November 12, 2014 Jeremy Liu Managing Director Creative Development Partners 490 Lake Park Avenue, #16242 Oakland, CA 94610 RE:
One Lake Merritt, Oakland, CA
Dear Jeremy: Thank you for sharing with us your vision for the redevelopment of the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center. We have reviewed the materials detailing Creative Development Partners’ (CDP) planned response to the City of Oakland’s Request for Proposals for development of the Henry J Kaiser Convention Center (HJKCC). We are excited to support the One Lake Merritt project and to work with CDP as your research partner to monitor and evaluate the impact of One Lake Merritt on creating economic opportunity in and for the communities of Oakland. We are especially compelled by your approach to providing community benefits by design. Pacific Community Ventures is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that was founded in 1998 by former Silicon Valley executives who believed that small businesses in underserved communities should have easier access to the high-caliber advice and capital that revolutionized the high-tech industry. PCV’s services include advice and capital to help small businesses succeed, plus impact evaluation, research, and policy services to propel the impact economy forward. Our unique ecosystem of programs work together to catalyze the creation of community wealth and to drive lasting, positive economic change. PCV’s research and advisory team – PCV InSight – investigates best practices and provides tools for understanding the critical steps in scaling social impact investing. We provide policymakers with access to information they can leverage to drive capital and resources to build the economies of underserved communities. Our work advances the global practice of investing for intentional social and environmental benefit by investigating and disseminating best industry practices, building networks and supporting the development of enabling policy and market infrastructure. PCV created InSight's impact evaluation practice in 2005. In the ensuing ten years, PCV InSight has become one of the most experienced, specialized providers of social impact evaluation services to some of the most prominent institutional investors and philanthropies in the world, including CalPERs, California Endowment, Annie E. Casey Foundation, and Citibank. PCV’s rigorous, client-driven solutions supported the evaluation of over $25 billion of impact and targeted capital in 2013. We find the One Lake Merritt approach to be quite innovative, centering work force training with cutting edge design, state of the art hospitality, and a diverse array of arts, events, and entertainment – all on the best waterfront site in the Bay Area. We look forward to this opportunity, should CDP be selected to pursue an exclusive negotiating agreement with the City of Oakland. Please do not hesitate to invite City staff or others contact us with any questions. Sincerely,
Beth Sirull President, Pacific Community Ventures