People and Community

JPMorgan Chase Expands Commitment to Affordable Housing in Miami

University of Miami’s Office of Civic and Community Engagement harnesses technology to seek affordable housing solutions through JPMorgan Chase-backed mapping tool, leadership training program.
cce map

Jorge de la Paz from the Office of Civic and Community Engagement provides a demonstration of MAP at eMerge.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. has expanded its commitment to the development of affordable housing in South Florida, supporting the University of Miami’s Office of Civic and Community Engagement (CCE) as it develops data-driven tools and leadership training to understand and address the region’s housing crisis.

“In order for our neighborhoods to drive economic growth, it is critical that we work to restore and preserve affordable housing options for local residents,” said Maria Escorcia, South Florida Philanthropy Manager for JPMorgan Chase. “We are proud to support University of Miami’s efforts to address affordable housing preservation to sustain homeownership in South Florida’s communities.”

MAP | Miami Affordability Project is a free and publicly accessible online mapping tool for developing data-driven strategies for affordable housing and community development in South Florida. The interactive tool combines four datasets – Developments, Neighborhoods, Parcels, and Historic – in a virtual display that shows the supply and demand for housing and its geography throughout Miami-Dade County.

“MAP was created in collaboration and consultation with numerous local affordable housing advocates to increase community capacity to engage with development and create effective strategies for increasing the availability of affordable housing.  Our goal is to provide an accessible and innovative platform for neighborhood organizations to promote equitable community development in Miami,” said Robin Bachin, assistant provost for Civic and Community Engagement and the Charlton W. Tebeau Associate Professor of History at the University of Miami.

JPMorgan Chase provided a grant to support the development of MAP in 2015.

Community groups throughout South Florida have used MAP to more effectively address local housing needs, and the county’s public housing office is relying on this crucial tool to develop its long-term strategic plan for spending federal housing resources. In the first quarter of 2017 alone, MAP drew close to 2,000 visitors.

Based on MAP’s success, JPMorgan Chase recently provided funding to expand both the breadth and depth of the project. “MAP 2.0” will grow to the north, adding geocoded housing and census data for Broward and Palm Beach counties to the MAP tool. In Miami-Dade, MAP will include parcel-level data to allow users to learn even more about key Miami neighborhoods (Overtown, Liberty City, Little Haiti and South Dade). Additional features include historic preservation information, as well as overlays such as Community Commission Districts and Community Redevelopment Areas.

“MAP 2.0 will provide stakeholders with a better understanding of regional housing needs and help users identify affordable housing development opportunities across Miami’s neighborhoods,” said CCE Program Manager Jorge Damian de la Paz.  

JPMorgan Chase’s expansion grant also funds the development of an online Housing Policy Toolkit, which will provide a comprehensive overview of best practices in affordable housing development at the national level, with an emphasis on how these strategies can be implemented in South Florida. The Toolkit will provide a framework for policy makers, housing advocates, and developers to better understand the options available for promoting affordable housing so that they can work together to implement effective solutions for addressing local need.

Finally, JPMorgan Chase is funding the 2017 cohort of Community Scholars in Affordable Housing, a program that provides emerging leaders in the community development/affordable housing arena in Miami-Dade County with the skills and knowledge they need to change South Florida’s housing landscape. Each year, a group of 12 young professionals representing the non-profit, for-profit and public sectors meets bi-weekly over a six-month period to investigate topics including funding, design, special-needs populations, homeownership, advocacy, markets and engaging stakeholders. During each session, national and local experts share their insight and knowledge. The program uses a “Community of Practice” model, allowing participants to learn from their peers, as they seek to identify and address real-world challenges. At the end of the program, each scholar prepares and presents a capstone project applying what they learned to their current organization/position.

JPMorgan Chase’s Escorcia was a member of the 2016 cohort. Her capstone project addressed how corporate philanthropy can better support affordable development in Miami.