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December 2016
Progress Newsletter
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Radical Collaboration:
Rescue Housing Fund Finds Extra Support
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by: Bill Somerville, Founder
Earlier this month, Facebook announced
that it would partner with local community organizations and commit $20 million towards affordable housing, job training, and legal services in California. We are delighted to see that $500,000 of the amount was allocated to a Rescue Housing Fund at Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto (CLSEPA)
to fight evictions.
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Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto (CLSEPA)
Photograph by Craig Sherod
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PVF initiated this Rescue Housing Fund at CLSEPA in 2015 in partnership with the Peery Foundation. The Peery Foundation generously contributed $100,000 to assist vulnerable and low-income residents facing eviction in East Palo Alto and Belle Haven (in Menlo Park). With this fund, lawyers at Community Legal Services are able to cover various amounts at their discretion for clients' critical housing needs during emergencies, such as losing a month's wages after a car accident. Housing attorneys can then provide legal advocacy, defending tenants against landlord abuse, or negotiating back rent payment schedules, to keep more families in their homes.
"Working families in EPA and Belle Haven owe a huge debt of gratitude to the Peery Foundation and PVF for establishing this emergency housing fund. It gives our lawyers another tool to fight displacement and has already kept hundreds of people in their homes in its first year."
"Working families in EPA and Belle Haven owe a huge debt of gratitude to the Peery Foundation and PVF for establishing this emergency housing fund. It gives our lawyers another tool to fight displacement and has already kept hundreds of people in their homes in its first year," said Jason Tarricone, Directing Attorney of the Housing program at Community Legal Services.
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Read the San Mateo County Eviction Report 2016, created by the Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County, Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto (CLSEPA), and the Anti-Eviction Mapping Project, 2016.
Photograph by Brandon Chaves
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PVF is proud to be a foundation that is on the ground and focusing on grassroots ideas, partnering with donors and service providers to test out innovative and adventurous ideas and see them develop into successful programs. Last month, the Peery Foundation
replenished the Rescue Housing Fund with another $100,000, so we can continue to prevent eviction and homelessness in East Palo Alto, and we are glad that organizations like Facebook are joining these efforts to address affordable housing issues in the community.
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Dream Big, Dream Differently:
SheEO Activates Women's Radical Generosity
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As 2016 draws to a close, we are reminded once again of how lucky we are to work with so many smart, innovative, compassionate, and inspiring partners in our community.
One shining example is
SheEO
, our stellar new partner as of August.
Founded by serial entrepreneur Vicki Saunders in 2014, SheEO has created a new model to support female entrepreneurs. It is a model of "women supporting women to change the world." Under the program, up to 1,000 women (called "activators") each contribute $1,100. The money is pooled into a fund and loaned out, interest-free, to local, women-led ventures with a social good mission. Funds are then paid back over five years, and reinvested over and over again.
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James Higa, Executive Director, brings 28 years of executive experience from Silicon Valley, working with Steve Jobs to change the face of technology. He was at the birth of the personal computer revolution as a member of the original Macintosh team and was deeply involved in the creation of many products and services at Apple over 3 decades. He has a long history of public service as a board member of Stanford's Haas Center and in grassroots relief efforts.
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Bill Somerville, Founder, has been in non-profit and philanthropic work for 50 years. He was the director of a community foundation for 17 years, and in 1991 founded Philanthropic Ventures Foundation where he serves as President. Bill has consulted at over 400 community foundations, on creative grantmaking and foundation operations. Bill is the author of Grassroots Philanthropy: Field Notes of a Maverick Grantmaker.
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About PVF
PVF is a demonstration foundation practicing unique forms of grantmaking and innovative philanthropy. Our primary interest is in the creative and significant use of the philanthropic dollar.
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