Profiles
COMMUN IT Y B U ILDING: J A MI L A JA C K S O N , ’ 0 1 , MB A ’ 0 3 by Sonya Smith When Jamila Jackson, ’01, MBA ’03, first learned of a project manager position at the Community Housing Development Corporation of North Richmond (CHDC), she was excited. “I thought it was fantastic because vacant lots [there] were being used to change the face of the neighborhood.” Jamila had grown up in the Richmond area, just north of Oakland, and she was thrilled at the prospect of contributing to the growth of her community. “I get exposure to different housing products, from apartments to town-
houses to lofts to single-family homes.” The challenge, she says, is finding sites in an urban landscape to develop. “Market-rate developers have their own funding,” she says. “Community housing development is significantly different because there are more lenders [as well as] government lenders to deal with.” This adds time to the funding process, which can be critical in today’s housing climate. In her job, she sometimes has to think of innovative ways to use a single vacant lot, such as building townhouses instead of a single-family dwelling, which will make the housing more affordable. CHDC has a program called Scattered Sites, in which it reclaims lots
22
M I L L S Q U A R T E R LY Spring 2006
throughout Richmond that are large enough for single-family homes. “When we acquire enough of these lots, we can get funding to begin construction,” Jamila explains. The idea is that these noncontiguous lots can collectively be treated as a single development, which facilitates a better funding package, enabling the CHDC to minimize the purchase price of the homes. Jamila’s days are spent working on property acquisition, getting environmental clearances, and assembling development teams for several projects CHDC is currently implementing. She develops the preliminary budget and prepares grants for initial funding, and she works to obtain permanent financing that will keep the price of housing low for homeowners. “It’s fun during predevelopment,” she says. “Projects keep changing.” CHDC exemplifies the word community. The nonprofit’s new office is in a hardscrabble neighborhood where the corporation recently completed 52 senior apartments in a building next door that allows long-time North Richmond residents to remain in the neighborhood. “We don’t want to gentrify the neighborhood,” Jamila says. “We want to empower the neighborhood.” The building also houses a new health clinic, with plans to open a deli/convenience store in the next year. After earning her bachelor’s degree at Mills in business economics in 2001, Jamila took a lucrative “dream job” in finance but felt something was missing. She contacted Nancy Thornborrow, David Roland-Holst, and Roger Sparks of the Mills College economics department about the MBA program. “The
professors are fantastic and so accessible,” she says. “That’s what’s so great about Mills.” Their guidance, then and during her MBA studies, helped her realign her career. Having worked as an office assistant at her father’s architectural firm, Jamila was familiar with housing development, building plans, and construction sites. She remembered being excited about the process of finding land and developing it from start to finish. This realization solidified her interest in residential housing development. After getting her MBA, Jamila applied for jobs with large residential housing developers; however, the bulk of positions came from firms wanting to fill openings in finance. “I finally came across a job posting on Craig’s List [online classified ads] from Napa Valley Community Housing [NVCH], and I liked the description of the housing intern,” she says. “But I’d never heard of community housing.” Jamila stepped outside of her comfort zone and took the housing intern position. “It opened my eyes to affordable community housing,” she says. “I enjoyed what I did.” Her enjoyment must have shown, because it wasn’t long before she became assistant project manager. Her work at NVCH primarily dealt with rental housing, but Jamila knew she wanted to help people with home ownership. The Community Housing Development Corporation of North Richmond filled the bill. Currently, Jamila is working on a project that seeks to rehabilitate other underused lots near the CHDC office. North Richmond is the staff’s first priority. “We help people who are in the community maintain housing in their neighborhood,” she says. Jamila’s parents, Debra Jackson and Frank Cuthbert, once advised her not to worry about money, saying that if she did the work she loved, the money would come. While she isn’t getting rich, the money is coming, and she has the invaluable bonus of building her community. Sonya Smith lives and writes in Oakland, California.