Attention Nonprofit employers, we are launching our first annual Brick by Brick Fellowship! Through Friday, June 6, 2025, SV@Home is accepting nominations of early-career professionals working in your organizations who are ready to become future affordable housing leaders in Santa Clara County.

The Brick by Brick Fellowship program is designed for early-career professionals who come from low-income backgrounds and/or communities of color and are just starting their journeys in the broader fields of affordable housing and housing justice in Santa Clara County and the greater San Francisco Bay Area. The fellowship aims to bring together people to learn, research, and innovate tools for equity-centered systems change in the affordable housing field. Participants will also be equipped with professional development skills to advance their careers — transforming the makeup of leadership in the affordable housing ecosystem into one that is reflective of the diversity of our region. 

Participants will be made up of employees with zero to two years of experience in a professional office setting, primarily from community-based organizations that are looking to begin or expand their work in affordable housing within Santa Clara County. Organizations generally in the housing field (e.g. affordable housing developers, municipalities, and foundations) are also welcome to apply since the Brick by Brick Fellowship will provide unique learning opportunities that SV@Home is well known for, such as affordable housing policy analysis, advocacy, and coalition-building. 

Starting in September 2025, SV@Home will welcome the first Brick by Brick Fellowship cohort of five to eight fellows, who will commit to eight monthly all-day sessions every second Friday of the month, with an additional event in May, and a graduation ceremony in June 2025. SV@Home’s Fellowship program is the right fit to:

• Gain technical, critical thinking, and communication skills necessary for professional development and advancement in the affordable housing field.
• Learn practical concepts of housing justice and affordable housing history, policy, analysis, and advocacy.
• Connect with SV@Home’s vast network of community partners in the affordable housing ecosystem.
• Embark on a project within your organization that contributes to systems-changing solutions in the affordable housing field.
• Design, plan, and execute event organizing and presenting the findings of your affordable housing-related project to the public.
• Learn healing and resiliency practices to ensure longevity in your professional housing career.