Episode 87: Resources for Community Development

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Resources for Community Development Housing and Resident Programs and Services

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“I think that housing is just fundamental and it's, unfortunately, not really a right, right now in our country” - Dan Sawislak

In this episode, our featured voices are the Executive Director, of Resources for Community Development Dan Sawislak, the Director of Community Development Breann Gala along with resident and Secretary of the Resources for Community Development board of directors Kattye Giles.

Since 1970 California has not been building enough housing especially affordable housing. The latest estimate of California's housing shortages ranges from 3 to 4 million housing units. This decades-long lack of housing impacts both the estimated 160 thousand unhoused Californians and the 7 million Californians living in poverty because they spend over 50 percent of their paychecks to pay for rent. The state’s official housing production goal is 180,00 units a year, but the state is only building around 70 thousand units per year. It is with this background and context that we wanted to feature resources for community development and their holistic approach to not only building affordable housing but providing wrap-around services for their residents.

Dan Sawislak

Dan Sawislak has led RCD as Executive Director since 1998. He oversees RCD’s efforts to develop and operate affordable housing, and RCD’s resident services and community development programs. Under Dan’s leadership, RCD has grown its affordable housing production from 300 apartments in 1998 to its current portfolio of over 2,505 affordable homes serving over 5,100 people. He has helped create a portfolio of properties that are well built and well managed, and financially stable.

Breann Gala

Breann Gala joined RCD in 2016 to spearhead a new department focused on creating positive community change beyond our housing developments and residents to the larger community in the unincorporated area of Alameda County known as the Eden Area. As the Director of Community Development, Breann and her team focus on strategies to address the health, child and youth development, employment and economic development, education, safety, and housing needs of specific neighborhoods, advancing programs and investments that strengthen our communities and create lasting change in people’s lives.

Kattye Giles

Kattye Giles is retired and is a longtime resident of RCD housing. She also serves on RCD’s Board of Directors as Secretary and Chair of RCD’s Irwin Mussen Resident Scholarship committee.

Resources for Community Development

For over 37 years, RCD has created and preserved affordable housing for those with the fewest options, to build community and enrich lives. The problem we continue to address is how very low-income individuals and families can continue to live, work and play in an increasingly expensive Bay Area. Here’s how we approach this problem.

+Real Estate Development partners in each community to assemble sites and funding to expand the supply of affordable housing, with over 1500 units planned for completion in the next three years

+Resident Services provides on-site support for residents in five areas — housing retention, economic stability and employment/education, health and wellness social engagement and community development, and youth enrichment. Find Housing for you and your family

+Community Development works with residents in the broader communities where we have housing so they are able to improve and strengthen their neighborhoods. It also focuses on incorporating principles of community development into our planning for new housing

+Asset Management oversees our properties physically and financially, ensuring that our developments meet the needs of the community and current and future residents for safe, quality affordable housing

Together, these programs support inclusiveness and equity, build economic strength, and improve environmental sustainability. Please review the RCD Fact Sheet KASEY PLS INSERT LINK TO PDF

Donation/Volunteer

Give a gift that creates a stronger, more hopeful future, for RCD’s residents and for our communities. Your support means a home with social services for residents so they can stabilize their housing costs and gain self-sufficiency and resiliency for a better future. Your support means that affordable apartments continue to be built for seniors, families and people with special needs who can’t survive without it.

Videos

Check out these videos to find out more about Resources for Community Development’s Work

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“I think we really have some momentum now to address the systemic racism that’s holding our communities back. I think the pandemic really highlighted a lot of the inequities in our society and in particular in the Bay Area. And, I think we’re really making some, big progress and, having a lot of conversations locally about increasing policies that really, provide support for working families that protect renters and, really, center those, who have been historically excluded from, a lot of these programs and, a lot of these conversations.”

— Breann Gala,Director of Community Development,resources for community development

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