How a $40,000 SPARCC grant helped community organizers show Google what was needed to prevent displacement of working families in San José Google has announced it is committing $1 billion for new housing across the San Francisco Bay Area. The tech giant promises to build 20,000 new residences (including 5,000 affordable homes) over the next […]

SPARCC provides a path to building “the muscle of collaboration” for more equitable investments in LA communities As the city of Inglewood plans for construction of three major sports arenas, the developments are ushering in new shops, restaurants, hotels, parks, and high-end housing, leading to the gentrification of the area and potential displacement of over […]

With SPARCC, racial equity guides new infrastructure projects in undervalued neighborhoods Last fall, when construction crews were excavating land beneath the elevated MARTA tracks in Atlanta’s historic West End neighborhood for new soccer fields, they found what appeared to be kitchen floor tiles buried in the rubble. It’s easy to imagine the family scenes in […]

By Anna Cash and Miriam Zuk Many cities around the country are struggling with the same question: How do we invest in ways that help to curb greenhouse gas emissions without displacing residents? The stakes of this question are high: Displacement has lasting impacts on physical and psychological wellbeing, community cohesion, and long-term economic mobility. […]

By Mariia Zimmerman Across the Bay Area, local leaders from the public sector, philanthropy, the tech sector and other regional employers, and community advocates have forged a new regional housing compact. The CASA Compact, released in December 2018, is a 15-year emergency policy package to confront the region’s housing crisis head-on with strategies designed to […]

Community organizations and fast capital are integral to building and preserving affordable housing in the Bay Area Last spring in Oakland—an epitome for the nation’s affordable housing crisis—Bay Area for All (BA4A) was hoping to prevent two families in East Oakland from being displaced by an institutional investor. The investor had purchased the families’ homes […]

By Sasha Forbes Millions of people living in the U.S. are struggling to secure one of the most basic of human needs – a home for themselves and their families, but action to reinforce renters’ rights in several states is bringing hope in the fight to secure housing as a human right. Oregon, for example, […]

A conversation with Chancee Martorell and Ella Mendonsa When I first met Chancee Martorell, we were standing outside of the hard hat area in East Hollywood that would one day be Thai Town Marketplace, discussing the 13 years of work that had led to this moment. It was through a tour with the Strong Prosperous […]

More than 2 million Americans are evicted from their homes each year and millions more forced to leave neighborhoods and communities because of a national housing and displacement crisis. All six SPARCC sites share the common challenge of displacement and it’s a major focus of our work. As SPARCC enters its third year and looks […]

It’s imperative that climate adaptation measures and reconstruction efforts after extreme weather are designed to include low-income and communities of color and bolster them against future climate, social, and economic hazards.