Wishing you the best in the New Year

Happy 2016 from Opportunity Partners

The coming break offers an opportunity to thank our partners and friends as we prepare for 2016. It’s been a busy year at Opportunity Partners. While we look forward to all that comes next, we wanted to share a little work and a little fun from 2015.

This dynamic crew of discussion facilitators rocked the City of Richmond’s Bermuda Room, sharing information about the role of anchor institutions in community development and shared prosperity. Our client, the Healthy Richmond Initiative, hosted a business breakfast for Richmond employers to learn about procurement opportunities. The Insight Center for Community Economic Development commissioned a later case study on changes in Richmond, Richmond Opens the Door, about how a community can prepare for opportunity so it benefits people and neighborhoods fighting decades of disinvestment. Photo: Katherine Rife, Local Initiatives Support Corporation.

With exceptional support from the talented team at Intechional Web and Mobile Development, we’ve helped the Central Labor Council of Contra Costa County, AFL-CIO demonstrate broad-based support for community benefits at the Concord Naval Weapons Station as well as its own flair for organizing. Congratulations to its outstanding team, including Margaret Hanlon-Gradie, Joe Summers, and Steve Older who are building power for working families and communities.

More than 5,000 Non-Profit Housing Association voters participated in this November’s San Francisco election, contributing to the overwhelming passage of a $310 million housing bond. We’re working with NPH to support communities across the region, as they grapple with our housing crisis and seek new resources to create homes for everyone.

What a thrill to learn from Mills College Public Policy graduate students — in the classroom, then in meeting rooms and coalitions across the East Bay, since these young women hit the books and get around town, too. We studied strategy, organizational design, performance management, collective impact plus practical tips about demonstrating leadership and raising children. Much gratitude to Ignatius Bau, Henry A.J. Ramos, Olis Simmons and Brightstar Ohlson for guest speaker contributions and to retired professor Carol Chetkovich, shown here with her study of women entering service in Oakland’s Fire Department.

We close the year in gratitude and hopeful anticipation of work with you, your organizations and communities to create a more just and equitable world for all. Best wishes for the New Year and success in all endeavors.

Sharon Cornu
Founder & Chief Strategy Officer
OPPORTUNITY PARTNERS