September 19, 2019

We are pleased to have partnered with Planting Justice, Richmond Main Street Initiative, SOMOS Mayfair, and Kultivate Labs in obtaining grants through the Federal Home Loan Bank’s Access to Housing (FHLB) and Economic Assistance for Development (AHEAD) program. Through our membership with the FHLB, Community Vision was able to sponsor the following four exciting projects:

  • Planting Justice will use its $40,000 award to support its new venture, the Good Table, a collaboration with Mira Vista United Church of Christ. The organizations closed on a historic 1.3 acre former Japanese nursery (“Adachi Nursery”) less than 1 mile from Planting Justice’s farm in El Sobrante, which also received grant awards from the AHEAD program in 2015. The Good Table will become the nation’s first combined “pay-what-you-can” cafe, healthy foods marketplace, community center, plant nursery, and urban farm store.
  • Richmond Main Street Initiative received a $30,000 award to support local entrepreneurs in navigating Richmond’s changing demographics resulting from large-scale developments. The nonprofit will provide small business owners with capacity-building services including customized technical assistance, trainings in social media, website development, marketing, business planning, finance, and more.
  • Somos Mayfair received a $25,000 award to develop a new small business resource center to stabilize small businesses along the Alum Rock Corridor in east San Jose. The corridor is a long-standing diverse community undergoing displacement and gentrification. Just in the last two years twenty small businesses closed and more are at-risk as the corridor draws new transit, housing, and commercial development. The project will increase access to resources and provide technical assistance to small business owners.
  • Kultivate Labs was awarded $20,000 to launch Republika, a pop-up to permanent retail program designed to prepare emerging retail concepts for long-term leases. Pop-ups are a proven and affordable way to test the market, tweak the concept, and grow businesses. Republika will feature 7 rotating retail kiosk spaces for a range of curated business concepts from streetwear, women’s fashion, housewares, accessories, and crafts from the Filipino community in the Bay Area and beyond. The brands featured will be a curated blend so they attract millennials, Filipinos, and tourists alike seeking unique, local products.

Other Community Vision clients including Mission Kids Co-Op, Hacker Dojo, Beyond Emancipation, and Opportunity Junction also received AHEAD awards sponsored by other organizations.

Congratulations to all 2019 recipients. A full list of awardees can be found here.