Mama of Christian, Elijah and 'Ana, Founder/CEO
@lift_rise
Board
@SCANPH
Opinions my own. RTs ≠ endorsements. Love is the motive, but justice is the instrument.
So grateful to spend time w
@genebsperling
today at the
@WhiteHouse
highlighting our all 🙌's on deck housing work in
@RivCoNow
-deploying 100's of millions of $'s to keep our neighbors housed + build opportunity for everyone who calls our region home. For the love of each other
"Find enough patience within yourself to endure, and enough innocence to have faith...Allow life to happen to you. Believe me, life is right in all cases." ❤️
-Rainer Maria Rilke
Happy Birthday
@giant_skillz
@TalamaivaoChris
who believed in Lijah from day 1. "Men didn't love Rome because she was great - she was great because they loved her." True of this kiddo too - thank you for seeing, believing + loving this kiddo to realize his potential. ♥️
Places w/ higher rates of poverty, don’t have more homelessness (left)
Places w/ higher rates of mental illness, don’t have more homelessness (top right)
Places w/ higher rents, *DO* have more homelessness (bottom right)
Bottom line: The root cause of homelessness is housing.
Meanwhile: at least two thirds of working folks that make the Coachella Valley such a beautiful place to live, work, and recreate - are housing cost burdened - struggle to stay housed, and our whole economy (see also TOT) is built on the backs of their labor.
A one-year-old, $1.5 billion company is quietly establishing a new way to commercialize the Coachella Valley's residential real estate market.
Pacaso, founded by former Zillow executives, is buying high-end homes and selling shares in them to investors.
My daughter is the only Pacific Islander at her school. Yesterday she shadowed
@CalTreasurer
@fionama
- The 1st woman of color elected to the position. Treasurer Ma held up a mirror for her: an image of who she is and who she can dare to become. She will remember the day forever.
(1/2) The Coachella Valley’s internationally renowned tourism + festival economy is buoyed by the labor of low income folks who are not paid enough money to live. Over 50% of local households earn less than $52,000 a yr.
Renters in Riverside County would need to work A MINIMUM of 61 to 80 hours a week to afford a 1BR rental at fair market rent, per new
@NLIHC
data.
Yet another data point showing why we MUST forge long-term solutions for housing affordability.
#OOR21
Honored to be recognized
@Westmont
College's 85th Anniversary Gala and grateful for the moment to reflect among lifelong friends of the love that binds and calls us to live lives of service. For the love of each other. ♥️
@takesbytal
is a rising star + a beautiful beam of humanity. Her presence, voice + care, reminds athletes + especially young pacific islanders, to remember who + what they are - no matter where they are. My kiddos stand taller because of her - what a gift
@NBCPalmSprings
❤️🇹🇴🇦🇸
Most
@RivCoNow
renters struggle to stay housed. Last night
@lift_rise
@inlandsocaluw
+
@RivCoNow
launched a new + super comprehensive multilingual rental assistance platform to support our neighbors across the county. Proud of our persistent
#unitedlift
❤️
Thrilled to be celebrating being included as one of the
@CalNonprofits
of the year with
@lift_rise
staff and Board Chair
@NadiaVillagran
Board Secretary Bea Gonzalez, and Community Advocate Deiter Crawford. And thanks to
@AsmEGarciaAD56
for this honor.❤️☀️
An honor to convene 35 local leaders with the
@lift_rise
crew + my
@TODEC1
amiga Luz Gallegos, pursuing housing justice solutions with
@AGRobBonta
. Appreciate the AG visiting the Coachella Valley + listening to community leaders + impacted residents.
#loveandjustice
❤️
Two yrs ago I ran down a hallway to pitch our housing fund to
@CAgovernor
@GavinNewsom
at the
@MoveCAFWD
@CAeconomy
summit. Today my fearless colleagues did the same - then we held a regional pipeline of 2k units, now — 5k units, and we’re moving it fwd by every means possible.
