beguided by this vision,delivering benefits forRichmond’s existingresidents.” Over time,the participants haveidentified a need foradditional expertise inorder to best make informed decisions. Regionaldynamics and choices are complex and no one entityhas the in-house expertise for a comprehensiveapproach to decisionmaking. Thus, as the projectevolves, resources have been devoted to bring othertechnical service providers into the process, mostly inthe areas of housing and housing finance.Funder Interest“The Equitable DevelopmentZone sets out thecommunity’s vision ofwhat they want theirneighborhood to look likeand future investments inRichmond will be guided bythis vision, deliveringbenefits for Richmond’sexisting residents.”Through its Sustainable Metropolitan CommunitiesInitiative (SMCI), the Ford Foundation began an— Maria AlegriaEQUITABLE PUBLIC INVESTMENTPart III: Section 1: Promoting Equitable Public Investment 34