Stories of Philanthropic Leadership in Advancing Regional and ...

LIVABLE NEIGHBORHOODS/STRONG REGIONSPlaza is an effort to empower residents as activepartners and decisionmakers in the project. Projectimplementation is characterized by a commitment tolearn by doing. It even means that at times theimplementation may take the project inunanticipated directions. Furthermore, JCNI plansto remain in the neighborhood until a sunset clauseputs the center out of business in about 20 years.Freedom from the pressures of conducting shorterterminitiatives has enabled JCNI to engage in apatient process of building trust and relationshipswith residents, while building lasting communityinstitutions. Finally, to support communitycontrolledasset development, JCNI is pioneeringnew ways of using the Jacobs Family Foundation’sown assets and borrowing capacity in support ofcommunity goals. New program-related investmentstrategies that fuse neighborhood loans, loanguarantees, and working lines of credit are oneoutcome of this effort.Community listening, in which resident responses are recorded and thencategorized, is key to the planning process of each team involved in theMarket Creek Plaza development. (Source: Jacobs Center forNeighborhood Innovation).ResultsAfter four to five years of pursuing the CommunityPartnership Working Group process, The San DiegoFoundation’s representatives are starting to seeprogress. The product from the Working Groups iscomprehensive. It is well-framed from residentinput. It uses data to identify emergingopportunities. Detailed grantmaking iscomplemented by meta-level activities that advancegoals like creating a new regional consensus forhousing. The flurry of activity stimulates a new kindof discourse at the board level that addresses regionalequity in a framing that members can embrace. Asone Working Group member puts it, “How do wetalk about moving to the future in the region whenour children cannot afford to live here?” More than250 volunteers are critical to making this processwork, assisted by nearly all of the Foundation’s 42staff. “How do you include those who never get toparticipate into planning for their communities?”asks Diaz. “There is your regional equity issue.”Donors increasingly look to create agencyendowments to sustain the more innovativeorganizations. “This is the long term goal,” notesDiaz. “We need to tap the passion of the donors.”The Foundation and community groups create atriad for addressing regional equity concerns, withthe donor being the primary investor who lives inthe area and values it as their home.Progress in the case of City Heights can also be seen.One hundred-sixteen housing units adjacent to theUrban Village were recently completed, as well as anoffice building specifically devoted to housingnonprofit organizations that provide communityservices. In 2001, Price Charities convened a series ofcommunity workshops to develop a new Vision Planfor upcoming development efforts. Recognizing thatrevitalizing City Heights requires addressing all thefactors that contribute to urban poverty, the Initiativeis committed to employing holistic strategies ofredevelopment. Moreover, the Initiative is committedto making the redevelopment effort communitydrivenand to improving City Heights for its currentresidents. “Price is tearing down all the barriers,” saysone observer. “University, teachers’ union, financialinstitutions—they bring them all to the table. If weare going to achieve neighborhood or regional equity,we will need that kind of bridging power.”Meanwhile, Market Creek Plaza has already resultedin important breakthroughs in minoritycontracting, local hiring, civic participation,community equity, local business interest andownership, and neighborhood reinvestment eventhough implementation is not yet complete. Sixtytwopercent of the construction contracts forMarket Creek Plaza were awarded to local minority-87Funders’ Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities