Empowering homebuyers and homeowners since 2001.
We are passionate about empowering everyday people to build wealth through homeownership and education.
Rodney Fernandez and Bertha Garcia co-founded Ventura County Community Development Corporation (VCCDC) in 2001 to fulfill their vision of strengthening and sustaining prosperous communities through homebuyer education, pre-purchase counseling, financial coaching, mortgage loans, and post-homeownership counseling services.
Since then Bertha, the Board of Directors, management, staff and volunteers, have all worked together tirelessly to continue that mission of empowering families in reaching overall financial well-being through homeownership.
VCCDC grew quickly as it responded to the demand for culturally competent services through the 2008 housing crisis when thousands of families were at risk of losing their homes. As the market recovered, the dream of homeownership again became a a possibility for working families who could not afford a pre-crisis home. However, wages not keeping pace with the rising housing costs, limited inventory of affordable homes as well as investor competition makes purchasing a home ever more challenging for low-and-moderate income families.
Against this backdrop, VCCDC's board and staff worked together to offer homebuyer education and lending products for low- and moderate-income homebuyers to make communities healthier, with more financially resilient homeowners.
Since its inception, VCCDC has originated an impressive number of mortgage loans, helped families enhance their credit scores and their standards of living, and contributed to improved economic conditions throughout the communities it serves. We have made measurable impacts on neighborhood revitalization by rehabilitating distressed housing and making that refurbished inventory available to families in need.
VCCDC is a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) certified by the U.S. Department of Treasury. As an adopter of the National Industry Standards, VCCDC serves the community with high levels of homeownership services. VCCDC is made up of certified and licensed professionals with a deep, personal desire to make the world a better place to live.
From our education services, including workshops and counseling, to our mortgage lending services, including down payment assistance and consulting for first-time buyers, we ensure that our clients are supported from start to finish of the home-buying process.
Our Vision and Mission
VCCDC’S MISSION
To strengthen and sustain vibrant communities by empowering individuals and families to build wealth through education and homeownership with a primary focus on serving low- to moderate-income clients.
VCCDC’S VISION
To be regarded as the leader and trusted source in providing home ownership services for our community, where individuals and families are empowered to reach their highest potential, while placing our client’s best interest at the core of everything we do.
At VCCDC, we believe that a home is more than a place to live. It is the cornerstone of any individual and family’s economic, environmental and social well being. We operate under specific guiding principles, including:
Client Focus - we are focused on delivering the outcomes our clients care about in a consistent and equitable manner.
Accountability - we hold ourselves accountable to each other and to the families and communities we serve.
Sustainability - we are committed to building relationships that provide long-term sustainability to VCCDC and our clients.
VCCDC strives to help individuals and families achieve their goal of self-sufficiency. We are a safe haven for those seeking information and resources about their options regarding home ownership and financial stability. As a neutral, trusted source, we are here to offer guidance to people seeking to make one of the largest and most important purchases of their lives, and show them a new way home.
VCCDC’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Statement
VCCDC is committed to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in all aspects of our work. We strive to create an environment where everyone is respected, valued, and appreciated regardless of their race, gender, age, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, abilities, disabilities, or any other factor. We are dedicated to creating a safe and welcoming space where everyone can be their authentic selves and thrive.
Our Leadership Team
Bertha Garcia
Executive Director, DRE #01388381 / NMLS #345281
Bertha has led VCCDC since it was founded in 2001 in cooperation with affordable housing advocate, the late Rodney Fernandez. She began her affordable housing career at Cabrillo Economic Development Corporation, also founded by Mr. Fernandez, in 1988, helping to build organizational capacity in several areas as part of the Senior Management team. In 2008, she was appointed as VCCDC’s Executive Director where she went on to become the chief architect of its mortgage lending operation and successfully developed VCCDC to the strong organization it is today. Since then, not only has Bertha run the complex day to day operations, she has also developed multiple programs, ensured achievement of corporate goals, represented the organization to the broader community, and most importantly dedicated her career to helping carry out Mr. Fernandez’s vision of providing families with decent and affordable housing. Bertha’s relentless drive to empower struggling families to better themselves economically was, and continues to be, her passion.
