Pacifica planning commission hears presentation on Partnership for the Bay’s Future fellowship

At a meeting of the Pacifica Planning Commission, staff introduced Alex Contreras as the city’s Partnership for the Bay’s Future (PBF) fellow, a two-year placement intended to help the city advance equity-focused housing policy and community engagement.

The PBF program is run by the Coro Institute and funded primarily through the San Francisco Foundation. Contreras told the commission the program has two main arms: a policy fund that helps jurisdictions build capacity to protect residents from displacement and pursue equitable zoning changes, and a financing arm that supports production and rehabilitation of affordable housing. Contreras said the Pacifica placement will be managed in partnership with local nonprofits Pacifica Resource Center and Heart of San Mateo County.

Staff and commissioners asked how the fellowship would relate to the city’s current housing work. Brianna Hakushia, Deputy Director of Community Development, said the fellow’s work will be coordinated with the city’s multi‑phase housing effort: the initial rezoning of opportunity sites is underway, and the broader zoning modernization and objective design standards (ODS) are phase 2. Hakushia said Contreras will focus primarily on the citywide objective design standards and later phases of zoning modernization once the housing element is certified.

Contreras said the fellow placement is part of the program’s third cohort and that fellows typically remain with their host jurisdiction for two years. She described the fellow’s role as a liaison between city staff and community partners to co-create policy, increase community engagement, and center racial equity in local housing work. Contreras cited program-level outcomes for other cohorts, including protecting tens of thousands of tenants through local tenant-protection ordinances and supporting establishment of local nonprofit capacity (figures cited by Contreras during the presentation).

Commissioners welcomed the emphasis on equity and community engagement. The commission and staff said they expect to coordinate the fellow’s work with the housing element certification and the city’s phased ODS and rezoning work. No formal action was taken on the presentation.

The planning commission meeting record shows the presentation began with Contreras’s remarks and concluded with commissioners’ questions about timing and scope.