Centering Families & Transforming the Child Welfare System in Alameda County

In Alameda County, a new nonprofit organization is challenging traditional approaches to child welfare in the United States. Co-founded in 2017 by Eliza Patten and Zabrina Aleguire, East Bay Family Defenders (EBFD) provides high quality interdisciplinary representation to families navigating the child welfare system. For years, low-income families involved with Alameda County’s Juvenile Dependency Court…

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Space Planning for Arts & Culture in Downtown Oakland

By Jessica Townsend Consulting Program Analyst Email Jessica The City of Oakland has a rich and distinct cultural heritage that continues to shape civic life. In the face of rapid economic and cultural change, the history of arts and culture in Oakland gives insight into the evolution of its cultural richness and the potential for…

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Truth Telling: Why a New Name, Now?

Many of you have been keeping up with our Embodying Equity blog series. Through it, you’ve learned (or just been reminded) that since Community Vision’s founding in 1987, we’ve been committed to investing capital in and providing technical assistance to nonprofits and social enterprises that build equity in historically under-resourced neighborhoods.

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Investing in Regional Resilience & Public Infrastructure

The deterioration of public infrastructure in the United States, particularly our transportation systems, tends to receive headline news only when an environmental disaster affects a region. During an emergency, public transportation systems can provide vital services including evacuations, transporting emergency response professionals, and maintaining mobility during and after an extreme weather event.

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Embodying Equity: Exploring the Relationship Between Space & Social Structures

In urban and rural planning and development, many believe social processes and spatial form to be in direct relationship. Theorists, planners, and developers have argued that changing the spatial form in any region allows for the transformation of social form and structure as well.At Community Vision, we’ve spent the last 30 years working to transform space and social structure in tandem.

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Community Foods Market, Community Vision, NCCLF

Building Power: Aligning Capital with Justice

June 1st, 2019 marks the official opening of Community Foods Market (CFM) at 3105 San Pablo Avenue in West Oakland. This article celebrates CFM’s grand opening as a moment years in the making and only possible because of the work and dedication of many people. It also celebrates CFM as a model of what it looks like to align capital with economic and racial equity, where health, community-driven ideas, and economic empowerment are at the heart of their business model.

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Embodying Equity: Partnering to Amplify Community Vision

We’ve reached our third blog in our Embodying Equity series. But before we jump into it, we want to speak to something you won’t make it through this blog without noticing: We’ve changed our name! While you can certainly learn all about our future efforts as Community Vision using the link above, and find even…

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Stabilizing Space: Compass Family Services

Compass Family Services (Compass) is a San Francisco-based nonprofit with more than 100 years of experience serving the city’s diverse communities. The organization was founded in 1914 as Travelers’ Aid San Francisco to assist newcomers; particularly young women visiting the city for the 1915 World’s Fair. As global and local sociopolitical factors influenced the demographics…

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Increasing access to food in California’s Hoopa Valley

In 2016, food insecurity became a front and center issue for the Hoopa Valley Reservation when the only grocery store operating within a 40-mile radius of the Klamath-Trinity region was forced to close due to a significant rodent infestation. Consequently, the community was left without any local food retailers and was designated a food desert…

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NCCLF

Embodying Equity: Creating Sustainability through Space

Last week, we began a conversation about embodying equity. So far, you all have learned exactly what equity means to Community Vision, and how it drives our strategic plan. And over the next three weeks, we’re excited to dive deeper into the work that it’s taken to ensure community members have access to employment, homes,…

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Embodying Equity: What does it mean & why do we care?

Community Vision was founded in 1987 by a group of local Bay Area residents who wanted to invest their money in nonprofits and social enterprises that could improve the lives of community members while building equity in historically under-resourced Northern and Central California neighborhoods. As an ever-developing organization, our commitment to equity has meant proactively…

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Focusing on Shared Space: the 2019 Fresno Community Facilities Challenge

Each year, Community Vision partners with Fresno State University to present the Community Facilities Challenge, a unique competition that invites students to combine hands on experience with classroom theory to solve a real world community space challenge. Students are placed in teams to prepare a real estate development proposal for a community facility project of…

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