Alex Vega
Director of Lending Services, NMLS #407762
Alex has led VCCDC’s Mortgage Lending Division since 2007. Under Alex’s leadership, VCCDC has awarded more than $9M in down payment assistance and more than $162M in first and second mortgage financing to low-to moderate income homebuyers in Ventura, Santa Barbara and Los Angeles Counties. He is a leading expert in multiple layered financing and resale restricted affordable housing financing. He is a licensed real estate broker and endorsed by the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Business Administration and has over 20 years of financing experience. Alex is most passionate about addressing the growing homeownership affordability gap facing very low, low, and moderate income families by providing them with access to amortized and deferred subordinate loans made possible through affordable housing advocacy and capital raised from financial institutions, intermediaries, foundations, municipalities, and state and federal government.
Keily Victoria
Director of Program Development & Administration
Keily joined VCCDC in 2009 and has held various positions throughout her time with the organization. In her current role she oversees various aspects of VCCDC’s operations including program development, executing and monitoring of grant requirements, streamlining internal processes, developing policies and procedures, strategic planning, improving organization infrastructure, data management, marketing and special event management. She helped lead the creation of and currently oversees the planning of VCCDC’s signature Virtual Homeownership Conference which has provided thousands of hopeful homebuyer and homeowners across Central and Southern California the best guidance and practical tools to help them achieve their dream of owning or staying in their own home. Under her leadership, VCCDC has successfully obtained and managed nearly $1.5 million in funding for its housing counseling program, which includes pre and post purchase education and counseling, reverse mortgage counseling and foreclosure intervention counseling. Her expertise in the housing counseling field includes operations, program development and execution, staff development, quality control, data analysis and management of program budgets and grants. She has worked closely with leading industry entities and funding sources including U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), CalHFA, NeighborWorks, National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling (NFMC), Keep Your Home California Program (KYHC), Housing is Key Rental Relief Program, various banking institutions and private funders.
Keily holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Management from California Lutheran University. She is passionate about making a difference in her community through her work at VCCDC. She loves to hear the success stories of clients who once thought they would never be able to purchase a home and now are proud homeowners building generational wealth for their families.
Sylvia Schnopp
Director of Fund development
Sylvia joins VCCDC after spending 12 years as Port Hueneme’s Mayor and City Councilmember. As a policy leader her decisions helped transform lives through community initiatives and collaboration for enhanced infrastructure, revenue growth, community investment, and public safety. As a professor of business and accounting, she developed a comprehensive financial literacy model to provide meaningful impact for a student’s college years and beyond. Her success as a corporate strategist and nonprofit leader resulted in legacies established through AT&T Wireless Services’ Hispanic marketing, creation of United Way’s “Day of Caring” national event, and initiation of the Thomas Fire Trail Fund.
She earned a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) from California Lutheran University and holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. An author of a historical fiction based on her family’s true story during Mexico’s Cristero Revolution, Sylvia is an Oxnard native and her family roots in Ventura County trace back to the early 1900s. She looks forward to contributing to VCCDC’s legacy by broadening collaboration and regional initiatives that result in clients establishing homeownership and financial stability.
Board of Directors
Joseph Gutierrez
President, VCCDC Board of Directors
Managing Director of Community Lending & Industry Relations, Union Bank
Shane Saunders
Past President, VCCDC Board of Directors
President and CEO, Mocse Credit Union
Anthony Restivo
Vice President, VCCDC Board of Directors
President and CEO, Coloramo Federal Credit Union
Gregory Glover
Treasurer, VCCDC Board of Directors
1st VP & Branch Manager, California Bank & Trust
Jasmine Padilla
Secretary, VCCDC Board of Directors
Community Representative
Lisa Brooks
Member, VCCDC Board of Directors
VP of Community Development Finance, California Bank & Trust
Gabriela Mello
Member, VCCDC Board of Directors
VP, Community Development Officer, Citizens Business Bank
Alex Gallardo
Member, VCCDC Board of Directors
Community Representative
Mayra Oseguera
Member, VCCDC Board of Directors
Community Representative
Fernando Ortiz
Member, VCCDC Board of Directors
Community Representative
VCCDC Case Statement
2021
Welcome
For more than 20 years, we have made owning a home a reality for 1,900 families and individuals in California’s Central Coast, one of the toughest and most expensive locations in the country. Even so, the vast majority of those we assist are categorized as low-to moderate-income, earning 80% or less of average median income. Nonetheless, by minimizing racial divide through homeownership, we assist our clients in starting to build financial security, capacity, and generational wealth.
