Julie Bornstein Retiring From Coachella Valley Housing Coalition

From the Coachella Valley Housing Coalition:

January 30 2020

The Coachella Valley Housing Coalition (CVHC) Board of Directors has announced that Julie Bornstein will retire as Executive Director of CVHC in the Spring of 2020. For more than 30 years, Julie has worked tirelessly as a strong advocate of affordable housing including roles as a CVHC board member and its President, and most recently as Executive Director following founding director John Mealey. Citing wanting to spend more time with her grandchildren (among other things), Julie plans to remain at CVHC until a new executive is selected.

In 1992, Julie left the CVHC Board when she was elected to the California State Assembly and was chosen by her peers to serve as Chair of the Democratic Caucus. That same year she was named “Rookie of the Year” by the nonpartisan California Journal. She went on to serve as Director of the California Department of Housing and Community Development in the Gray Davis Administration. She also served as President and CEO of the Campaign for Affordable Housing, a national organization that assisted state and local housing groups to conduct public education campaigns to dispel the myths of affordable housing.

“It has been my privilege to lead the Coachella Valley Housing Coalition as the last job in my professional pursuits. CVHC is an outstanding team of highly motivated experts with a superior track record for developing high quality attractive affordable housing and resident services. Learning about the affordable housing industry from John Mealey, CVHC Founder, in 1989 led me to enjoy a challenging, fulfilling and worthwhile career. While I will miss working with these outstanding individuals and partners, I am excited about the new opportunities available to us retired folks in the Coachella Valley,” - stated Julie.

CVHC was founded in 1982 with $10,000 by a group of visionaries seeking to build housing for farm workers in the area. Since then, CVHC has grown to provide housing not only to farm workers, but also to seniors, veterans, and thousands of low and very low-income families and individuals. CVHC provides an array of much-needed community services to residents living in its properties, and its scholarship program (founded in 2002) continues to assist its residents in obtaining their associates, bachelors, and masters/professional degrees. Building on this multi-decade track record, various communities have opened discussion on the potential for more affordable housing developments including the cities of Palm Desert, Rancho Mirage, and Indian Wells.

Julie’s leadership has been instrumental in raising the profile of CVHC and she has seen how health and education outcomes as well as economic security improve when families have a stable, safe and affordable place to call home. “We know we’ve made and continue to make a meaningful difference in the lives of the thousands of people we serve in Riverside and Imperial Counties,” says Julie.

“We were fortunate that Julie Bornstein came on board as our second director. Under her leadership, CVHC has remained financially strong and our production of affordable housing is still very high. I am very grateful for Julie Bornstein’s dedication to CVHC and its mission. I wish her a very happy retirement,” added Juliana Diaz, CVHC Board President.

The CVHC Board of Directors has appointed a search committee of the Board to lead the executive search and transition process. The Board has engaged Raffa – Marcum’s Nonprofit & Social Sector Group, a national firm that leads nonprofit executive search and transitions, to steward the search process. CVHC anticipates the search will launch mid-January and is confident that a new leader will be identified to carry on the great work accomplished by Bornstein, the staff, and the organization.

This press release was produced by the Coachella Valley Housing Coalition. The views expressed here are the author’s own.