Bay Area Alliance for Sustainable Communities

Website: http://www.bayareaalliance.org/

The Bay Area Alliance is committed to improving the Bay Area's long-term economic competitiveness and quality of life by integrating action in the three major areas: economy, environment, and social equity. Through innovative thinking and e-vision, a balanced, inclusive, collaborative approach, the BAA strives to sustain the region's environment and economy in a way that ensures equity for all residents.

Region Served: The Bay Area region's nine counties: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano and Sonoma

Population: 6,783,760

Size of Region: Total area: 8,192 square miles

Strategic Partners: Bank of America, California 2000 Project, California Policy Reform Network, Columbia Foundation, Community Foundation - Silicon Valley, David and Lucile Packard Foundation, East Bay Community Foundation, GAP Inc., Haas Foundation, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, The James Irvine Foundation, Marin Community Foundation, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Peninsula Community Foundation, San Francisco Foundation, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Established: 1997

Overview

The Bay Area Alliance for Sustainable Communities is committed to preserving the region as a place where all people have the opportunity to live in adequate housing in healthy neighborhoods, and earn decent, livable wages.

The BAA has formulated several projects to ensure sustainability, such as the Compact for a Sustainable Bay Area: a process and framework document for a broad-based discussion with Commitments to Action as to how the Bay Area can grow in a more sustainable manner, and the Regional Livability Footprint: a process to achieve consensus for an alternative preferred land use pattern. The Community Capital Investment Initiative and the Bay Area Family of Funds is a project designed to mobilize leadership and capital investment in keystone projects in targeted low-income neighborhoods.

The overall goal is to reach a regional consensus among a critical mass of stakeholder organizations and civic leaders for a new shared vision, through development and adoption of a compact that can become the foundation for implementation actions, by both the public and private sectors at the local, regional, state and national levels. Through the unique membership, including leaders