ABOUT GCC
Founded in 2005, the Great Communities Collaborative (GCC) is a pooled-fund initiative currently co-chaired by the San Francisco Foundation and the Silicon Valley Community Foundation.
Mission
GCC works with the public, private, and nonprofit sectors to address housing, transportation, land use, and climate resilience issues through a racial equity and economic inclusion framework.
Vision
GCC works toward a socially equitable, economically prosperous, and environmentally sustainable nine-county Bay Area region where communities are engaged in shaping their own future.
GCC’S APPROACH
Champions Racial Equity and Economic Inclusion by Centering Impacted Communities
GCC ensures that the Black, Latine, and Indigenous communities most impacted by historic and systemic racial discrimination are deeply involved in decisions on housing, transportation, land use, and climate resilience. GCC’s funders, partners, priorities, program areas, and strategies center these communities. We amplify their voices, elevate their expertise, and support them as leaders in outreach, education, and advocacy—because those most affected should shape the solutions.
Changes Policies and Systems
GCC brings people together to share, learn, and find solutions to some of the Bay Area’s most pressing problems. In partnership with our multisector network of community-based organizations, foundations, and networks, we promote policy solutions that address the root causes of our state’s inequality crises. These inequalities are rooted in policies and practices that, collectively, we have the power to change.
The Great Communities Collaborative works at the intersection of four priority issue areas
Housing
GCC works to protect people’s ability to stay in their homes, preserve existing affordable housing, and promote the production of new affordable housing, especially on public lands.
Transportation
GCC supports equitable transit oriented development and works toward regional alignment in transportation advocacy and policy efforts that support a broader range of transit riders.
Land UsE
GCC focuses on regional collaboration and power building through local and regional partnerships that support public-good uses of public land.
Climate Resilience
GCC helps communities adapt to climate change impacts and supports efforts to ensure major infrastructure investments support a community’s well-being.
CO-CHAIRS
STAFF
Elisa Orona (she/her)
Senior Director, Great Communities Collaborative & Partnership for the Bay’s Future
San Francisco Foundation
Elisa Orona has worked across multiple sectors including Bay Area local government, arts and culture, and executive management in non-profit healthcare, all with a focus on collaborative approaches to uplift community voice and power. In 2022, Elisa joined the San Francisco Foundation as Senior Director for the Partnership for the Bay’s Future and Great Communities Collaborative, initiatives focused on equity in affordable housing, economic stability and climate resilience in a nine county Bay Area region. Elisa holds a B.A. from UC Berkeley and an M.S. in Public Policy and Management from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA. Elisa’s masters concentration in Geographic Information Systems served her well in Peace Corps Guatemala, where she trained fellow volunteers and their Guatemalan counterparts to create and use digital maps
Ricardo G. Huerta Niño (he/him)
Associate Director, Great Communities Collaborative
San Francisco Foundation
Ricardo G. Huerta Niño, Associate Director for GCC, works with funders, non-profits, and public sector partners to identify, implement, and leverage policy strategies in the region, focused on housing, transportation, land use, and climate resilience. His earlier experience includes working in philanthropy as a program officer and a consultant focused on a range of issues including immigrant and refugee rights, environmental justice, leadership development, criminal justice reform, and multisector collaboratives. Ricardo has taught at UC Berkeley and San Francisco State in urban planning. He is from Fresno but has lived in New York and in various Bay Area cities. Ricardo completed his undergraduate studies at UC Davis, and graduate studies at Stanford and UC Berkeley in City & Regional Planning.
Bianca Juarros (she/her)
Initiative Officer, Great Communities Collaborative
San Francisco Foundation
Bianca’s diverse professional background spans the non-profit, public, and private sectors, within topic areas such as long-range planning, environmental permitting, and community outreach and education. Bianca’s commitment to environmental sustainability and racial equity motivates her to seek out opportunities where she can assist in fostering resilient, inclusive, and vibrant communities. By utilizing her experience in urban planning and environmental policy within an organization that shares her values, Bianca aspires to contribute towards building a world where all people can thrive. Originally from Southern California, Bianca has lived most of her adult life in the Bay Area. She holds a B.S. in Society and Environment as well as a minor in Public Policy from UC Berkeley, and a Master of Urban and Regional Planning from the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.
Amelia Solis Macias (she/her)
Initiative Associate, Great Communities Collaborative
San Francisco Foundation
Amelia grew up in a multilingual, immigrant, working-class community on the Peninsula, a place where disparity is deeply evident. As she grew older, Amelia witnessed how the community she grew up in became increasingly displaced. This experience motivated her to work toward lasting solutions that ensure her community and others like it can access the resources they need to prosper. Amelia holds a B.A. in Political Science and a Master of Public Policy from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Her academic research explored racism and discrimination within a local school district. In previous roles, she worked on COVID-19 vaccine outreach for the County of San Mateo and contributed to a study on the impact of guaranteed income on homelessness at UCSF.
GCC FUNDERS NETWORK
ABOUT THE GCC FUNDERS NETWORK
The GCC Funders Network provides guidance on the GCC’s long-term vision, strategic direction, priority-setting, and funder partnerships. Members include a range of philanthropic foundations such as community, healthcare, corporate, and family foundations.
The GCC Funders Network regularly convenes representatives from current funders, prospective funders, and community foundation grantee partners to learn together, deepen relationships, align resources, and inform the GCC network strategy and priorities.
