The first $1 million of a $3 million \u201cempowerment\u201d fund established for residents of the Golden Gate Village public housing complex in Marin City has been distributed to area nonprofits.<\/p>\n
An initial $500,000 was distributed to nine nonprofits selected by a six-member committee of Golden Gate Village residents in 2024. The committee members, who receive a $1,000 stipend, were selected from an applicant pool by Marin Housing Authority managers. Another $500,000 was divided up among 11 nonprofits in 2025.<\/p>\n
The plan is to continue distributing $500,000 a year until the fund is exhausted in 2029.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was a fairly unique undertaking because the program design was centered around the aspirations of the residents,\u201d Shirin Vakharia, a Marin Community Foundation program director, said during a recent presentation on the program to county housing commissioners.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the world of grant making, we call this participatory grant making,\u201d Vakharia said. \u201cPeople who are closest to the problems are often in the best position to identify the solutions that work for them.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2023, Marin supervisors allocated $2 million to create the fund for the 650 people who live at Golden Gate Village, which is overseen by the Marin Housing Authority.<\/p>\n
Sixty-three percent of the households are African American residents while just under 20% are Latino residents. The median income for residents living in Golden Gate Village is $10,820, compared with a median income of $142,300 for Marin County as a whole.<\/p>\n
The money for the fund came along with another $3 million from the county to aid in the rehabilitation of the aging complex. The county used funds it received from the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2021 to provide the assistance.<\/p>\n
The county deposited the $2 million with the Marin Community Foundation, which is administering the grant. At the county\u2019s request, the foundation agreed to add another $1 million to the pot.<\/p>\n
Vakharia said that during \u201clistening sessions\u201d with Golden Gate Village residents, four priority areas emerged for funding: education and workforce development; emergency services; wealth creation programs; and health. The priority areas closely matched the objectives laid out in a county staff report prior to the sessions.<\/p>\n
Based on those, Marin County managers created requests for proposals. The committee of Golden Gate Village residents then decided whom to hire to implement the proposals and how much to spend on each one, with the help of foundation staff.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe facilitate the committee\u2019s decision-making process,\u201d Vakharia said, \u201cbut it is a committee decision.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact that resident committee members are endorsing these organizations builds a lot of trust and confidence amongst the community members to be willing to access the resources that are being offered,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The largest contract in the fund\u2019s first year of operation was a $88,000 award to the Marin County Cooperation Team. The Sausalito nonprofit headed by Jahmeer Reynolds proposed to mentor Black students, deliver food to seniors and promote culinary entrepreneurship and local gardening. The organization estimated it served 121 Golden Gate Village residents in 2024.<\/p>\n
Bridge the Gap College Prep in Sausalito received a $78,000 contract during the fund\u2019s first year. It reported providing tutoring for 20 Golden Gate Village high school students that year.<\/p>\n
Unlike most of the nonprofits receiving funds, Bridge the Gap reported having three executives paid more than $100,000 during the fiscal year ending in August 2024. Bridge the Gap\u2019s chief executive officer, Lisa Raffel, reported total compensation of $177,668 that year, according to the group\u2019s 990 form.<\/p>\n
The third largest contract, $68,000, went to Marin City-based Women Helping All People, which provided financial assistance to residents having problems paying rent, health care costs, utility bills and funeral expenses. The organization\u2019s executive director, Royce McLemore, reported receiving no salary or benefits. The group reported serving 250 people in the first year.<\/p>\n
![\"Sherine](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/MIJ-L-MC-FUND-0406-02.jpg\")
Sherine Agbulos, a staffer at Performing Stars of Marin, left, and Felecia Gaston, its executive director, work at the nonprofit’s office in Marin City, Calif., on Friday, April 3, 2026. The organization is among local nonprofits receiving funding to benefit residents of Marin City public housing. (Alan Dep\/Marin Independent Journal)<\/p>\n
Performing Stars of Marin, based in Marin City, received a $55,500 contract during the first year. The organization, which is headed by Felecia Gaston, proposed to provide emergency aid, vocational training and COVID-19 response. It reported serving 80 residents in 2024.<\/p>\n
With the exception of Bridge the Gap, the nonprofits also received contracts in year two. The Marin County Cooperation Team once again had the largest contract, $100,000, in 2025. The Lime Foundation, based in Santa Rosa, received the second largest contract that year, $90,000. It proposed to provide training in auto repair and other skilled trades to households with single mothers.<\/p>\n
Our Sister\u2019s Keeper received the third largest contract in 2025, $84,930. It proposed to strengthen connections among female residents through book clubs, literary classes, film discussions and gatherings.<\/p>\n
Marin Housing Authority commissioner Sarah Canson, one of two public housing tenants who serves on the board, questioned whether the nonprofits receiving funds were being adequately overseen to guarantee they were providing the services they were being paid for.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is a decent amount of money,\u201d Canson said. \u201cWe want to make sure that they\u2019re doing what they say they\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vakharia highlighted that \u201cbuilding trust surfaced as a challenge for non Marin City-based organizations.\u201d<\/p>\n
The foundation does not require nonprofits to submit receipts or other paperwork to prove that they\u2019ve provided the services they\u2019ve committed to providing, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t typically, under any grant circumstance, ask for that level of documentation,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
![\"Kenneth](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/MIJ-L-BRIDGE-0614-03.jpg\")
Kenneth Fuentes, 17, of Marin City takes a photo with Rondell Gibson, director of the Bridge the Gap program at Tamalpais High School, before graduation at the campus in Mill Valley, Calif., on Thursday, June 13, 2024. Fuentes, who was supported by Bridge the Gap, graduated a year early. (Sherry LaVars\/Marin Independent Journal)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The first $1 million of a $3 million \u201cempowerment\u201d fund established for residents of the Golden Gate Village…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":253438,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[7,12827,181,23,8529,112455,992,12828,100,180,5466,993,266,92720,101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-253437","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-golden-gate-village","10":"tag-latest-headlines","11":"tag-local-news","12":"tag-marin-city","13":"tag-marin-community-foundation","14":"tag-marin-county","15":"tag-marin-housing-authority","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-newsletter","18":"tag-nonprofits","19":"tag-north-bay","20":"tag-northern-california","21":"tag-public-housing","22":"tag-san-francisco","23":"tag-san-francisco-headlines","24":"tag-san-francisco-news","25":"tag-sf","26":"tag-sf-headlines","27":"tag-sf-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253437\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}