History of One East Palo Alto

One East Palo Alto is the product of a partnership spearheaded by The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and initially formed with Peninsula Community Foundation (PCF), Stanford University Haas Center for Public Service, and Community Development Institute (CDI), to guide comprehensive resident-driven neighborhood renewal in the City of East Palo Alto. Its first phase of operation began in 2000 with a comprehensive resident planning process. Hundreds of EPA residents and stakeholders spent nine months researching local issues and developing strategies and action plans in weekly community forums and work sessions. Extensive outreach efforts were conducted to ensure that all of EPA’s major ethnic groups were well represented, and residents’ input was incorporated into a comprehensive community revitalization plan, which was completed in June (One East Palo Alto Neighborhood Improvement Project Community Plan, June 12, 2000).

Upon approval of the community plan, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation provided multi-year support for East Palo Alto totaling $4.5 million through its Neighborhood Improvement Initiative (NII). A resident board of directors was elected, an executive director and staff were hired and initial implementation efforts began as specified in the community plan. In addition, PCF came on board as managing partner for the initiative to oversee on the ground implementation. As part of this role, it also pledged to raise funds matching the Hewlett Foundation’s commitment. Although PCF withdrew as managing partner in 2002, it followed through in part on its fundraising commitment and in 2003 approved a three year umbrella grant for OEPA totaling nearly $800,000.
Activities currently conducted by One East Palo Alto differ substantially from those implemented during the organization’s first phase of operations. At that time, 10 working groups (or committees), which were formed during the resident planning process, launched 44 projects with nine fiscal agents and more than 50 implementing partners. These projects addressed action areas of Individual and Family Support Systems, Neighborhood Revitalization, and Community Building and activities, and conducted activities pertaining to seniors, Education, Health and Human Services, Technology, Public Safety, Housing, Economic Development, Recreation and Culture, Youth and Young Adults, and Environment/Land Use/Public Works.

A second phase of operations was initiated in 2002, when the Hewlett Foundation mandated a streamlining of then existing projects.  Through activities conducted to comply with this requirement, OEPA decision-makers and stakeholders identified four priority programmatic areas for work going forward.  These were economic self-sufficiency, education, public safety and resident engagement, which, in turn, were established as signature programs named Earn, Learn, Safe and Spirit, respectively. Shortly thereafter, it was decided that Spirit was more appropriately treated as a common theme and characteristic of implementation strategies for all signature programs, and was eliminated as an independent programmatic identity.  Over the next three years Earn, Learn and Safe were delineated, refined and expanded as core programs.  

Another major milestone of second phase operations was achieved when One East Palo Alto was incorporated and obtained 501(c)(3) status in 2003.  Since then, OEPA has evolved into a full-fledged, resident-led, diverse community-based intermediary organization, one that is helping to make a measurable impact on critical education, economic self-sufficiency, youth development, and public safety concerns.  In the last several years, the NII has supported key elements of the organization’s resident-led strategic planning process, including: community visioning and planning; site administration and monitoring; training and technical assistance; reallocation of funds for neighborhood projects; creation of data collection and project tracking systems; documentation and site evaluations, and more.  PCF support has enabled OEPA to develop a track record of intermediary support of youth-serving organizations and to promote and implement capacity-building initiatives for this major component of the local nonprofit sector.

Today OEPA operates as a local intermediary to achieve the vision of transforming the city into one community where residents are celebrated for their diversity and are engaged, informed and empowered to attain the economic, social, and educational resources they need to maintain a good quality of life. As an intermediary, OEPA selects local agencies to be its implementing partners and collaborates with them on projects supported by the Hewlett Foundation’s NII grant portfolio. The partners, in turn, implement activities through the projects that are aligned with and help to accomplish the organization’s goals and objectives.

OEPA’s intermediary work was redefined in 2005 through a strategic planning process focused on ensuring the organization’s sustainability beyond Hewlett funding.  The process enabled the organization to identify and select a youth-focused niche for its continued operations as that which would constitute the strongest competitive advantage and bring the greatest value add to the local nonprofit sector. OEPA further defined its strategic role in the 2005 strategic plan (p. 3) as follows:

The strategic role envisioned for OEPA is as a community-based convener, broker, advocate, capacity builder, and resident leadership incubator; not a direct service provider…. Rather, OEPA improves the overall quality of life of residents in the community, especially those in need, by bringing together its vast knowledge of available resources, relevant/applicable work conducted by CBOs and neighborhood groups, key local players who are or should be involved in a given issue, and funders that are invested in and/or want to invest in EPA.  It is uniquely positioned to bring its knowledge and relationships to bear on efforts to find solutions to critical community issues.

The NII created and unprecedented opportunity for African American residents community leaders to work hand-in-glove with emerging leaders of Latino and Pacific Islander communities to ensure that conditions improve for everyone.  It is no accident that the organization created to lead this new paradigm was named One East Palo Alto.

That is, East Palo Alto is a microcosm of a new dynamic emerging in many low income, diverse communities throughout California.  Monolingual immigrants are moving in, looking for unskilled work and low income housing, and competing for scarce resources and opportunities with long-time residents.  The stresses are systemic as the county strains to provide basic services in an era of budget cutbacks, a reduce tax base, and structural changes in the economy.

East Palo Alto residents have refused to scapegoat the new immigrant population, nor have they turned their backs on their neighbors in need.  They are working together in neighborhood coalitions and through existing cohorts of CBO’s, block clubs and other appropriate organizing strategies.  Community residents and stakeholders are coming together to implement a set of initiative they have developed to solve the quality of life issues affecting them all.
One East Palo Alto is at a threshold of a new stage in its development; having established its credentials in the community.  It is now working to define its role and functions in relation to direct service providers, and to develop a funding base beyond the major start-up support received from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and Peninsula Community Foundation.