About the Asset Support Center
The Bay Area Asset Support Center (ASC) is a regional initiative, led by San Francisco Bay Area Funders, aimed at expanding asset-building opportunities for low- and moderate- income residents of Bay Area communities. Since June 2007, ASC has supported asset-building programs and services across the nine-county region through:
- Research/information sharing: ASC has created a searchable online database of over 45 asset-building strategies underway across the nine-country region (to access the database, go to www.assetpolicy.org/asc);
- Convenings: ASC is convening practitioners, funders, policymakers, and advocates- through in-person meetings or webinars - to share promising practices and address emerging issues;
- Technical assistance: ASC has provided over 500 hours of pro bono technical assistance to nonprofits, public agencies, foundations and elected officials to support asset-building programs and services that benefit low- and moderate- income residents of communities across the region (e.g. research on best practices, support for evaluation design trainings, etc.); and
- Public policy: ASC has developed a contact list of more than 1,000 asset-building stakeholders in communities across the region. In the upcoming year, the Asset Policy Initiative of California will be using the contact list to connect regional stakeholders in state asset-building policy discussions.
Heather McCulloch, founder and principal of Asset Building Strategies, serves as managing director. Bay Area asset-building leader, EARN, is the ASC fiscal sponsor. To date, ASC has operated as a demonstration project; in January 2010, ASC will become an ongoing project of EARN.
For more information, contact Heather McCulloch, ASC managing director, at (415) 378-6703.