Our team with
@CAgovernor
@GavinNewsom
at
@CAeconomy
advocating for our regional housing pipeline and the flexible, patient capital we need to move more than 5K affordable housing units in the Coachella Valley realize healthy communities ☀️
#caeconomy
Hear from a panel of experts on how the
#UnitedLift
Rental Assistance Program helped lower rates of housing instability, food insecurity, poor mental health, and homelessness–and what this could mean for the future of emergency relief.
Register Now:
Thank you
@SupVMPerez
+
@RivCoNow
for recognizing team
@lift_rise
as Community Organization of the Year. Humbled + grateful to be trusted to love + lead together - toward a more just + fair future for everyone who calls the Coachella Valley home. For the love of each other. ☀️❤️
In Riverside County 89% of single parent applicants for rental assistance are single mothers.
Happy Mother’s Day weekend to the millions of working single moms, carrying the weight of the future in their literal stride, on their literal backs, in their hearts and hands.
In Riverside County: 45% of rental assistance applicants are single parents - and 86% of single parent applicants are single mothers. Single mothers are almost single handedly carrying the weight of our future in their hands, on their backs and in their stride.
Inside the dramatic impact of the pandemic on households with children, particularly single-parent households: More than three times as many single-parent households with children were behind on rent in comparison to households without children
My dear colleague and
@RivCoSolutions
Director
@GoRivCoHeidi
and I got to check in this morning with
@MadisonKESQ
to talk about our shared work to keep our neighbors housed. It’s all hands on deck 🙇♀️ and we need everyone’s help! Catch us tomorrow on
@KESQ
#UnitedLift
Thank you
@samanthaKESQ
for highlighting the work of
@lift_rise
@RivCoNow
and 50+ local partners working to radically increase housing supply. Listen to Pipeline + Policy Committee Co-Chair
@gregrodriguezps
talk about our new pipeline portal 👇🏽
A local non-profit Lift to rise is launching a new online tool to follow real-time development on progress on affordable housing across the valley.
@samanthaKESQ
explains how it works and what it has to offer
As a person who has led emergency cash and rent relief work for 9 months, can say with certainty that our communities cannot weather a 3 wk lockdown w out cash assistance at scale to buoy already strapped families.
@CAgovernor
@GavinNewsom
we need immediate relief NOW
Huge thanks to the Desert Sun
@MyDesert
for shining a spotlight on the work being done to help people despite the challenges. We’re heartened by the spirit of care, generosity, and love - that persists, and ultimately prevails.
"When it's dark enough, you can see the stars"
@elijah_vaikona
is a
@giant_skillz
kid with a giant 🇹🇴 island heart ♥️ built to weather every season. Ngininginiofolanga , sun shining + future rising ✨☀️ He's just getting started.
Thrilled to join community residents, legendary leaders, and lifelong advocates to celebrate the groundbreaking of
@CHOCHousing
’s Placita Dolores Huerta and a beautiful honor to meet the earth-shifting
#DoloresHuerta
herself with my
@lift_rise
colleague
@melisadoloress
❤️☀️
The Coachella Valley is ground zero for California’s housing crisis. Huge thanks to
@AsmEGarciaAD56
for championing our shared work to transform the trajectory of opportunity for everyone who calls our region home.
These funds will assist in achieving our vision of radically spurring affordable housing development in the region–delivering 2,500 affordable units in the Coachella Valley over the next 24 months. Read press release: 1/2
Finishing the week with so much gratitude for these two can’t stop, won’t stop phenomenal women
@CalTreasurer
@fionama
and
@melissajoifox
- Showing us all how to keep going when the going gets tough, to live and lead and triumph.
Thank you
@California_HCD
Director
@GVelasquez72
for spending a few days w community residents, organizations, municipalities and local leadership in
@RivCoNow
supporting our region's work to ensure equitable resource distribution to inland regions like ours.
So happy to spend a couple days with the
@lift_rise
crew at the
@livingdesert
reflecting on where we've been, where we're going, and the ❤️ that binds and drives our work. And so much fun hanging with our animal friends too. 🦏🦒
Wonderful day at our *in person*
@SCANPH
board retreat, celebrating Alan's 10 impactful years of leadership (with a very large cake) and the amazing
@SCANPH
team - and imagining what's next in service of a future where everyone has a place to call home.
