Housing Trust Fund Ventura County (Housing Trust Fund VC) has elected Cesar Hernandez to its 19-member Board of Directors. In this capacity, Hernandez will help guide Housing Trust Fund VC as the local trusted leader helping to increase affordable housing options throughout Ventura County by leveraging public-private partnerships to provide low-cost, flexible loans early in the housing development cycle.
“I believe that housing is not only essential for the economic sustainability of our community, but also an opportunity to allow families to thrive and be successful,” stated Cesar Hernandez, board member of Housing Trust Fund VC. “
Hernandez joins the Board with a stellar social justice background. He is currently the Senior Field Organizer for Economic Justice at the Washington DC based Community Change, dedicated to building the power and capacity of low-income people, especially low-income people of color, to change the policies and institutions that impact their lives. Hernandez is also actively involved within the local community serving on the McCune Foundation’s Social Change Institute’s Advisory Committee and is a co-founder of City Corps of Oxnard, a youth leadership and service- learning program that provides job training and life skills for low income and young people of color. He has also led youth development and health education efforts at El Concilio del Condado de Ventura, was the Director of the Central Coast Environmental Health Project (CCEHP) for California Rural Legal Assistance (CRLA) and a founding member of the Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy (CA– USE).
Hernandez led the company’s philanthropic giving and supply chain responsibility efforts in both the U.S. and Mexico. His work earned him the position of Fellow with the California Agricultural Leadership Foundation.
Originally from Guadalajara, Mexico, Cesar Hernandez immigrated with his family to the United States in the late 1970’s and was raised in Oxnard. “As a kid growing up in Colonia Village, a public housing project built and managed by the City of Oxnard, my community was always a source of inspiration,” commented Hernandez. “My success is directly linked to the stability that affordable housing provided to my parents. I remember feeling lucky to have my own bedroom, where I could study and dream about what I could become and where I wanted to go in the world. It is my hope that we can all work together to help more families thrive and it starts with a safe place to call home.”
Launched as a 501c3 nonprofit corporation in 2012, Ventura County Housing Trust Fund became Housing Trust Fund Ventura County (Housing Trust Fund VC) in July 2019. Housing Trust Fund VC is the local trusted leader in helping to increase affordable housing options throughout Ventura County by leveraging public-private partnerships to provide low-cost, flexible loans early in the housing development cycle. As of January 2020, Housing Trust Fund VC has invested $9 million through its revolving loan fund, creating 365 affordable apartments and homes for very-low, low- and middle-income employees, transitional age foster youth, veterans, farm workers, and the homeless.