2021 was a record year for us, and we celebrate these accomplishments knowing there are many more individuals and families that long for housing security in this time of great post-pandemic uncertainty. Building resiliency through collaborative teams of professionals and industry leaders, our clients develop confidence in knowing that they too can achieve the American Dream. We aim to help thousands of clients take that first, bold step towards financial empowerment to become “mortgage ready”, and celebrate alongside when they receive their new keys, settle into their new homes, and become actively engaged in their children’s educational future and in their communities.
I invite you to peruse through our Case Statement, reflecting on the role and purpose we have in making a lasting impact among families and vibrant communities we serve, leaving an indelible mark on society and future generations.
Bertha Garcia, Executive Director
Our Mission
To strengthen and sustain vibrant communities by empowering individuals and families to build wealth through education and homeownership with a primary focus on serving low-to-moderate-income clients.
Our Purpose
We believe a home is more than a place to live. Homeownership begins with financial empowerment that impacts net worth, educational achievement, health and overall quality of life for families and individuals, helping change the trajectory for generations to come. Rising housing costs, inflation, and worsening income inequality can lead to other issues, which means our work is critical in providing the safety net many need and desire.
VCCDC helps provide the framework that allows families and individuals to become homeowners as well as enable homeowner preservation. As a trusted, neutral source, we offer guidance to people seeking to make one of the largest and most important purchases of their lives, overcome obstacles, and provide lending products that makes homeownership possible.
VCCDC serves low-to moderate-income people in Ventura, Santa Barbara, and, Kern Counties, as well as portions of Los Angeles County.
As of October 2021, the median sales price for a single family home in California was $798,440, up 12% from the year before.
About ¼ of all Californians could afford to purchase a home in 2021. A minimum annual income of $144,400 was needed to make monthly payments of $3,610, including principal, interest, and taxes.
The share of properties sold at above-asking price skyrocketed this year from 36% in 2020 to 61% percent in 2021, the highest recorded in the last 30 years.
We empower people to follow their dreams of homeownership.
Our Approach
At VCCDC we are passionate about empowering families to build wealth through homeownership and offer the following key programs to make it a reality.
Education
Our free homebuyer education courses led by our HUD-certified Homeownership Specialists equip families with tools they need in order to move from renter to homeowner. Topics range from learning about credit scores and budgeting to home insurance and realty.
Financial Coaching
Our HUD-certified Homeownership Specialists support VCCDC clients through one-on-one coaching, guiding them through the homebuying readiness process by reviewing finances and creating a step-by-step plan to enable becoming mortgage-ready.
Down Payment Assistance and Lending
VCCDC Mortgage Specialists are trained in community lending to work with low-to moderate-income homebuyers to help determine affordable mortgage levels, meeting qualifications for financial assistance, and more.
“A week before we closed our purchase, we went to see the house [for our final inspection]. I went to the yard which has fruit trees and I picked a lemon and brought the lemon home. When I cut the lemon, it was so emotional because this was a lemon that is mine, I don’t have to buy it at the store. It is wonderful to have a place that you can say is yours.
Thank you VCCDC for your help and encouragement.”
Join Us
VCCDC educates and empowers individuals and families with foundational tools such as financial information, coaching, and lending services that creates hundreds of new homeowners and preserves homeownership every year. By building generational wealth through homeownership, we also underscore the importance of financial stability, civic engagement, and increased educational opportunities that are quality of life metrics that helps families thrive, as well as creates and sustains vibrant communities in our region.
During the pandemic, VCCDC experienced the largest growth in its 20-year history that produced over 150 new homeowners and poured millions into our local economies, with 2/3 of our clients acquiring mortgages in the open market. By partnering with us, you support this vast network of investment and wealth-building formulas that build and shape the American Dream for thousands. Join us again as we launch into our next decade of serving our communities with vital, culturally-competent products and services that create financially-resilient families with long-lasting results.
