Self-Help Enterprises (SHE) is excited to share a new English and Spanish glossary developed in partnership with SHE, Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability, Community Water Center, and the Water Hub. It was developed to make groundwater management terms easier to understand, helping to build the capacity to participate in water management planning and the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) implementation process. In addition to making the technical terms easier to understand, graphics are included to connect select terms to a visual representation of the term. Furthermore, terms are grouped by topic including water equity, water terms, technical terms, and policy terms. At the end of the glossary, there is a “How to Participate” section on how to participate in the SGMA process. 

To easily share, the glossaries are also available online here: 

• English glossary: https://bit.ly/SGMAGlossary
• Spanish glossary: https://bit.ly/GlosarioSGMA 

We hope community residents and other water users find these helpful! 

We would like to highlight Enterprise Community Partners, a national nonprofit focused on increasing affordable housing supply. In 2021, Enterprise’s investments helped SHE complete Sugar Pine Village in Madera, a 52-unit affordable rental community. Funding for this project came from UnitedHealthcare, a UnitedHealth Group company, providing over $11 million in equity through a Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) partnership with Enterprise. This summer, the partnership reached another milestone with the completion of Creekside Terrace, offering 42 units of affordable housing to the rural community of Mariposa. Creekside Terrace was the first affordable rental community developed in Mariposa County in over 20 years, and the $11.4 million equity investment made the project possible. 

Enterprise also supports SHE’s rental housing development efforts via several HUD Section 4 grants and technical assistance to secure funding. Thanks to Enterprise’s partnership, SHE has received help to develop and advance strategies to implement various sustainability and climate mitigation strategies at existing and new affordable rental projects. Recent efforts have focused on all-electric design, battery storage, and expanding electric vehicle infrastructure. Enterprise is also a team member for our California Energy Commission funded project envisioned to utilize micro-grid all-electric carbon-neutral technology known as the Colegio Zero Net Energy Project. 

SHE looks forward to breaking ground on the second phase of the Los Arroyos project in Farmersville in November. This phase is funded by the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities (AHSC) program. Enterprise was the lead member of a technical assistance advisory team that assisted in the AHSC application and provided valuable feedback on the competitiveness of the application. As a result, SHE secured $7 million for the housing project and $7 million in grant funds for transportation improvements, including a partnership with TCAG and the city of Farmersville to construct a Multi-Modal Transit hub serving Farmersville and the surrounding Tulare County communities. 

The concept of shared labor to build multiple homes has also gained popularity abroad. Last month, SHE received visitors from Archi Possible, a cooperative organization based in France that supports families and groups to design, build, or modify their homes. Daniel Cerezuelle and Franck Mathieu toured our office to gather information about our Mutual Self-Help Housing model and find ways to replicate some aspects into their existing organization. In addition, they viewed how multiple departments within SHE work together to help our communities.  

During their two-day visit, the pair also visited SHE developments in Reedley, Woodlake, and Goshen, including Sequoia Commons. We were the last of four self-help housing groups visited by Daniel and Franck. They expressed their appreciation for visiting SHE last, which has the longest and most rich history of any organization.