The Full Story
About
CivicStone is a consulting company dedicated to helping community residents live a better quality of life. This is achieved through designing, implementing and overseeing City & County programs that target Low and Moderate income households. We pride ourselves on making the largest impact of good with limited governmental and non-profit funding sources. We are a turn-key organization providing services from creative program design to final execution and continuing administration.
Mission
Providing Consulting and Administrative Services to Cities and Non-Profits that enhance people’s health, comfort, and overall depth of happiness.
Vision
To elevate the quality of life for humanity; one household at a time.
Values
Integrity, Truth, Diligence, Compassion, Reliability, Trustworthy, Communicative
Our History
In its early years, CivicStone designed and implemented a variety of affordable housing strategies, programs and projects for public agencies and non-profit entities. Our goals are to explore creative solutions, collaborations, and leverage funds to maximize the benefit to communities with limited funding sources.
CivicStone's history began in 1998 with designing and administering an Acquisition, Rehabilitation, and Resale program for foreclosure properties in 6 Southern California cities. This highly successful program rehabilitated nearly 1,200 foreclosed homes without public dollars and sold all of the homes to first-time homebuyers. The benefits to communities were profound as foreclosure areas were revitalized. Additionally low income, first time home-buyers were able to move from renting to homeownership. Truly a remarkable program.
Over the years, CivicStone added to its expertise by creating and running a variety of Owner-Occupied Housing Rehabilitation Programs in several Southern California cities. CivicStone also executed a successful Lease to Own Homeownership Program in ten Inland Empire cities. If you need a program designed and administered but don't have the staffing to properly do it, CivicStone offers precision, accuracy and efficiency in bringing ideas to reality.
Additionally, CivicStone wrote the City of Irvine Housing Strategy and created the Irvine Community Land Trust as well as coordinated the purchase of the first units for home ownership into the Trust. CivicStone also created the Community Land Trust for the Housing Authority of the County of San Bernardino. CivicStone offers a small team approach to provide efficient and cost effective solutions to labor intensive program administration and oversight.
CivicStone is progressive and led an effort to organize cities throughout the Inland Empire into a coalition to explore the successful implementation of NSP funding. CivicStone galvanized this NSP grantees coalition to unify their NSP funds most effectively to benefit the entire region. CivicStone wrote three NSPII applications, one of which was a consortium of non-profits that received $7.5 million from HUD. Creatively finding ways to have the greatest impact with limited funding is a hallmark of CivicStone.
Since 2005, CivicStone has run the Seal Beach Bathroom Accessible Grant utilizing CDBG and PLHA funds to help make homes more accessible to the low income seniors in the community. CivicStone designed and executes the entire renovation program for the City of Seal Beach. CivicStone is also designing and will administer the Safe Homes for OC Seniors program for the County of Orange. This program is in the developmental stage and is anticipated to begin in early 2023.