A New Day, a new dawn for Certificate of Preference holders in San Francisco

NCLF was given this unique opportunity to work with the community to contact 10,000 people displaced from their homes by the former San Francisco Redevelopment Agency... The post A New Day, a new dawn for Certificate of Preference holders in San Francisco appeared first on San Francisco Bay View.

A New Day, a new dawn for Certificate of Preference holders in San Francisco
2-Star-and-Majeid, A New Day, a new dawn for Certificate of Preference holders in San Francisco, News & Views
One-on-one training at NCLF office in February 2022, pictured from left-right, Sharmain “Star” Quinine, investigator apprentice and Majeid Crawford, executive director, New Community Leadership Foundation.

by Kim Caldwell, Development Director, New Community Leadership Foundation

New Community Leadership Foundation, a non-profit organization, is honored with the incredible opportunity in San Francisco to search for Certificate of Preference holders and their descendants in partnership with Lynx Insights and Investigations. NCLF was given this unique opportunity to work with the community to contact 10,000 people displaced from their homes by the former San Francisco Redevelopment Agency in the Western Addition and Hunters Point during the 1960s and 1970s. 

When given the opportunity to write about the Certificate of Preference search program, many emotions came over me. I was ecstatic about the potential of this extraordinary, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. But it also felt bittersweet. It has taken me back to the harsh reality of the pain and history of Urban Renewal and Redevelopment in the Fillmore. 

Sharmain “Star” Quinine, one of our investigators, is a San Francisco native raised in the Fillmore. Through her tears, she shared her success story on how the New Community Leadership Foundation’s community-driven efforts have changed the trajectory of her and other families’ lives through the COP program with affordable housing, homeownership and employment! 

Her grandmother, affectionately known as “Bobby,” had eight children, and Star is the sixth grandchild out of 14. With the research efforts of NCLF, partnered with Lynx and the Certificate of Preference team, all of “Grandma Bobby’s” children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren are either new residents in beautiful housing in San Francisco, in the process of purchasing property or going through the qualification process for the Certificate of Preference, hence creating generational wealth within their family! 

For over 10 years, Star has had to commute to San Francisco for work daily and to support her elderly, ailing parents, who both resided in the City. Due to the Certificate of Preference program, she is happy to say: “We get to come back home and be a part of this amazing City we were born in! I have been in my new place for two weeks and am beyond grateful!”

This rare opportunity is unique and exciting because the work is community-driven, culturally competent, restorative and innovative, and we use technological approaches to find the 10,000 displaced people. Our process continues beyond there. We hired investigator apprentices from the impacted communities for Certificate of Preference holders. 

1-Group-Photo-FindMy-SFCP, A New Day, a new dawn for Certificate of Preference holders in San Francisco, News & Views
Orientation and training in November 2022 at NCLF office for the Investigator Apprentices hired to conduct the search for Certificate of Preference holders. Training facilitated by Lynx Insight and NCLF.

The investigators are on the front line of our work because they make hundreds of calls a week to contact Certificate of Preference candidates by phone, gain their trust and get them to provide us with current information to update their files. 

These positions are entry level and investigators are trained to implement the most advanced software that uses computer-assisted algorithms to search national databases to locate people from the past 50 years. The skills the apprentices are learning are highly prized and applicable to initiatives tied to reparations that are in the air today. 

As many may know, In 1967, the Certificate of Preference Program (the Certificate Program) was created to give housing preference to low-income and moderate-income persons displaced by urban renewal programs in San Francisco. The Office of Community Investment and Infrastructure (OCII), the successor to the Redevelopment Agency, has launched a renewed effort along with NCLF and Lynx to locate and contact the displaced Certificate of Preference holders and their descendants to inform them of their potential benefits and give them information to better understand the process step by step in obtaining what is rightfully theirs and owed them.

The direct impact opportunity the Certificate of Preference program can have on a displaced residence from San Francisco is mindblowing. The remarkable aspect of this project is not only finding lost generations of people who can no longer afford to live in San Francisco and see if they are COP holders but also offering information and opportunities to supply anyone who reaches out needing support in resources and information on employment opportunities, career and trade training, and introductions to new technology. These community-driven, culturally competent and restorative measures give hope to a community that often feels marginalized and left out. It preserves our history and inspires us.

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This is Fillmore Street, Harlem of the West, in the late 1940s, populated by working class Black families, who owned most of the homes and businesses, and visited every day of the year by Black jazz giants. – Photo: David Johnson (Courtesy Book review by Paradise, SF Bayview, 8/26/2020).

Overall this extensive search will bring potential affordable housing and homeownership opportunities to thousands of displaced Certificate of Preference holders while creating job training and excellent opportunities through redemptive work to the local people hired as investigator apprentices like Star to locate Certificate of Preference holders and their descendants. 

If you or any of your family members or friends might be a Certificate of Preference holder, please get in touch with us and help us get the word out to assist in locating COP holders to verify eligibility. Be a valued part of bringing closure to the impact of displacement on the Black and other communities of color by sharing this information. Contact us at 415-275-0035, certificate@findmysfcp.org or www.findmysfcp.org

Kim Caldwell is a native of San Francisco, California. Kim fell in love with supporting her community as a teenager. She was first inspired by her Godparents Rev. Hannibal & Bettygene Williams of New Liberation Church, who dedicated their lives in service to The Lord, community, and empowering the disenfranchised. Kim quickly developed a passion for charitable work and served and supported various events and functions within the church and Western Addition. Kim is the Host of an online human-interest show called The Kim Caldwell Show, which supports others in telling their story from an artistic perspective. Kim continues to give in community by serving as NCLF Development Director,  volunteering at local high schools, youth programs, River of Life Church where she attends and has added narration to her resume, teaming up with Akira’s book club narrating the Akira’s Book Club series to support early learning through literacy. 

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