Group picture at ribbon-cutting ceremony

OUR MISSION

Community Corporation of Santa Monica fosters a more inclusive, caring, and environmentally sustainable city where each person has a home in which to live and thrive with dignity. We improve lives and neighborhoods by restoring, building, and managing affordable housing for people of modest means. We work to advance the values that Santa Monica residents share and to enrich the community for all.

OUR VALUES

Inclusivity: We work to make Santa Monica a more inclusive and vibrant place to live, contributing to the City’s distinct character.

Sustainability: Since our founding, Community Corp. has been focused on helping to create environmentally sustainable communities. We build green, affordable housing properties that bring together the latest sustainable building practices and living features. These properties allow families to live in neighborhoods near their schools and workplaces—limiting commutes and reducing carbon emissions.

Opportunity: We create opportunities for families of modest means to build brighter futures by providing access to homes where they can flourish.

Community: We preserve historically significant structures and replace underutilized properties with innovative, affordable buildings that capture the essence of their neighborhoods. By preserving the past and innovating the future, we strive to contribute to Santa Monica’s unique architectural character and community.

OUR TEAM

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Our Board of Directors is comprised of community leaders who are deeply passionate about affordable housing and the betterment of their community. The Community Corp. Board includes housing and finance experts, city residents, neighborhood leaders, and skilled professionals dedicated to advancing affordable housing solutions in Santa Monica and the greater Westside.

RICHARD MOORE
Chair

JOANNE YOKOTA
Vice-Chair

MARIA RODRIGUEZ
Secretary

PATRICIA HOFFMAN
Exec. Cmte. At-large

PAUL DESANTIS
Director

ROBERT GARDNER
Exec. Cmte. At-large

JOHN JALILI
Exec. Cmte. At-large

FRANCES ANDERTON
Director

RALPH MECHUR
Director

MAGGI PHILLIPS
Director

SANDRA STRENGTH
Director

BERENICE ONOFRE
Director

Kristin McCowan
Director

JAVIER GUZMAN
Director

ZAKIYA
Director

STAFF DIRECTORY

All
Administration
Housing Production and Restoration
Maintenance
Resident Services
Property Management

 

Dr. Moore currently serves as a professor of management in the College of Business and Economics and in the College of Education at California State University, Northridge. In 2005, Moore was Fulbright Senior Scholar at Bandung Institute of Technology in Bandung, Indonesia.

A long time resident of Santa Monica and an active volunteer, he has served as a founding board member of Santa Monica Community Corporation and the Pico Neighborhood Association. He was an elected member of the School Improvement Committee at both Edison Language Academy and the John Adams Middle school. He is also a member of the Friends of Sunset Park.

Dr. Moore is a nationally and internationally recognized expert in areas of program evaluation, strategic planning, management development, organizational development and policy analysis, in the public and private sectors. At local level Moore has worked with the City of Los Angeles’ Economic and Workforce Development Department since 2000, evaluating a wide range of public training and employment programs.

Internationally, Moore has consulted for the World Bank in East Timor, Qatar, and Indonesia since 1988. He has evaluated the impact of Indonesia’s largest Micro-finance program Mitra Bisnis Keluarga (MBK).

Dr. Moore is the author of many scholarly and industry publications. He is on the editorial board of two scholarly international journals The Journal of Vocational Education and Training and The International Journal of Human Resource Development. He is an experienced trainer working with managers in both the public and private sectors. He received his M.A. and Ph.D. from UCLA.

 

 

JoAnne Yokota is the Founder and Principal of Yokota & Associates, an affordable housing development consulting firm. Ms. Yokota has over 25 years of experience in this field, including work on affordable housing projects in the City of Los Angeles for families, seniors, homeless households, transition age youth and homeless veterans. Prior to that, Ms. Yokota was the Executive Director of Beyond Shelter Housing Development Corporation for 8 years, along with the Housing Manager for the City of Santa Monica and Division Manager for the Century Freeway Housing Program. JoAnne holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Biological Sciences from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Ms. Yokota has served as a Community Corporation Board member for over 20 years.

 

 

Maria Rodriguez is a Valued Youth Coordinator at John Adams Middle School in Santa Monica and a long-time resident of Santa Monica.

 

 

Patricia Hoffman owned and operated small businesses in Los Angeles and Santa Monica for more than 20 years. A Santa Monica resident continuously since 1979, Ms. Hoffman is passionate about social justice and civil rights, and has served as the Co-Chair of Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights (SMRR) for more than 10 years, along with serving on the Board of Downtown Santa Monica (DTSM), and Chairing from 2013-2015. In addition to her advocacy for renters, Ms. Hoffman cares deeply about education, and served 8 years on the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Board of Education, and as President of the Board in 1990 and 1994. Ms. Hoffman has served as a Community Corporation Board member since 2000, and Chair of the Board since 2004.

 

 

Paul DeSantis is a long time Santa Monica resident, and has an extensive background in land use law.

