Starbucks kicked off their second annual Global Month of Service in April, where Starbucks’ partners (employees) and customers dedicate their time and energy to create positive change in their local neighborhoods. Starbucks has partnered with Opportunity Finance Network (OFN) as part of their Create Jobs for USA campaign. NCCLF is a member of OFN and has received a grant as part of the campaign.

On Saturday, April 28 over 1,600 Starbucks’ partners and community volunteers gathered at City Hall in San Francisco to clean up trash in nine districts throughout the city. Mayor Ed Lee enthusiastically welcomed the volunteers and proclaimed April 28 2012 as Starbucks city of San Francisco clean-up day.  David Chu, Starbucks’ regional vice president for Northern California and Cliff Burrows, Starbucks’ president of the Americas, also welcomed all the volunteers and thanked them for their service.

NCCLF is proud to be a partner with Starbucks and we are very proud of the community service work they have done throughout the Bay area.

The Northern California chapter of the American Planning Association has recognized the Central Market Economic Strategy as the winner of the 2012 Grassroots Planning Award. The Grassroots Planning Award illustrates how the planning process can be moved beyond traditional methods and utilize the community in the planning process.

The Central Market Economic Strategy brought together a collaboration of Mid-Market community members including merchants, residents, workers, nonprofit organizations, artists and arts organizations, property owners and other stakeholders. With their input, a plan of action with specific strategies to revitalize the Central Market area was born. NCCLF was an advisors on how to improve the creative arts community. Congratulations to everyone who worked so hard to put this report together! Read the Central Market Economic Strategy here. (pdf)

NCCLF’s president Mary Rogier is on San Francisco Business Times list of the 150 most influential women in the Bay Area. The publication honors women executives who have taken leadership roles in corporations, public, nonprofit and government agencies throughout the Bay area.

NCCLF Board member, Lydia Tan, executive vice president at the Related Cos. of California, is also on the list. Congratulations Mary and Lydia!!

(From left to right) Kirke Wilson, NCCLF’s Board Chair, Zack Kaufman, Michael Butler, Diane Phakonekham, Big Brothers Big Sisters Program Director, John Rodriguez and David Mueller-Flores

The Northern California Community Loan Fund is proud to announce the first place winner of the Community Facilities Challenge at Fresno State University to student team KA Construction and their client Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central California.  The students who prepared the winning real estate analysis were Construction Management students John Rodriguez and Michael Butler and Real Estate students Zack Kaufman and David Mueller-Flores. The Community Facilities Challenge’s student teams were comprised of undergraduate students from Fresno State’s Lyles College of Engineering and the Craig School of Business.

NCCLF launched the Community Facility Challenge at California State University, Fresno on February 22, 2012.  The Challenge provided a unique opportunity for students to work with local community-based organizations (CBO) and municipalities and apply their skills to prepare a real estate feasibility analysis for a proposed community facility real estate project to benefit a low-income community in Fresno County.

As the winner of the Community Facilities Challenge, Big Brothers Big Sisters will receive $5000 in a predevelopment grant and consulting services to proceed with their facility renovation plans.

The winners of the Community Facilities Challenge will be announced tonight at California State University, Fresno’s Smittcamp Alumni House at 5:00. We want to thank all of the students that participated in the challenge and we appreciate all the hard work and time put they put in to their projects. We also want to thank the University for partnering with NCCLF on the Challenge and we look forward to working with them on future projects.

NCCLF is pleased to welcome Dan McDonald as our new Deputy Director of Lending. Dan comes to NCCLF after eight years with Bank of the West as an underwriter and relationship manager, providing letters of credit and construction and mini-perm loans to the senior housing industry.  His background includes institutional real estate debt and equity asset management, loan underwriting and workout management, development project management and real estate consulting.

Dan has a B.A. from The Evergreen State College and a Masters in City and Regional Planning from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

We are delighted Dan has joined our lending team. The unique skills he brings to NCCLF will strengthen our ability to fulfill our community revitalization mission.

NCCLF presents a FREE workshop on how to sail through your audit stress free.

