In 2016, RCD created our Community Development department and adopted the following mission to guide the new initiative: developing safe and healthy neighborhoods by building resident leadership and action, supporting and pursuing future real estate development that benefits the community’s goals, and collaborating with stakeholders to expand services, policies and programs that meet local need.
In the past decade, we have made substantial progress in supporting vibrant communities through our work in unincorporated Alameda County and dedicating resources to bring community-serving organizations to our mixed-use buildings.
Building Capacity for Community Power
RCD staff leads collaborative initiatives that center resident voices and expand opportunity in Alameda County’s urban unincorporated communities, including Ashland, Cherryland, San Lorenzo, and Hayward Acres. Through strategic partnerships and grassroots organizing, we’re creating sustainable infrastructure for community-led change.
Eden Area Communities Collaborative (EACC)
RCD’s Community Development team co-created and manages the EACC, a collective impact body that launched in Fall 2024 to achieve a healthy, just, and economically viable urban unincorporated community. The EACC aligns the work of residents, elected offices, nonprofits, and county agencies around three priority focus areas:
- Food Access and Food Justice
- Scaling the Local Promotora/Community Health Worker/Navigator Model
- Lead Contamination in Our Homes and Community
The EACC is funded primarily by the California Accountable Communities for Health Initiative and represents a restructuring of the Ashland Cherryland Healthy Communities Collaborative that RCD co-chaired with Supervisor Miley’s office for nearly a decade.
Eden Power Collective (EPC)
RCD co-created and supports the Eden Power Collective in partnership with Eden United Church of Christ. The EPC works alongside residents to increase economic security and reduce health inequities through engagement, services, and programs provided by local community health workers called “promotoras.”
In 2025, Eden Power Collective strengthened its organizational capacity by hiring its first Promotora staff, including three full-time and two part-time Promotoras, who collectively reached over 2,500 residents through 54 workshops and tabling events.
Notable achievements in 2025 include a financial empowerment program where 226 residents achieved an average credit score increase of 168 points, and a 10-part peer-to-peer mental health series that engaged 132 residents.
Learn more in the EPC’s A link to: 2025 Impact Report.
Budget Justice Advocacy
RCD leads a coalition of residents and community-based organizations advocating for budget justice in Alameda County’s urban unincorporated communities. Our work focuses on equitable investment across unincorporated areas and greater transparency in the County’s budgeting process.
In fall 2025, RCD co-hosted six bilingual community conversations that brought over 70 residents into direct dialogue with county agencies and local institutions—including Alameda County’s Community Development Agency, Health Department, AC Transit, the Castro Valley Chamber of Commerce, and the Eden Area Municipal Advisory Council.
In December 2025, RCD and partners published findings and recommendations from this pilot series to guide future County investments in unincorporated communities.
Prioritizing Community-Serving Commercial Spaces
Our mission to preserve and promote affordability extends beyond housing. By including ground floor commercial spaces as part of our affordable housing developments, we’re able to provide affordable, stable spaces for locally-owned businesses and community-serving nonprofits.
Market commercial rents within transit-oriented, pedestrian-friendly areas are often unaffordable to first-time business owners and community-serving nonprofits. RCD’s ground floor commercial spaces bring economic opportunity to local residents, provide critical services to help neighborhoods thrive and help support a vibrant community.
While RCD properties have always been home to community-serving organizations, through our recent focus on this area we are able to dedicate the resources needed to actively bring these organizations to our established and new developments. In addition to engaging potential nonprofit tenants early in the development process, we also provide technical assistance as needed to ensure their long-term stability and financial sustainability. By engaging with community partners early on in the design process, we are able to thoughtfully design the space to address programming.
Commercial by the Numbers
23 completed commercial properties
6 planned commercial properties
90% of commercial spaces leased by community-serving nonprofits or small businesses
54,200 square feet of commercial space
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