Last week, SDHF had the pleasure of supporting the first-ever cohort of our #DevelopersofColor (Supporting Empowered Emerging Developers) #SEEDAcademy and we are still buzzing!

We were impressed with the members of our cohort and loved watching them work together to share ideas, have a deeper understanding of development, and work toward creating housing for our sector.

The San Diego Housing Federation is proud to have been selected as the local partner to assist with the program launch in San Diego and serve as the liaison for the steering committee and cohort outreach for this first-of-its-kind program which was created to build capacity for emerging Developers of Color in San Diego through a partnership with JPMorgan Chase & Co. and the National Development Council (NDC).

Thank you to JP Morgan Chase for supporting the program education through a partnership grant with NDC – with this assistance, all the education for the cohort was at no cost to the students!

Thank you to our Steering Committee, who assisted in developing the program for San Diego specifications including outreach for the cohort, outreach for capital to assist with the cohort’s Capstone project, guest panelists, and mentorship throughout the program and beyond.

Thank you to our panelists who took time out of their busy schedules to speak with our students last week.

·       Jeannette Temple, Vice President of Housing, #AtlantisGroup
·       John "Jack" F. Seymour III, Vice President of Acquisitions and Forward Planning, National Community Renaissance
·       Raynard Abalos, Deputy Director in Development Services, City of San Diego
·       Jeffrey Ryan, AICP, Project Manager over the Housing Action Plan 2.0 in Planning, City of San Diego
·       Chuck Sinkey, Relationship Manager, U.S. Bank
·       Michael Lengyel, CPA, Executive Vice President, Lending & Investment, Civic Communities
·       Deborah Norwood Ruane, Founder, and Managing Member at Norwood Development Strategies and San Diego Middlemarch Fund​
·       Lisa Huff, Director of Development, Wakeland Housing and Development Corporation
·       Michelle Sites, Vice President, Southern California Affordable, CONAM Management Corporation
·       Chris Johnston, Vice President of Real Estate Asset Management, Community HousingWorks
·       Rosa Ravin, Sr. Community Manager, National Community Renaissance

Without your support, our class week would not have been as successful.

I can’t wait to see the #CapstonePresentations these cohort members will present on September 8th and looking forward to hearing how they envision housing in San Diego.

If you are interested in getting involved in the program, please reach out to me directly at sarah@housingsandiego.org. You can also check out the information on our website here: https://www.housingsandiego.org/developers-of-color-program

#AffordableHousing #Developers #Education #Housing #SanDiego

Thank you to San Diego Mesa College for hosting our class!