Community Leadership Award

Community Leadership Award

Posted on November 4, 2015

Paul Boyer, Self-Help Enterprises Program Director of Community Development, was recognized with the Dennis Wallace Community Leadership Award at the 4^th Annual San Joaquin Valley Affordable Housing Summit, Re-Imagining the ‘Big Valley’: Advancing Housing Opportunity and Equity.

This year marked the inaugural year for the Dennis Wallace Community Leadership Award, in memory of former San Joaquin Valley Housing Collaborative Board Member and Executive Director of Habitat for Humanity Golden Empire, Dennis Wallace who passed away in October 2014. Dennis is remembered for his diligence and vigor to bring people together to build homes, communities, and hope. Dennis served as the director of Habitat for Humanity Golden Empire for 17 years and had 57 homes built, changing the lives for 266 low-income families in Kern County.

The award was presented to Paul by San Joaquin Housing Collaborative Board Member Claudia Cazares. Over the last 38 years, Paul has had a hand in assisting more than 60 disadvantaged, rural communities in the San Joaquin Valley with securing funding for over 70 water and sewer projects. Retired Self-Help Enterprises President and CEO, Peter Carey shares, “What is most important for us here in the San Joaquin Valley is the fact that Paul understands the issues that are unique to the Valley, especially the challenges faced by poor and underserved communities and the people who call them home. Far from being an outside consultant for those communities, his entire career has been built around working with, rather than for, the people of the communities he serves.”

Paul Boyer, Community Development Program Director, helping to facilitate the installation of water tank for residents affected by the drought.

 

The Summit, hosted by the San Joaquin Valley Housing Collaborative and held on November 3, 2015, brought together community development professionals from across the state to the South Valley to expand the conversation around housing affordability, opportunity, and equity. The Summit also serves as a space to educate and empower stakeholders to overcome housing-related challenges collectively, and seize opportunities to improve Valley communities.

The day’s events included Bakersfield Mayor Harvey L. Hall discussing the critical significance of addressing housing affordability, opportunity, and equity in Valley communities; a Keynote Address by Dr. James Rojas, founder of the Latino Urban Forum (LUF) and PLACE IT!; and Bakersfield Councilmember Willie Rivera closed out the event with a Call to Action to increase housing opportunities and build political will for housing in Bakersfield, Kern County, and throughout the San Joaquin Valley.