Facebook Forms Partnership to Create Affordable Housing in Silicon Valley
Facebook is doing its part to help create affordable housing in communities near its headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif.
Vice president for public policy and communications Elliot Schrage announced in a Newsroom post Friday that Facebook formed a partnership with community groups, philanthropies and other companies, and the social network made an initial $ 20 million contribution to that partnership.
Schrage added that the partnership is based on “three initial pillars”—affordable housing, economic activity and legal support—and initial members include Youth United for Community Action, Faith in Action Bay Area, Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto, Comité de Vecinos del Lado Oeste–East Palo Alto, the local governments of East Palo Alto and Menlo Park and other community groups.
He also provided more details on the partnership’s plans:
The partnership will establish a catalyst housing fund with $ 18.5 million to pursue innovative and scalable ways to increase the production and protection of affordable housing. An additional $ 250,000 will go to Rebuilding Together Peninsula to support the building and upkeep of homes for low-income residents.
The partnership will devote $ 625,000 to job training in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. In addition, we’re establishing a dedicated local community liaison, who will help connect community members with open positions at Facebook.
We recognize that the situation is a crisis for many of our neighbors and that investments from the catalyst fund will take time to result in new units. To provide immediate relief to those facing particularly difficult circumstances, we’re dedicating $ 500,000 to an assistance fund to provide legal support to tenants threatened with displacement from evictions, unsafe living conditions and other forms of landlord abuse.
Readers: What are your thoughts on the partnership Facebook announced Friday?
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