Happy Affordable Housing Month! Our team kicked off the festivities by attending the Grand Re-Opening Celebration for Light Tree Apartments, as we join local advocates in uplifting housing efforts through our programs during this exciting Affordable Housing Month. See the pictures below!
At Thrive, through our Basic Needs & Safety Net TAG, we advocate for housing because we know that housing profoundly impacts all aspects of our communities, and abundant, affordable housing is a key factor in better outcomes for everyone.
On a county level, the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) has sent the county its review letter. San Mateo's Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing effort has raised concerns about the county's disregard for recommendations and failure to address fair housing issues.
Additionally, several supervisors are working on a tenant protection ordinance that could strengthen the county's housing plan and ensure more robust tenant safeguards.
If you want to get involved and learn more, we encourage you to join us for
Housing Elements & You: Next Steps for Affordable Housing, Tuesday, May 23, 4:00 - 6:00 pm. We will give you all the information you need to get involved in the upcoming county-level housing element hearings. You can start by signing our petition to support affordable homes and tenant protections in the San Mateo County housing element! Make the most of Affordable Housing Month by getting involved.
Grand Re-Opening Celebration for Light Tree Apartments
Thrive team members Yajaira Ortega, Policy and Advocacy Associate (left) and Ana Miscolta, Director of Community Resilience (right)
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For Thrive and Community events, visit Thrive's Event page.
State Policy Updates
Looking Ahead: May Budget Revision
The California Budget & Policy Center has provided insights on what to anticipate in the upcoming May state budget revision. They highlight key areas to watch, such as potential investments in education, healthcare, and homelessness services. The center emphasizes the importance of ensuring equitable budget allocations that address the needs of marginalized communities and promote economic recovery.
Advocacy Alert: SB 423 Land Use: Streamlined Housing Approvals for Multifamily Housing Developments
🏢🏘️Thrive's partners California YIMBY and others, have sponsored SB 423. The bill is to accelerate the construction of mixed-income, multifamily homes, building upon the success of SB 35. SB 35 has streamlined the approval process for over 11,000 affordable homes since 2017. SB 423 aims to make the provisions of SB 35 permanent, expand incentives for mixed-income housing, and ensure fair labor standards for construction workers. Still, it faces opposition from the League of California Cities. Learn how to support this effort here.
County Policy Updates
Unarmed Responses to Mental Health Crisis
San Mateo County Behavioral Health Commission report shared with the public and Board of Supervisors outlines the need for a "stand-alone, non-armed, 24/7, crisis response unit designed to independently operate mobile crisis response teams" to service the county. ACLU-North Peninsula Chapter has partnered with the Behavioral Health Commission to advocate for the recommendations. Read the report here.
Farmworker Housing
🏢🏘️The County's CEO has announced a $1 million pledge from local Measure K half-cent sales tax to stimulate housing development for regional farmworkers. This funding is aimed at encouraging developers to construct affordable housing units dedicated to serving the needs of farmworkers. By addressing the shortage of suitable housing options, the County seeks to enhance the living conditions and overall welfare of farmworkers in the area.
If you want to learn more about farmworker housing and other related issues, join our nonprofit partners at the Farmworker Public Summit on Saturday, May 20, 1:00 - 3:00 pm.
Ordinance Is Adopted: County Will Not Collude With ICE
After a contentious discussion, on Tuesday, April 25, the Board of Supervisors adopted the ordinance four to one and had the support of Sheriff Christina Corpus. Supervisor Ray Mueller cast the opposing vote. View the agenda and recording here.
Thrive News
Thrive Alliance's Translation Services Hub
Free Translation and Interpretation Services
Our vision for the local nonprofit sector is one that prioritizes community equity and access by consistently and mindfully offering professional language translation and interpretation services for its programs and services. Thrive Alliance's Translation Services Hub provides nonprofits access to free language translation and interpretation services in Spanish and Filipino. We want to create a culture of practice by making this top-of-mind, accessible, and affordable for nonprofits. To learn more and make your request, please click here. These services are made possible through the generous philanthropic support of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF).
Thrive RISE
Thrive RISE has been busy presenting its Nonprofit Preparedness training series in collaboration with SF CARD, with May's training focused on Emergency Response Plan development. Participating organizations learned the essentials of planning for immediate life safety measures and began working on their emergency response plan templates.
In addition to organizational preparedness, Thrive RISE has been busy promoting earthquake mitigation in various forms. We are working with SPUR to brief local stakeholders on the importance of soft-story building retrofit and simultaneously launching a project to promote non-structural mitigation measures in nonprofit spaces. Thrive RISE is also working with Project Camp to coordinate ad hoc childcare spaces during emergencies with the goal of reducing the adverse socio-emotional impacts of disaster on children.
At our Children & Education TAG, the San Mateo County Office of Education (SMCOE) and Thrive Alliance invited the community to participate in the SMCOE Strategic Plan Input Session to gather valuable insights and input from the community on how the County can enhance its strategic plan to serve students better. If you missed this session you can view the presentation slides here and provide feedback to Niambi Clay, Rubie Acosta Macaraeg, or Patricia Love.
At the Environment & Sustainability TAG, we addressed the issue with the electrical grid reliability in San Mateo County, both by defining the problem and how it affects our community, and diving into what potential paths forward are. Read the blog and see the slides and recording here.
Join us for our next TAG where we will address the tree canopy! See below for more details.
