Consultants
Helen Dunlap, MetroEdge Senior Consultant (hdunlap-at-hdunlapconsulting-dot-com)
Helen Dunlap is a Housing and Community Economic Consultant specializing in strategic, systems and organizational change work for a myriad of international and domestic entities including national intermediaries, national and regional housing developers, CDFIs and Foundations. Active client engagements include Bridge Housing, HelpUSA, California Community Foundation, LISC MetroEdge. Helen specializes in those assignments where a combination of both technical knowledge of the field of affordable housing and experience with organizational systems and management are critical.
In addition, she has done recent consulting for Fannie Mae, the Ford and MacArthur foundations, both LISC NMTC and Enterprise, Living Cities and several dozen other national and regional US-based housing/community development organizations. Helen serves on the National Housing Trust and the National Equity Fund Boards.
Other career assignments have included President of ShoreBank Advisory Services and the CEO for ShoreBank Development Company from 1998 through summer 2005. Ms. Dunlap has over 35 years of experience in the direct delivery, consulting and management of real estate initiatives focused particularly on affordable housing and community revitalization including 4 years as Deputy Assistant Secretary for the United States Federal Housing Administration (FHA), managing a $45 billion rental housing portfolio with 3,300 employees; President of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, the only national coalition representing low income housing interests exclusively; the founding CEO of California Housing Partnership which is in its 20th year of operations proceed by a decade of direct development and lending experience including being Financial Advisor on over $1 billion in tax exempt bonds and securitized financings and managing disposition of a $40 billion FHA portfolio.
Larisa Ortiz, MetroEdge Consultant (lortiz-at-larisaortizassociates-dot-com)
Larisa Ortiz Associates is a boutique consulting firm specializing in market analysis, strategic positioning, and retail and development strategies for downtown and neighborhood commercial corridors. Larisa Ortiz is an urban planner with over 15 years of national and international experience in the field of commercial revitalization and real estate development. She is co-author of “Real Estate, Redevelopment & Reuse”, a training manual published by the International Economic Development Council (IEDC). Larisa is former Director of both the Commercial Markets Advisory Service and MetroEdge, in-house technical assistance and market analysis programs for the nation’s largest community development intermediary, the Local Initiative Support Corporation (LISC).
Desiree Sideroff, MetroEdge Consultant (desiree-at-desireesideroff-dot-com)
Over the last ten years, Desiree Sideroff has held leadership roles in the private and non-profit sectors focusing on local economic development, urban design, strategic planning, and environmental sustainability.
Desiree consults independently for multiple government and non-profit clients in California and in Seattle. Her work in Seattle has included working with the City’s office of Economic Development and Impact Capital to develop their commercial district revitalization program, including their strategy for measuring economic outcomes. She is also working with individual neighborhoods, such as San Francisco’s Chinatown, Bayview, Taraval, and Seattle’s International District and White Center to develop their commercial revitalization strategies and implementation programs which include market analysis, business attraction, marketing, physical appearance, and safety. She has authored guides on economic development and attracting grocery stores to low-income neighborhoods and is completing a comprehensive study to evaluate the success of San Francisco’s neighborhood economic development program.
From 2004-2008 as program officer at Bay Area LISC, she managed the revitalization of 12 neighborhoods in San Francisco, Oakland, and Richmond through a program that leveraged close partnerships with the private businesses, community based organizations, local government, and the funding community. To achieve successful and sustained economic outcomes, she created innovative programs to train community-based staff, support local businesses, and attract neighborhood-serving retail, grocery stores, and healthy food establishments to underserved communities. Bay Area LISC’s program has been recognized nationally and is being used as a model for the creation of similar initiatives in other cities.