Tears seeing photos of
@NHSuk
health heroes applaud the first human on planet earth receiving the
#COVID
-19 vaccine. Feels right + poignant that this institution + its leaders lead the way. Hardly a day as a Mother that I don’t miss the certainty of reliable public health care.
1/2 Folks around the world are excited for the return of the
@coachella
music festivals. Meanwhile: 2 out of 3 Coachella Valley residents cannot afford their rent. Proud of community residents + leaders turning out tonight to support more affordable housing in the
@PalmDesertGov
🚨The Riverside County Board of Supervisors made the 3rd largest allocation of rental assitance per capita of ANY county nation wide: if you or anyone you know are behind on rent + have lost income during COVID-19 apply for assitance. Together we can keep our neighbors housed! 🚨
“If people are behind on rent and they have lost income during COVID, they need to apply”
The next application window for Lift To Rise, a $33 million fund created to help those struggling to rent due to the pandemic, opens today.
Details:
Happy to join regional, state + national leaders this morning at the
@MilkenInstitute
Global Conference to discuss barriers that must be shifted to radically increase housing supply - sharing our progress in
@RivCoNow
with my friend and
@TruEvolutionInc
CEO Gabe Maldonado
Huge thanks to the can’t-stop, won’t stop leadership of
@AsmEGarciaAD56
and Assembly Member
@ChadMayes
- and dozens of community partners, for this continued advocacy of our region’s housing needs.
We’re thrilled to be working collaboratively with dozens of regional partners and Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office on the launch of the We Lift: Coachella Valley Housing Catalyst Fund.
Read more:
So proud of the
@lift_rise
team - these phenomenal humans (many not pictured) whose love for each other and the communities we work alongside, shines bright everyday. And grateful for this unexpected recognition of the work we get to to do together. ❤️✨
Congratulations to the
@SCANPH
team for an amazing 34th Annual Conference w 1,000+ attendees + huge congratulations to our friend +
@SCANPH
's Executive Director Alan Greenlee on 10 terrific yrs leading the org to greater influence + impact - a very excited board cheer below 🥳🙌
Huge shout out to my brilliant colleagues
@aracelipalafoxx
@Agus_Arreola
and Ian Gabriel who have worked around the clock to design, build and implement the new
@RivCoNow
#UnitedLift
portal. so proud of their grit, vision and grace. ❤️
🚨BIG ANNOUNCEMENT🚨 Are you eligible for renal assistance?
United Lift, a joint effort by
@RivCoNow
,
@lift_rise
and
@inlandsocaluw
, is disbursing rental assistance funds to the most vulnerable Riverside County residents.
Applications are open: :
Feeling a deep sobering gratitude today for the hard lessons that teach us, the challenges that bring solutions to the fore, that foreground resolution and reconciliation, that foreshadow that something else is possible - and beckon us to live our way forward to that place. ❤️☀️
Feeling emotional after reflecting on our
#COVID19
response work w
@RivCoSolutions
@RivCoNow
@DesertHealthCV
w the
@MoveCAFWD
Stewardship Network today. We’ve relied heavily on each other in this time of great uncertainty. Grateful for the must do spirit that binds + drives us.
Beautiful piece by
@ema_sasic
capturing the ❤️ of our pandemic response: when we choose to work together, we foreground Arundhati Roy's beckoning: "Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day I can hear her breathing" May we keep building + believing.
Flexible financing makes housing production happen: It's $1M+ to get in the game for most state + federal housing $. Local economies need patient flexible capital - that doesn't require navigating 12 layers of 3d chess across multiple bureaucracies.
We’re often told our region lacks the capacity to absorb resources. Absolutely not true: we’re organized, shovel ready, + forging a path fwd together - despite unfair rules, + inequitable distribution of resources that favor metro and coastal areas. And we’re calling it out.
California has a history of unfairly favoring coastal & metro areas over rural communities like the Coachella Valley & Inland Empire.
These 40+ organizations call on CDLAC & TCAC to create fair & equitable funding allocation regulations.
