Greetings from the Executive Director and Board President

We are often taken aback when someone we are talking to is surprised to learn that OPDC is an affordable housing developer.

“Oh, I had no idea,” they say. It happens quite often. It’s odd given that affordable housing development is a huge part of our work. You can imagine us knee-deep in spreadsheets a lot of the time—this is an accurate picture. Brick and mortar investments are one of the biggest ways that we’re investing in the future of Oakland and in a way that can make a big positive impact.

We invest in people too, of course. We support residents to become homeowners for those houses we are building or rehabbing. From raising credit scores to providing fresh food, articulating neighbor concerns to study help, we are connected with and investing in community residents.

We are investing for the future. The Oakland Community Land Trust is a long term strategy for ensuring a stable base of homeownership and residents at all income levels. The bear market is certainly grim, but our endowed fund, established through the sale of our Atwood property, will provide investment income to support our mission in perpetuity. The endowment is a symbol of the financial stewardship that residents expect as well as the long-term commitment to the neighborhood that residents deserve.

The sale of the Atwood property brought OPDC together under one roof, uniting us in presence, programming, and purpose. We aligned our programs to be better integrated also, with less silos between departments.

This is key to our identity as a grassroots, place-based organization—coming together, both as a team and a community. This is how we won multiple improvements to the Oakland Plan, the benefits of which will be invested right here in Oakland for a decade to come. The process proved what we know well: responding as a collective is the best way to face challenges, old and new, that impact us all.

Thank you to those who have joined us in these efforts over the past year—our funders, supporters, residents, and partners. You’ve made the work we share in this report possible.