State of the Region
State of the Region 2012
State of the Region 2012 from Urban Habitat.
Social Equity Caucus State of the Region 2012 Conference
The California Endowment Conference Center, Oakland, CA.
On April 26, 2012, Urban Habitat's Bay Area Social Equity Caucus (SEC) hosted its annual State of the Region conference at the California Endowment's Oakland Conference Center. The conference convened more than 100 leaders from San Francisco Bay Area community-based organizations, advocacy groups, foundations, and government agencies to:- Seed conversations between key decision-makers, advocates, and community-based organizations across the Bay Area that represent and work on finding solutions to pressing regional issues affecting the Bay Area's low-income communities and communities of color.
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Mitchell Silver Keynote Address SOR 2012
Mitchell Silver Keynote from Urban Habitat on Vimeo.
On April 26, Urban Habitat hosted 120 Bay Area leaders for the annual State of the Region Conference at The California Endowment’s Oakland Conference Center. Social justice advocates came together to talk about equity, how to problem-solve, act, and organize.Related items:
Bertha Lewis Keynote Address SOR 2012
Berth Lewis Keynote from Urban Habitat on Vimeo.
On April 26, Urban Habitat hosted 120 Bay Area leaders for the annual State of the Region Conference at The California Endowment’s Oakland Conference Center. Social justice advocates came together to talk about equity, how to problem-solve, act, and organize.
Urban Habitat President and CEO Allen Fernandez Smith kicked off the event by celebrating the achievements of the more than 80 organizations in attendance, while outlining the important work being done in the region and all that still needs to be done moving forward.
Panel sessions explored the challenges in more depth, ranging across the board, from local and regional planning issues that affect low-income communities and people of color to the changing geography of race and class, the dissolution of redevelopment agencies, and regional agency reform. Workshops were offered to help social justice advocates build capacity to develop the tools they need to win regional campaigns, fund regional advocacy work, and build stronger inside-outside relationships with progressive decision-makers.
Keynote speakers Mitchell J. Silver, president of the American Planning Association, and Bertha Lewis, president and founder of The Black Institute, delivered exhilarating and passionate calls to action as they spoke about the changing demographic in the United States and how to ensure that low-income people and people of color have the infrastructure and policies in place to support their success.
To read and listen to an exclusive interview with Bertha Lewis or read the transcript of this speech please visit Radio RP&E: New Political Spaces.
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State of the Region Conference Unites Bay Area Social Equity Leaders
We got together and made it happen. On April 26, Urban Habitat hosted 120 Bay Area leaders for the annual State of the Region Conference at The California Endowment’s Oakland Conference Center. On a day that threatened rain but eventually brought the sun, social justice advocates came together to talk about equity, how to problem-solve, act, and organize.
Urban Habitat President; CEO, Allen Fernandez Smith kicked off the event by celebrating the victories and achievements of the more than 80 organizations in attendance, while outlining the important work being done in the region and all that still needs to be done moving forward.
Panel sessions explored the challenges in more depth, ranging across the board, from local and regional planning issues that affect low-income communities and people of color to the changing geography of race and class, the dissolution of redevelopment agencies, and regional agency reform. Workshops were offered to help social justice advocates build capacity to develop the tools they need to win regional campaigns, fund regional advocacy work, and build stronger inside-outside relationships with progressive decision-makers.
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State of the Region 2011
![[1] SOR 2011 C. 2011 Scott Braley](/files/images/Braley_20110112_1907.preview.jpg)
On Wednesday, January 12, 2011, Urban Habitat and
the Bay Area Social Equity Caucus (SEC) hosted its third annual State of
the Region event at the David Brower Center in Berkeley, California.
The purpose of the event was to convene a wide range of decision-makers,
policy experts, academics, and leaders from foundations, labor groups
and community-based organizations throughout the Bay Area to identify
effective solutions to some of the most pressing regional issues
affecting Bay Area low-income communities and communities of color, and
to foster the strategic partnerships needed to advance equity in the
region. ![[2] SOR 2011 C. 2011 Scott Braley](/files/images/Braley_20110112_1827.preview.jpg)
Over
100 people participated in this year’s event, which focused on the
following four topics: mitigating climate change and retaining community
wealth through community choice aggregation networks; leveraging
regional transportation investments to create local quality jobs;
preventing displacement in transit-oriented communities; and utilizing
land-use policy and coalition-building to increase the amount of
affordable housing. Some presenters who spoke at the event included Paul
Fenn, President of Local Power Inc. and author of California’s
Community Choice Aggregation legislation; Claudia Hudson, President of
The Amalgamated Transit Union 192; Richard Marcantonio, Managing
Attorney at Public Advocates; Carlos Romero, mayor of East Palo Alto;
and Leslie Moody, Executive Director of The Partnership for Working
Families. Keynote speaker Dr. Anthony Iton, Senior Vice President for
Healthy Communities at The California Endowment, discussed the
intersection of race, poverty, and health in the Bay Area.