When: Friday, March 23rd from 2-4pm

Where: United Way of Fresno County, 4949 E. Kings Canyon Rd, Fresno, CA 93727

If you are an Executive Director, Chief Financial Officer, Finance Manager, or Finance Committee member then this is the workshop for you. Participants will learn how to:

• Develop a pre-audit timeline
• Be prepared for all auditor requests
• Ensure a clean audit with no material weakness or deficiencies
• Use the completed audit to benefit your agency

RSVP to Alice Rocha at arocha@ncclf.org or 559-452-0327

NCCLF is delighted to announce that Ross Culverwell, currently our Deputy Director of Lending and a key staff member for almost six years, has been promoted to the position of Director of Lending of the Northern California Community Loan Fund, effective on March 1, 2012.   

Ross has been expertly managing our Lending operations on an interim basis while we engaged in a thorough search process. In his new role, Ross will lead a staff of six and direct the underwriting and closing of all loans (for affordable housing, community facilities, and working capital) in both our core loan fund and New Markets Tax Credit portfolios. As part of our senior management team, Ross will also manage loan portfolio risk and performance and provide leadership in strategic planning and new product development.

Ross joined NCCLF as a Loan Officer in 2006, and was promoted to Senior Loan Officer in 2007. He became Deputy Director of Lending in 2011. Ross’s substantial background includes nine years with Moody’s Investors Service in New York City, where he performed complex credit analyses of regional and local governments in Latin America, Canada, and Australia, formulated business strategy, and established the firm’s Sao Paulo and Mexico City offices.  He earned a bachelor’s degree in Latin American Studies from University of California, Santa Cruz in 1992, and a master’s degree in international economic policy from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) in 1997.

The entire organization is delighted by this opportunity to work with Ross in his new role, where he will continue to contribute his extraordinary skills, dedication, and work ethic to help fulfill NCCLF’s community revitalization mission.

After a successful kick-off of the Communities Facilities Challenge on February 8, 2012, six teams of FSU students have chosen the nonprofit organizations they will be working with on their real estate analyses project.

The projects they will be working on are: A new City Hall for the City of San Joaquin, an expanded facility for the Kings Regional Traditional Folk Arts, a new Learning Center for Highway City Community Development, a new theatre for the City of Livingston, a childcare center for the Fresno Center for New Americans, and an expanded facility for the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central California.  Join us for the judging of the student presentations and the Awards Reception on April 18 at Fresno State University!

NCCLF’s 25-Years of Service Kick-Off celebration began with the cheer leading squad Cheer SF leading a celebratory chant down Jones Street, stopping in front of Antonia Manor and treating the cheering crowd to a display of acrobatic prowess. Held February 16 2012 at Antonia Manor, NCCLF’s Kick-off celebration commemorated the day in 1987 that our organization filed incorporation papers for a new nonprofit, Northern California Community Loan Fund.

Antonia Manor was selected as the venue for this celebration because NCCLF made a loan to the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation in 2005 to assist with the funding of the low-cost café located in the building on Jones St.

The kick-off celebration began with a few words from NCCLF’s President, Mary A. Rogier and a welcome from TNDC’s Executive Director Don Falk followed by a short speech from our 25^th Anniversary Event Honorary Chair, Paulette J. Meyer and 25^th Anniversary Event emcee, Paul Sussman. Both Paulette and Paul are early supporters of NCCLF. However, the highlight of the event came when Georgette Bhathena, Vice President of Global Philanthropy, JPMorgan Chase announced a recent $2 million grant award to NCCLF to be used for affordable housing preservation.  In addition, we were happy to introduce David Chu, Regional Vice President, Starbucks and Kim Winston, Senior Manager of Governmental Affairs with Starbucks, who talked about the Create Jobs for USA program. NCCLF is working locally with Starbucks on this national campaign.

We thank everyone who came to celebrate our kick-off event with us, and we look forward to seeing everyone at our 25^th Annual Event, which will be held on Thursday, May 24 2012 at CityView at the Metreon in San Francisco.  If you have any questions about the upcoming event, or are interested in sponsorship opportunities, please contact Sherry Simmons, director of resource development at 415-392-8215 or by email at ssimmons@ncclf.org.