Read more:
Friends, please welcome (and follow!) my courageous and kind (and fearless and phenomenal) colleague,
@lift_rise
Community Engagement Manager
@RubydOlvera
to her first day of
@Twitter
🙌🏽✨❤️🚀
#FollowFriday
Happy
#BossDay
to my co-pilot
@aracelipalafoxx
who meets every challenge with pragmatism and belief, and solves every problem with data, structure and heart.
I talked with
@kamarionair
at
@NBCPalmSprings
yesterday about our affordability crisis. As she said “With housing being most people’s largest monthly expense, and incomes remaining stagnant, if not decreasing, it’s impossible for many to get by.”
Rental assistance partnership in
#CoachellaValley
helps struggling residents during COVID-19 downturn: Program via
@lift_rise
is a powerful example of organizations driving equitable recovery in CA's regions
Excited to talk about transforming investment ecosystems w my dear friend + colleague
@C4CInvest
's Omar Carillo Tinajero
@CIForumTweets
2023 Action Summit+ feel like we are having a major life moment being included in the same photo group w the soulful + sublime
@kristatippett
❤️
🚨NEWS🚨”United Lift will be open for applications at any time through November..Applicants also won't have to show documentation that they're behind on their rent to qualify, and they can apply regardless of their income level.”
In Riverside County single mother headed households are 3x more likely to face deep poverty than other mothers. Excited to be at
@urbaninstitute
to share
@RivCoNow
and
@lift_rise
Economic Mobility planning focusing on their critical leadership and resiliency in our communities.
Since June 2020
@RivCoNow
’s
#UnitedLift
has disbursed more than $150M + kept 17,000+ households 65,000+ people housed — working around the clock non-stop under pressure to braid resources, following complex guidelines to get $ out motivated entirely by deep care for each other.
The United Lift Rental & Utility Assistance Program is a coordinated effort between us,
@inlandsocaluw
and
#RiversideCounty
. Since 2020, the program has provided more than $150M in aid to over 17,000 households financially impacted by COVID-19.
So grateful for the
@giant_skillz
family for making the long drive to support our giant heart last night
@elijah_vaikona
and leaning in every week to build him up. GSA ❤️
After weeks of fighting all the winter ailments, youngest kiddo and I trekked 500+ miles for 6 volleyball games this wkend. This gorgeous rainbow greeted us at 6am as we climbed through mountain rain. ♥️
Before our current public health + economic crisis, 2 out of 3 Coachella Valley renters struggled to pay rent. To end homelessness + keep more people from falling into homelessness, we must radically increase the supply of housing people can afford. Great work
@gregrodriguezps
"It’s not a shelter, it’s not a drop-in facility. It’s basically a facility for really low-income housing," Public Policy Advisor for Riverside County Supervisor V. Manuel Perez, Greg Rodriguez said.
So awesome to get to work with our friend,
@SenSchumer
housing staffer,
@JasminAleman
to elevate Inland California housing priorities. 📢 “Housing $$ must not be let down ”
Out late on a school night last night celebrating organizations across our region with
@GoRivCoRed
and these wonderful
@lift_rise
folks who light up our community ♥️
Thanks to our state treasurer
@fionama
who took time this morning to discuss immediate, tangible solutions to catalyze investment in the Coachella Valley. Grateful for her can-do, get-it-done leadership and optimism. Let’s get it done together! ☀️
Thank you
@SCANPH
! Grateful everyday to work alongside amazing folks
@lift_rise
, and across the Coachella Valley +
@RivCoNow
- who believe transformative change is possible. Sometimes we fail, but always - we move forward, together. For the love of each other. ❤️
Congratulations to
@heather_vaikona
, President and CEO of
@lift_rise
, and recipient of our Advocate of the Year Award!
Learn more about Heather, Lift to Rise, and all our Homes Within Reach Awards recipients at: .
The Coachella Valley is ground zero for California’s affordability crisis. We need flexible resources that allow us to respond to the unique market challenges of our exurban rural service economy that relies on the labor and resiliency of low income communities.