Upcoming Thrive Events
Thrive Resource Room
Accessing Data to Support Equity Initiatives
TOMORROW Tuesday, May 16, 10:00 - 11:00 am, Virtual
Join Thrive, San Mateo County Health, and Bay Area Equity Atlas as we gain a deeper understanding of the state of equity in the Bay Area, and learn how nonprofits can utilize data in advocacy efforts, policy, grant writing, and more.
This session will include a training on the San Mateo County All Together Better (SMCATB) data portal, managed by San Mateo County Health, Office of Epidemiology & Evaluation. This portal contains County-specific data on health outcomes, health behaviors, healthcare access, and socioeconomic conditions. This training will provide an overview of the SMCATB data portal, including how to search for data, build dashboards, and use other useful resources.
You will also receive an overview of the Bay Area Equity Atlas, a data-driven tool created to track the state of equity in the Bay Area region, with a focus on addressing systemic racism and discrimination. This tool offers robust, disaggregated data, covering geographies from the nine Bay Area counties down to individual census tracts, with the goal of democratizing data and increasing the capacity of change-makers and advocates to use data to advance policy solutions for a more equitable, sustainable, and resilient Bay Area. This training will provide an update on Bay Area Equity Atlas's recent research projects and community engagement efforts since the project's launch in 2019.
Thrive Resource Room is a recurring virtual program, where you will hear about Thrive updates and learn about free and affordable community resources to help your organization, as well as an overview of Thrive member benefits and how to get more involved in our cross-sector network. If you have services or information that you would like to share at our next Thrive Resource Room meeting, please email Keirstan.
We encourage you to send staff members and volunteers (especially new ones!) to one of our sessions to ensure that they are taking advantage of Thrive's resources and opportunities.
*Zoom information will be sent to registered attendees.
Redesigning Nonprofit Boards for Equity: An Empathy Centered Design Workshop
TOMORROW Tuesday, May 16, 4:00 - 5:30 pm, Virtual
This interactive workshop, meant for nonprofit board members and Executive Directors, will take participants through a lens of Empathy Centered Design. The aim is to analyze the user experiences of leaders from nondominant identities and identify barriers and failure points that prevent them from serving at their highest potential. You will learn how principles and methods from product design can be applied to nonprofit board experience design, with a specific focus on racial equity practices.
By the end of the session, you will gain a better understanding of Empathy Centered Design, be equipped to use Journey Maps as a survey and feedback tool to improve the board life cycle, and review recruitment and retention practices to attract and retain historically disenfranchised groups.
Speakers:
Ei Ei Samai,BRAVE New Us, Founder
Irma Zoepf,The Z Bridge, Founder and Principal
This event is being hosted by Thrive Alliance and Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits through the Nonprofit REDI Hub. The Nonprofit REDI Hub seeks to integrate racial equity, diversity, and inclusion into the Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties nonprofit community. Together, we commit and take action to address systemic racism, discrimination, and inequity in our communities and organizations.
Housing Elements & You: Next Steps for Affordable Housing
Tuesday, May 23, 4:00 - 5:30 pm, In-Person
🏘️🏢Every city and town in San Mateo County—and the county itself— must submit a housing plan, called a Housing Element, to address the jurisdiction's housing needs over the next eight years. The deadline for this planning blueprint has just passed. How can you help jurisdictions deliver on their housing commitments by 2031? The availability of affordable housing for the rest of the decade, an issue of huge importance to nonprofits and their clients, is at stake with the housing element implementation.
Join Housing Elements & You: Next Steps for Affordable Housing for an innovative conversation about the Housing Element process in San Mateo County. During this program, you can expect to hear from a range of experts discussing the importance of this process, learn about builders' remedies, and learn how to get involved with your local jurisdiction. This event is a follow-up to the informative session, “Nonprofits and Housing: What to Know and What to Do".
From Canopy Cover to Community Equity: Protecting and Managing Our Urban Forest
Wednesday, May 24, 2:30 - 4:00 pm, Hybrid
🌳San Mateo County faces significant disparities in tree canopy cover that create environmental and social inequities, particularly in historically underserved neighborhoods. East Palo Alto has a tree canopy cover of only 13.5%, while Atherton has a tree canopy cover of 51.2%. The Urban forest plays a critical role in mitigating the impacts of climate change and improving air and water quality while reducing heat, noise, and flooding. Canopy is a local nonprofit organization at the forefront of urban forestry. The disparity in tree canopy coverage and environmental and social inequity are central to Canopy's mission. To address this issue, the county and the community must prioritize canopy cover equity, protect and renew the urban forest, and fill the gap in inequities around canopy management and knowledge of resources.
While community members want to protect and preserve trees, the lack of knowledge and resources often hinders their ability to be at the forefront of urban forest conservation, despite the significant community health benefits. Through education programs and outreach efforts, residents can be empowered to participate in canopy management and increase their understanding of the benefits of urban forestry, leading to a more just and equitable community. We will explore potential solutions with urban forestry experts to advocate for urban forest conservation and learn how local governments can engage communities in canopy management.
🏘️🏢MidPen's newest Belmont community is an excellent example of what's possible when civic, nonprofit, and business leaders work together in innovative ways to create lasting affordable housing solutions and transit-oriented, mixed-use development. Register here.
🏘️🏢Join Silicon Valley Independent Living Center as they showcase and discuss some simple modifications and use of ability tools to increase mobility, independence, and safety in one's home. Register here.
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