Teacher  Homeownership:
A Creative Solution
by James Higa, Executive Director

PVF was heartened to receive news of the recent announcement that Landed has received $5M from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to help teachers in our communities buy homes and live near the schools where they teach.
Jonathan Asmis, CEO of Landed
We first met Jonathan Asmis, the CEO of Landed, a year ago during their time at YCombinator, where their idea to put up half of the down payment teachers need with zero interest or monthly payments was some really fresh thinking around the problem of affordable housing for our most important assets: teachers. Landed recoups its investment after a home is refinanced or sold, and the funds are put back into an evergreen fund to help yet more teachers with mortgage assistance. It's expected that this new fund will help 60 educators in the Redwood City, Ravenswood City, and Sequoia Union
High School districts - all in San Mateo County - to be able to buy a home they couldn't otherwise afford.
This tiding is especially heartfelt for us as a validation of PVF's 'first funder' principal. We were one of the first to find Landed and the first to fund and mentor Landed as they came out of YC Demo Day. PVF provided the frictionless seed capital to help Landed launch. This provides the acceleration and fuel for good leaders to begin building the solutions they dream of. The real world proof of concept can then attract orders of 
  magnitude larger donors with follow up grants.
PVF will not rest in our search to continually seek out the best and brightest leaders amongst us and 'find them and fund them.'
 
Congrats on this milestone, Landed.
Taking Students Out Into the World
"Thank you for donating money for the field trip to the Exploratorium. I really enjoyed it. And I also learned so many things like how if you pedal really fast you could make a light come on or how magnet sand can move metal. Plus on top of that I got to spend quality time with my dad. He was a chaperone. And I wouldn't have been able to without your donation so I wanted to say thank you." -Ryder, Student, Sunset Ridge Elementary School

PVF's Excursion Grant program, funded by the Geballe Family, offers grants of up to $1,000 to fund one-day classroom excursions for Kindergarten to fifth grade classes in Alameda, San Mateo, and San Francisco counties.

Below are some excerpts from the happy reports that public school teachers have sent in.

"Your donation to our field trip fund has made a big difference. Our school is mostly made up of students who are ELLs (English Language Learners) and low income kids who don't have the same opportunities. They were so excited to go on the fancy bus and to the Tech Museum. Many of these students don't go on long trips or to museums so these experiences will make a lasting impact on their lives." -Rachel Lerman-Shea and Recep Iscan, Fourth Grade Teachers, Hesperian Elementary School

"It is so important to take our students out into the world, beyond East Oakland, so they can experience new things and make connections to things we learn about in school." -Carrie Anderson, First Grade Teacher, New Highland Academy
About the Editors
James Higa
James Higa, Executive Director, brings 28 years of executive experience from Silicon Valley, working with Steve Jobs to change the face of technology. He was at the birth of the personal computer revolution as a member of the original Macintosh team and was deeply involved in the creation of many products and services at Apple over 3 decades. He has a long history of public service as a board member of Stanford's Haas Center and in grassroots relief efforts.
Bill Somerville, Founder, has been in non-profit and philanthropic work for over 50 years. He was the director of a community foundation for 17 years, and in 1991 founded Philanthropic Ventures Foundation where he serves as President. Bill has consulted at over 400 community foundations, on creative grantmaking and foundation operations. Bill is the author of  Grassroots Philanthropy: Field Notes of a Maverick Grantmaker. 
About PVF
PVF is a demonstration foundation practicing unique forms of grantmaking and innovative philanthropy. Our primary interest is in the creative and significant use of the philanthropic dollar.
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