For more detailed information about the issues addressed at the event or for audio recordings of the keynote address and breakout session presentations, please click on one of the links below:
* Tony Iton - Keynote Speech
* Community Choice Aggregation
* Transportation Investments and Job Creation
* Zoning and Affordable Housing
* Preventing Displacement in Transit-Oriented Communities
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Preventing Displacement In Transit-Oriented Communities
![[5] SOR 2011 C. 2011 Scott Braley](/files/images/Braley_20110112_1956.thumbnail.jpg)
While transit-oriented development or TOD offers many economic and environmental benefits for low-income communities and communities of color, TOD also has the potential to displace those very same communities. In this session, we brought together elected officials, government staff, transit and housing policy experts, and community organizers from around the region to examine what local and regional policies can prevent the displacement of low-income communities and communities of color, and to identify the strategies and policies that have the greatest potential to succeed in the Bay Area. 
Presenter BiosStephanie Pollack is associate director of the Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy at Northeastern University, where she oversees the Center's research agenda in the areas of transportation policy, transit-oriented development, sustainability, and equitable development. Pollack is also on the core faculty for the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs, where she teaches courses in law and housing and transportation policy. Pollack previously co-chaired Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick's 2006 transition working group on transportation, and served on Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino's Climate Action Leadership Committee in 2009-10. Pollack currently serves on the boards of Boston Society of Architects, Charles River Watershed Association, Health Resources in Action, and MoveMass. Before coming to Northeastern, Pollack was a senior executive and attorney at the Conservation Law Foundation, and was a partner in the strategic environmental consulting firm BlueWave Strategies LLC. Pollack received both a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and a B.S. in Public Policy from M.I.T., and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.
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Tony Iton Keynote Speech - State of the Region 2011
![[3] SOR 2011 C. 2011 Scott Braley](/files/images/Braley_20110112_1881_1.preview.jpg)
Anthony Iton, Healthy Communities at The California Endowment, Senior Vice PresidentAnthony Iton is Senior Vice President for Healthy Communities at The California Endowment, a private, statewide health foundation whose mission is to expand access to affordable, quality health care for underserved individuals and communities, and to promote fundamental improvements in the health status of all Californians. Prior to his current role at the California Endowment, Dr. Iton served for seven years as the Alameda County Public Health Department Director and Health Officer, where he oversaw an agency with a budget of $112 million with a focus on preventing communicable disease outbreaks, reducing the burden of chronic disease and obesity, and managing the county’s preparedness for biological terrorism. Dr. Iton’s primary interest is the health of disadvantaged populations and the contributions of race, class, wealth, education, geography, and employment to health status. He has asserted that in every public health area of endeavor, public health practitioners must recognize that they are confronted with the enduring consequences of structural poverty, institutional racism, and other forms of systemic injustice. Transportation Investments and Job Creation
![[8] SOR 2011 C. 2011 Scott Braley](/files/images/Braley_20110112_2080.thumbnail.jpg)
Because transportation investments have proven to be an effective method of creating quality jobs, government agencies have historically used such investments as an economic development tool. In this session, we brought together elected officials, government staff, policy experts, labor leaders, and transportation justice advocates from around the region to identify which transportation investments have the largest potential for creating quality jobs in the Bay Area, which communities would most likely benefit from these investments, and what strategies we could employ to win equitable transportation funding decisions.
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Community Choice Aggregation
![[4] SOR 2011 C. 2011 Scott Braley](/files/images/Braley_20110112_2174.preview.jpg)
Electricity use is the second largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the Bay Area. Therefore, improving energy efficiency and transitioning to cleaner sources of energy can help mitigate the inequitable effects of climate change and pollution in the Bay Area. Community Choice Aggregation or CCA—a system which allows cities and counties in California to aggregate the buying power of individuals in order to secure alternative energy supply contracts—is one tool that can help achieve these objectives.
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