Managed by the San Francisco Foundation and Local Initiatives Support Corporation and supported by a broad coalition of foundations, corporations, financial institutions, community-based organizations, government agencies, and housing advocates, The Partnership for the Bay’s Future (PBF) is an innovative and collaborative initiative focused on equitably producing and preserving affordable housing and protecting renters across the San Francisco Bay Area. Guided by the principles of racial and economic equity, PBF aims to create vibrant, diverse, and inclusive communities.

PBF’s Policy Fund builds strong partnerships between local governments and the community, forming a robust network dedicated to creating and implementing equitable housing policies. Bolstered by full-time policy Fellows, grants, and added capacity and support, the Policy Fund ensures significant community involvement and expertise in policymaking.

PBF has completed two rounds of the Policy Fund: Cohort 1 (2020–2022) included seven site teams, and Cohort 2 (2022–2024), the subject of this evaluation report, comprises 11 site teams, including four that returned from Cohort 1. This report primarily discusses activities from Cohort 2, though returning site teams continued earlier initiatives.

In March 2022, PBF commissioned Informing Change to evaluate how Policy Fund partnerships drive policy change, strengthen government-community collaboration, and empower communities to have a greater influence on housing policies and decisions. The evaluation of Cohort 1 revealed both successes and challenges of the Policy Fund’s innovative multi-partner model. Notably, the evaluation highlighted the importance of supporting Fellows to implement an “inside-outside” strategy, where internal government operations are complemented by external community advocacy. We documented the typical journey that site teams navigated towards their policy goals, emphasizing how equity was prioritized in policy development. One thing was evident across all site teams: adaptability to shifting conditions and a firm commitment to elevating community voices were crucial to success.

Building on these lessons, this Cohort 2 evaluation provides deeper insights across three learning cycles into site teams’ goals, progress, and challenges. This ongoing exploration surfaces timely lessons for cross-team learning. To collect data, we conducted focus groups with site teams, reviewed proposals, and analyzed grant and progress reports.

During the first learning cycle, each site team co-developed performance indicators that they tracked throughout the evaluation. These metrics—some shared across teams, others specific to individual sites—allowed us to track progress and gain insights throughout the process.

Learn more about PBF on their website.