 

 

Bob Gardner serves as Managing Director of RCLCO Real Estate Advisors’ Los Angeles office, and has over 43 years of experience in providing market and financial feasibility evaluations, and fiscal and economic assessment of commercial and residential real estate projects for both private and public sector clients. Mr. Gardner serves on ULI Los Angeles District Council’s Management Committee and co-leads its Technical Assistance Panel Committee. He is also a 40-year Santa Monica resident of Sunset Park. Mr. Gardner has served as a Community Corporation Board member since 2005 and also serves on its Finance Committee.

 

 

John Jalili was the City Manager for the City of Santa Monica for 15 years. During his tenure, Santa Monica received national recognition for housing and economic development, transit services, sustainability and the arts. The City’s financial rating was upgraded three times to Triple A. Jalili holds a BA from Colgate University and Masters in City Planning from the University of Oklahoma. His extensive background in local government led him to provide consulting expertise to numerous jurisdictions including the cities of West Hollywood, Malibu, Lomita, Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach. Mr. Jalili has served as a Community Corporation Board member since 2002.

 

 

Frances Anderton is the author of Common Ground: Multifamily Housing in Los Angeles, published by Angel City Press and shortlisted for a Foreword Reviews award. She co-produced 40 Years of Building Community, a short film about Community Corporation of Santa Monica. For many years Anderton hosted KCRW’s DnA: Design and Architecture radio show, and produced the current affairs shows Which Way, LA? and To The Point. She writes a regular newsletter for KCRW, and she supports the creation of programming at Helms Bakery District.

Honors include the Esther McCoy Award, from the Architectural Guild of USC School of Architecture, for her work educating the public about architecture and urbanism.

 

 

Ralph is an architect with significant experience in affordable housing. He has served on the City’s Planning Commission and Architectural Review Board and is currently a member of the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Board of Education.

 

 

Maggi Phillips is Associate Professor of International Business at the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. She holds a B.A. in psychology from UCLA, an M.S. in administration from the Merage School of Business at UC Irvine, and a Ph.D. in management from the Anderson School at UCLA. In her teaching, research, and consulting, Dr. Phillips focuses on issues of cross-cultural management and organization design. Dr. Phillips and her family have been residents in Santa Monica continuously since 1985, and she has served as a Community Corporation Board member since 2010.

 

 

Sandra Strength is a resident of Community Corporation housing, and serves as the voice and perspective of Community Corp’s over 4,000 residents. Ms. Strength is an independent design consultant and worked in advertising for numerous years. Sandra attended Art Center College of Design in Advertising, and graduated from Stanford University with a BA in Psychology. Ms. Strength has served as a Community Corporation Board member since 2009.

 

 

Dr. Berenice Onofre is an active community member, a parent advocate, especially for parents whose voices are many times not heard. She also advocates for social justice and equity in education, health care, and economic development. Her two sons attended public schools; she was an active PTA member in her son’s schools and in the district.

Dr. Onofre worked as elementary school teacher and principal in Perú. In the United States she worked as a registered nurse in every specialty of hospital and public health nursing; additionally she has over 30 years experience in nursing administration.

Her education includes: Bachelors of Nursing, Masters of Nursing Administration and Public Administration, and doctorate in Education Leadership all at CSULA. She joined the Community Corp Board of Directors as the Pico Neighborhood representative in 2017.

 

 

Ms. McCowan recently completed two terms on the Santa Monica City Council, including one as Mayor Pro Tempore. She is currently the Senior Director of Government and Community Affairs for the Dodgers, and previous to that, she served in a variety of government and political positions including Executive Director of The Getty House Foundation, Garcetti Administration, and the Obama Administration. Ms. McCowan is currently serving on the Boards of Providence St. John’s and Getty House Foundation. Ms. McCowan earned a B.A. in Political Science from CSU Northridge, and a Masters in Public Administration from USC. She resides in Santa Monica with her husband and two young children.

 

Javier Guzman has been active in the affordable housing industry for over 18 years, working on the development and financial aspects of housing. His experience ranges from preparing tax credit applications to managing construction through the completion and conversion stages. For the past 13 years Javier has been working mainly on the financial aspect, underwriting special needs, farmworker, section 8 and traditional low income affordable housing in California. Javier has underwritten projects on the west coast with an emphasis on California and Washington with a personal goal of expanding his experience throughout the west coast. Currently Javier is the VP for Community Lending and Investing at CIT Bank and is leading their lending efforts in the affordable housing industry as they break into the market.

 

 

Zakiya is a long-time resident of Santa Monica who has worked for Los Angeles Unified School District in various capacities for 20 years. She is an active volunteer in the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District and is a past PTA President at Will Rogers Learning Community, past PTSA EVP at John Adams Middle School, past PTSA VP of Parent Education at Santa Monica High School and charted the parent council at Lighthouse Pre-School.

Zakiya founded 4F- FitFlyFreeForever, a wellness community for women and Co-Founded Rooted in Student Excellence (RISE), an educational program that promotes Historically Black Colleges & Universities and college readiness in youth as early as pre-school age. As a community builder and organizer, Zakiya advocates for access to the arts, STEM and relevance and reflection of student demographics in educational systems, veterans and their families having access to affordable housing and vital resources once their enlistment is up and is a huge supporter of affordable housing accessibility and sustainability for families and undeserved populations.