NEW YORK, NY, December 3, 2013—BRIDGE Housing will receive $250,000 in Citi Foundation funding to increase economic progress in San Francisco and Los Angeles as part of the Partners in Progress (PIP) initiative launched today in New York City.
The initiative, backed by the Citi Foundation and the Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF), aims to advance the “quarterback” model of community development by building the capacity of trusted organizations that align objectives, resources, and efforts among local stakeholders to create strong, resilient neighborhoods and paths to economic opportunity.
Under the one-year grant, BRIDGE Housing and its coalition of partners seek to impact education, social, and health outcomes for children and families in neighborhoods in Northern and Southern California. In San Francisco, BRIDGE is spearheading Rebuild Potrero, a development that will replace more than 600 units of public housing with mixed-income homes and services focused on building social cohesion and driven by resident input. In Los Angeles, BRIDGE is a partner in efforts to expand and redevelop Jordan Downs, a 700-unit public housing project in Watts. The new construction will replace the existing apartments, bring mixed-income homes to the area, and add needed retail, jobs and community resources.
Under the PIP initiative, BRIDGE will better define and institutionalize its role as a quarterback. BRIDGE will use PIP funding to identify best practices, share lessons learned and scale its integrated housing and community development efforts across its existing and future portfolio.
“This award affirms our belief that housing developments can serve as hubs for children, families, and seniors to connect to each other, to local resources, and to programs and services,” said BRIDGE Vice President Susan Neufeld, who was in New York City to receive the award and participate in kickoff events with the Citi Foundation and LIIF leadership.
“BRIDGE is a collaborator and capacity builder that focuses on bringing together partners who care about community impact,” said Cynthia A. Parker, BRIDGE President and CEO. “True to our tagline of ‘Building, Sustaining, Leading,’ we are eager to share lessons learned and work with peers to further define best practices.”
Through PIP, BRIDGE Housing and the other grantees will be able to initiate or deepen their efforts to become community quarterbacks. In this role, they will lead the development or expansion of local stakeholder networks to improve places—the physical environment of a community including housing, transit, and safety— and create opportunities for people—such as jobs, child development, education, and health. PIP funding will enable grantees to engage and align an expanded range of partners, share knowledge, and use data to drive project design. In addition, grantees will participate in a learning community that will include coaching and skill building.
“Recognizing that there is no ‘one size fits all’ solution to improving economic opportunity, we know the quarterback model works to align smart approaches with smart financing,” said Nancy O. Andrews, President and CEO of LIIF.
“The Partners in Progress initiative is focused on identifying and supporting organizations that have the credibility and potential to be local community development champions,” said Pamela Flaherty, President & CEO of the Citi Foundation.
The impetus behind the PIP initiative came from Investing in What Works for America’s Communities, a book LIIF co-published in 2012 with the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, which asserts that flexible and dynamic community quarterbacks could transform local community development efforts that are often fragmented and duplicative. The Citi Foundation supported LIIF’s work on the original book, and the PIP initiative now aims to advance the community quarterback model in across the nation.
To learn more about the PIP program, visit www.partnersinprogressproject.org.
Follow PIP on Twitter, @PIPCommunities, and like the PIP Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/partnersinprogressproject.
# # #
About BRIDGE Housing
BRIDGE Housing Corporation, a leading nonprofit developer of affordable housing on the west coast, creates and manages a range of high quality, affordable homes for working families and seniors. Since it was founded in 1983, BRIDGE has participated in the development of over 14,000 homes serving more than 37,000 people. For more information, visit bridgehousing.com.
About the Citi Foundation
The Citi Foundation is committed to the economic empowerment and financial inclusion of low- to moderate-income individuals and families in the communities where we work so that they can improve their standard of living. Globally, the Citi Foundation targets its strategic giving to priority focus areas: Microfinance, Enterprise Development, College Success, and Financial Capability and Asset Building. In the United States, the Citi Foundation also supports Neighborhood Revitalization programs. The Citi Foundation works with its partners in Microfinance, Enterprise Development, and Neighborhood Revitalization to support environmental programs and innovations. Additional information can be found at www.citifoundation.com.
About the Low Income Investment Fund
The Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF) invests capital to support healthy families and communities. Since 1984, LIIF has served 1.5 million people by investing $1.4 billion. Over its history, LIIF has provided financing and technical assistance to create and preserve affordable housing, child care centers, schools, healthy food retail, health clinics and transit-oriented developments in distressed neighborhoods nationwide. LIIF’s work has generated $26 billion in family income and societal benefits. LIIF has offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York City and Washington, D.C. For more information about LIIF, visit www.liifund.org.