Congratulations, Beth and Bill!
We’re excited to announce that PCV’s President, Beth Sirull, and Board Chair, Bill Pace, have been awarded the 2015 James Irvine Foundation California Leadership Award.
Through this award, the Irvine Foundation recognizes innovative leaders advancing breakthrough solutions to critical issues facing California. For Beth and Bell, that issue is lack of quality jobs and access to capital within lower-income communities. PCV will be awarded $200,000 to advance the organization’s work, along with additional support.
On the ground, PCV links small business entrepreneurs with expert advisors and private investors to create jobs and expand economic opportunity in low-income neighborhoods. Through PCV’s SAIL Loan Fund, many of these California companies receive affordable debt capital along with expert advising; loans range from $50,000 to $200,000.
Empowering Small Business
In 2013, through its online platform, BusinessAdvising.org, PCV matched the skills of 400 business professionals across the country with the needs of more than 250 entrepreneurs. The combination of private capital and business expertise is working: PCV helped create hundreds of new jobs and sustain thousands more in the state, generating more than $68 million in wages paid to residents of low-income communities in 2013 alone.
In addition to on-the-ground work in California to create economic opportunities in disadvantaged communities, PCV also advocates for systemic change by educating policymakers and investors on best practices for deploying capital for financial and social returns. PCV’s Impact Investing: Creating a Framework for Policy Design and Analysis has become the White House-endorsed international framework for policymaking to harness private capital for public good.
“The jobs these businesses are creating provide fair living wages, health and other benefits,” PCV Chairman Bill Pace says. “They tend to be more sustainable, and they tend to be jobs that people stay in for a long time. So people get those jobs and they keep them.”
“We are showing investors in California that you can put money to work in a low-income community, while earning a financial return, creating jobs, and strengthening the local economy,” PCV President Beth Sirull notes.
Congratulations To The Other 2015 Award Recipients
- Sandra Gutierrez of Abriendo Puertas/Opening Doors in Los Angeles for helping close the learning gap by preparing low-income Latino parents to be their children’s first teachers and advocates
- Nancy O’Malley, the Alameda County District Attorney, for bringing justice for victims of child sex trafficking through her work to change how law enforcement responds to commercial sex trafficking in the East Bay, shifting law enforcement’s approach to the issue—treating exploited minors as victims rather than criminal offenders
- Jody Lewen of Prison University Project in San Quentin, for changing lives in prison classrooms by building the only fully on-site program in the state prison system to confer college degrees
Leadership In California
“The individuals we honor this year are improving the lives of Californians through strategies that are creative, effective and inclusive of California’s diverse communities,” said Don Howard, President and CEO of The James Irvine Foundation. “These leaders are helping solve some of California’s most difficult problems. They are listening to the people they serve, working with the community, maximizing every dollar they use, and then sharing what they learn. We are thrilled to support their important work.”
The recipients will be honored at the Foundation’s award luncheon at Sacramento’s Sheraton Grand Hotel. Speakers at the luncheon include Attorney General Kamala D. Harris, Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson, Speaker of the Assembly Toni G. Atkins, Assemblymember Brian Maienschein, Nancy McFadden of the Office of the Governor, and others. The Foundation will also debut original videos featuring the work of each of the recipients.
To learn more about the James Irvine Foundation Leadership Awards, visit: http://irvine.org/leadership
(Special thanks to entrepreneurs Benny Gold (of Benny Gold) and Trang Nguyen (of Urban Picnic) for appearing in the video.)