The avg price of homes in this historically Black neighborhood has more than tripled over the last 2 years bc of investors. We need more affordable housing, NOT house flipping. CVHCF seeks $15M in the state budget to do just that. Sign in support:
1: I once travelled to meet California State Treasurer
@fionama
w a cake in my purse. Before she knew I had a cake in my bag, she looked at our slide deck and said “I get it, you’re pulling it all together and baking a cake. Instead of fighting for crumbs you’re baking a cake.”
When we love our neighbors we’re compelled to concern ourselves w their well being. Which at a minimum means we care that folks are safely housed, have what they need to get by. May every decision maker making decisions w folks livelihood in the balance let love be the filter.
Deeply grateful for the unity and camaraderie among dozens of local partners to provide assistance to Coachella Valley families. We'll post more info on our new emergency cash relief fund tomorrow!
#inthistogether
Happy to join community leaders w
@CAgovernor
@GavinNewsom
Infrastructure Advisor
@AVillaraigosa
advocating for the prioritization of Inland California communities who are the most overlooked, most climate impacted + stand ready to absorb transformative infrastructure investment.
“For the last several years, the steady stream of newly homeless people has been an economic inevitability in a county with a severe shortage of affordable housing and where wages have not risen enough to cover escalating rents.”
First sunriseof 2022☀️ May we have the courage to live to the highest horizon of our hope, beyond our own belief - for the Love of each other. Happy New Year! ❤️
The Coachella Valley's hospitality economy is driven by hard working underpaid labor. The avg hospitality worker in Palm Springs would have to work 450+ hours a week to afford the monthly payment of the median priced home for sale. Side note: there are only 168 hours in a week.
In Palm Springs, the median price for an average-sized detached home sits at $1.3 million, which is 14% more than this time last year but roughly the same as August.
Drove my kiddo + 3 others up a steep windy mountain this morning to drop them off for a 3 day school trip. Took a quick work call w
@johnknobel12
- the quiet kiddo sitting in the way back who had said nothing the whole way then shouted with deep glee
“
@ChadMayes
is a legend”
The Coachella Valley is ground zero for our state’s affordability crisis. Thank you
@AsmEGarciaAD56
+
@Rendon63rd
for carrying this over the line: making it possible for our inland region to realize our shared vision of radically spurring the production of affordable housing.
Lift to Rise exists to bring together community advocates and leaders in the public and private sectors to radically increase housing stability and economic mobility for everyone who calls the Coachella Valley home. (1/3)
All the feels for my colleagues doing the hard work and heart work
@aracelipalafoxx
@AndrewsNancy
@mfwalsh83
and half a dozen more, who stuck together through 17 drafts of a proposal. And — we just submitted 🥳
Huge shoutout to
@aracelipalafoxx
@Agus_Arreola
who have led + continue to lead a non-stop, around the clock team - braiding public + private resource - every single day, to ensure thousands of our neighbors stay housed. Hard work + heart work. They lead w love every single day.
UPDATE: We have dispersed all funding available through the CARES Act.
#RentalAssistance
funds from other sources still available, but include expanded eligibility requirements we are navigating.
We’re working quickly to ensure residents are getting the support they deserve!
Shout out to this crew of community residents and
@lift_rise
staff loving their neighbors in 100° heat - supporting folks to stay housed with rental assistance.
Started the day with the wise
@MAFpajarito
@MAFCEO
reminding
@ngalarzat
and I that the thing we hold in common - the thread that ties our work and binds our shared experience - is the motivation to love people.
(1 of 2) Inland Regions will never have enough political chips to trade to compete against our coastal and metro counterparts to reconcile the disinvestment disparities that exist in our communities: We need intentional leadership that does not view us as an after thought.
Our Resident Engagement Manager is entering her second term as a Board Member of
@chpcnews
. It was such a special opportunity to have
@AGRobBonta
in our office to swear her in during his recent visit. And thank you to
@RendonAD62
for nominating Azalia.
#LiftToRise
#DreamTeam
Excited to be at the
@inlandempirecf
Policy Summit with the Lift to Rise crew, friends
@JesseMelgar
@Agus_Arreola
and others, talking about what it means to hold a vision of a thriving region and the courage to stand up to it. ♥️☀️