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BCLI Issues and Advocates Speaker Series
Fresh Thinking about Community and Anchor Partnerships: Creating Shared Value for More Equitable Communities
October 19, 2011

We've seen that anchor institutions, such as universities and hospitals, can have a significant impact on community economic development. But how can communities with fewer economic resources catalyze anchor relationships that will serve the particular needs of their community members? And how can leaders within anchor institutions move from a "social responsibility" framework to one that acknowledges the community's integral role in their long-term success?

In this panel, we offer some innovative case studies that allow us to stretch our thinking about the ways that anchor institutions are defined and how they support the communities in which they reside, in terms of both economic development and cultural stabilization, and we provide examples of the kinds of strategic partnerships that can emerge from engagement between anchors and communities when the focus is on the creation of shared value.

Read the speakers' bios and hear the podcast of their presentation:

• Prerana Reddy, Director of Public Events, Queens Museum of Art
  
• Sam Chapman, Manager of State and Community Relations, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
• Juliet Ellis, Assistant General Manager of External Affairs, San Francisco Public Utilities Commission

Subscribe to the BCLI podcast feed. Download the mp3. Use the player above. Or use this ITunes link.

BCLI Issues and Advocates Speaker Series
Closing the Opportunity Gap: Prioritizing Schools in Planning for Sustainable Communities
September 21, 2011

Supportive, inclusive educational institutions are essential for vibrant, equitable communities, and access to opportunity-rich education provides a means by which socially and economically marginalized community members can improve quality of life. As we plan for growth within the Bay Area region, we must prioritize high-quality schools as a key feature of sustainable communities.

In addition to classroom education, the level of student opportunity is informed by where and how students and their parents sleep and eat, how they travel to and from school, and the environment that surrounds and supports (or does not support) their general well-being. Equitable decision making on behalf of community education, therefore, includes paying careful attention to those elements outside of the school itself that can greatly impact students' abilities to succeed. Economically stable communities with opportunities for affordable family housing, healthy neighborhoods with clean air, dependable transportation for both students and working parents, and safe routes to school for students who walk or ride bikes are just a few of many factors that can support student success.

Focusing primarily on land use, housing, and transportation, our panelists identify key issues in equitable decision making in planning for opportunity-rich schools in the Bay Area in the face of anticipated high regional population growth. As a group, we share policies and strategies that decision makers and advocates can use to ensure that our growth strategies are sustainable, equitable, and address the needs of low-income families and communities of color.

Read the speakers' bios and hear the podcast of their presentation:

*Jeffrey Vincent, Deputy Director, Center for Cities & Schools
*Marisa Raya, Regional Planner, Association of Bay Area Governments
*Vu-Bang Nguyen, Land Use Coordinator, Urban Habitat

Subscribe to the BCLI podcast feed. Download the mp3. Use the player above. Or use this ITunes link.

BCLI Issues and Advocates Speaker Series

Curbing Sprawl, Protecting Health: Building Housing for the Bay Area's Most Vulnerable Residents

Over the next 30 years, the Bay Area is projected to add two million people to its population-a 30% growth, or the equivalent of adding two-and-half cities the size of San Francisco or about four Oaklands.

Senate Bill 375, the Sustainable Communities and Climate Protection Act, requires regional planning agencies in the Bay Area to prepare for this growth in a strategic manner by prioritizing new housing development near public transportation in order to reduce the amount of automobile-generated pollution in the region, which is currently the single largest and fastest growing source of pollution in the Bay Area. But much of the planned development will take place in low-income communities and communities of color already exposed to high levels of pollution from sources such as highways, ports, and industrial manufacturing. This conflict presents a challenge for regional agencies and advocates who want to both curb urban sprawl and protect the health of those already impacted by environmental injustice.

Our panelists will identify the health and planning challenges associated with transit-oriented development projects in the Bay Area's most polluted communities. As a group, we'll share policies and strategies that decision makers and advocates can use to ensure that such projects are planned, designed, and built in a healthy and equitable manner.

Read the speakers' bios and hear the podcast of their presentation:

• Lindsay Imai, Transportation Justice Program Coordinator, Urban Habitat
• Eli Moore, Program Co-Director, Community Strategies for Sustainability and Justice
• Dave Vintze, Air Quality Planning Manager, Bay Area Air Quality Management District
• Jeremy Liu, Executive Director, East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation

Subscribe to the BCLI podcast feed. Download the mp3. Use the player above. Or use this ITunes link.

BCLI Wednesday Night Panel Series
Leadership and Innovation in Job Creation: New Models for Putting Low-Income Communities Back to Work
November 17, 2010

In our final panel of the Boards and Commissions Leadership Institute Wednesday night series, we hear from the architects, developers, and implementers of fresh, effective approaches for quality jobs development for low-income communities -- models that deliver jobs and build community wealth in our struggling communities. In this panel, you'll hear about programs that have succeeded in empowering worker-owners to develop new green businesses, in providing sustaining funds to existing small businesses in order to encourage a vibrant urban core, and in investing in nonprofits that employ, train, and support members of our communities who have the least access to jobs, including the formerly incarcerated.

Specifically, we look at models developed by Inner City Advisors, the Cleveland Model of Evergreen Cooperatives, and REDF; and hear about exciting work in the City of Richmond for support of worker-owned cooperative businesses. Our expert panelists share the details of these programs, including opportunities and challenges for implementation and the short-term and projected results. We talk about scalability and replication, with an eye toward what local decision-makers can do to encourage these types of programs and investments in their communities.

Click on the links below to view the speakers' bios, hear the podcast of their presentation, and download handouts.

Speakers

*Jose Corona, Executive Director, Inner City Advisors
*Marilyn Langlois, Community Advocate, Office of the Mayor, City of Richmond
*India Pierce Lee, Program Director for Neighborhoods, Housing, and Community Development, The Cleveland Foundation
*Jason Trimiew, Director of Fund and Business Development, REDF