GCC FUNDERS NETWORK MEMBERS
THE BENEFIT OF JOINING GCC’S FUNDERS NETWORK
By joining the Great Communities Collaborative Funders Network, you will have the opportunity to:
Increase your Impact
Accelerate your impact by pooling resources and collaborating with peers across sectors. Members gain access to shared learning and proven strategies. This collaboration fosters regional alignment, avoids duplication, and amplifies every dollar. Long‑term engagement means you stay ahead of emerging trends, strengthen your own mission, and help shape transformative solutions for the Bay Area.
Advance Equity
GCC’s focus on racial and economic equity at the intersections of housing, transportation, land use, and climate resilience means members receive a stronger and more complete analysis. This supports more nuanced and comprehensive efforts. Our staff can help you center communities of color and under-resourced communities and prioritize your efforts to align to their priorities throughout these four issue areas.
Strengthen Networks
The GCC Funders Network builds community among funders and learn about updates on GCC’s work, new opportunities and partnerships, and timely issues and priorities identified by funders and grantees from experts and leading practitioners. Members have the opportunity to guide GCC’s vision, mission, goals, and strategies, engage in regular learning sessions and site visits, collaborate with GCC grantees and partners, connect with other grantmakers in your and other sectors, and have access to experts in the field from an array of organizations and backgrounds.
JOIN THE GCC FUNDERS NETWORK
If you are interested in joining the GCC Funders Network, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us. We look forward to connecting! gcc@sff.org
GRANTMAKING
Approved in October 2023, GCC’s strategy focuses on building the capacity of historically under-resourced, outlying regions to access significant state, federal, and philanthropic funding by investing in.
- multisector collaboratives
- regional advocacy
- organizational development
While poverty rates across Bay Area counties are relatively comparable, the proportion of philanthropic funds distributed per county is not. For example, in 2020, Solano County’s federal poverty rate was 9% and San Francisco County’s was 10%; however, the philanthropic funds distributed per capita was $168 in Solano County and $11,211 in San Francisco County. (Understanding Poverty and Philanthropic Giving Disparities in the Bay Area)
Please note that GCC grants are on an invite-only basis. GCC is exploring future opportunities to fund coastal communities (with a focus on under-resourced communities), Indigenous communities and efforts to create community development corporations in areas that do not currently have this critical resource.
MULTISECTOR COLLABORATIVES
GCC’s two-year grants support multisector collaboratives addressing community-identified issues at the intersection of housing, transportation, land use, and climate resilience. These collaborations harness the power of a diverse set of public, private, and nonprofit partners. With their various areas of expertise and strong community networks, they work closely with their community to develop solutions.
By working together, these collaboratives have the infrastructure to secure resources from state, federal, and philanthropic sources that they could not otherwise. These resources and partnerships are critical for tackling important issues. These collaboratives decide which issues to prioritize, which organizations to fund, and how to build the nonprofit sector’s capacity for the long term.
GCC has funded the following organizations for coordination of multisector collaboratives in strategic and under-resourced areas of the region.
GCC has funded the following multisector collaboratives
- Marin County Multisector Collaborative based in San Rafael via Canal Alliance
- Contra Costa County Multisector Collaborative based in North Richmond via Community Housing Development Corporation
- Santa Clara County Multisector Collaborative South County THRIVES based in Gilroy via Gilroy Foundation
- Solano County Multisector Collaborative based in Vallejo via Solano Community Foundation
- Sonoma County Multisector Collaborative based in Santa Rosa via Community Foundation Sonoma County
REGIONAL ADVOCACY
GCC’s two-year grants to regional advocacy organizations support regional base-building, policy advocacy, and provide technical assistance in GCC’s four priority issue areas (housing, transportation, land use, and climate resilience). We fund organizations that work across the nine Bay Area counties, with special consideration for supporting the capacity- and base-building efforts of multisector collaboratives.
GCC has funded the following organizations for regional advocacy
- Greenbelt Alliance for regional advocacy in land use
- Transform for regional advocacy in transportation
- Urban Habitat for regional advocacy in housing
ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
GCC’s two-year grants for organizational development provide capacity-building technical assistance and help foster strategic partnerships to strengthen nonprofit organizations’ local and regional policy advocacy.
One such grantee is California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation (CRLAF). They are supporting a cohort of local nonprofits in the coastal region of Sonoma, Marin, and San Mateo Counties, which serve low-income coastal communities, particularly those working with agricultural and service sector workers.
To support these groups, CRLAF serves as an organizational development consultant, leveraging its expertise and contacts from the coastal community-serving nonprofit sector.
FORMER GRANTEES
Over twenty years, GCC has supported a range of organizations doing critical work to advance our mission to address issues around housing, transportation, land use, and climate resilience in the nine Bay Area counties, including:
- ACCE Institute
- Anti-Eviction Mapping Project
- Asian Pacific Environmental Network
- Bay Area Regional Health Inequities Initiative
- Causa Justa
- Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto
- Council of Community Housing Organizations
- East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy
- East Bay Housing Organizations
- Enterprise Community Partners
- Filipino Advocates for Justice
- Greenbelt Alliance
- Housing Leadership Council
- Monument Impact
- Movement Strategy Center
- Non Profit Housing Northern
California - North Bay Organizing Project
- Northern California Land Trust
- Oakland Community Land Trust
- PolicyLink
- Public Advocates
- Regional Tenant Organizing Network
- Resilient by Design
- Resilient Communities
Initiative - Richmond LAND
- Sacred Heart Community Service
- The Greenlining Institute
- TransForm
- Working Partnerships USA