The Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation announced it has raised more than $1 million for the launch of Forest Futures, a multi-year campaign to stimulate the region’s economy, ensure a safer and more secure future for the Tahoe area, and create an actionable path forward to healthy forests everywhere.

Finding housing in the Truckee-Tahoe area has been a longstanding issue, but a number of local organizations are working to ease the burden of finding an affordable place to live in the region. Tuesday’s Good Morning Truckee session featured four speakers from various organizations. They discussed what they’re doing to help find and create affordable housing for the area’s workforce.

The Lake Tahoe region has reached a housing and real estate crisis, as more and more workers are having to leave the tourist spot, unable to afford to live there. For more, KCBS Radio news anchors Dan Mitchinson and Holly Quan spoke with Stacy Caldwell, who is CEO of the Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation.

The Lake Tahoe region is in crisis. Historic real estate prices and a lack of housing options are forcing local sheriff’s deputies and firefighters to commute an hour or more into the basin, threatening response times to emergencies.Restaurants and resorts that drive the region’s economy have had to scale back services. The hospitality industry, which lost droves of workers during the pandemic, is struggling to find workers who can afford to live there. Most businesses along Tahoe City’s main thoroughfare, North Lake Boulevard, have “Help Wanted” signs hanging in windows, some promising season ski passes to prospective employees.

What does it take to keep our forests healthy? After a century of fire suppression, Tahoe forests are immensely overgrown. The 800,000 piles of biomass (dead trees and dry brush) on the forest floor surrounding our community are a growing problem, but restoration projects are costly and the Forest Service only has so much bandwidth to execute. Last year was the worst fire season on record and, unfortunately, we are in worse shape this year with our fire season beginning 60 days earlier due to drought conditions. However, with increased awareness, new commitments and greater funding from the federal and state level to protect our forests, there is momentum for positive change.

There are two narratives unfolding in Tahoe’s real estate and housing arena. On one hand, the real estate market continues to boom as a new wave of people settle in Lake Tahoe. In the past year, median home prices in Truckee have risen almost 30% to scratch just below the million dollar mark, according to Redfin, and real estate sales continue to be competitive.

Take a look at any issue facing Lake Tahoe communities from lack of affordable housing to parking nightmares, from crowded trailheads to an increase in litter, and you will find angry locals responding to the problem by lambasting out-of-towners suggesting they pack it up and go back to where they came from.

Long before the pandemic hit, it was clear philanthropy needed an overhaul. But the health and economic crisis, combined with a national racial reckoning, forced grant makers’ hands. Foundations largely rose to the challenge by speeding up their grant making, increasing flexibility, and reducing funding restrictions.But now it appears those changes may be short lived. In the most recent of its Foundations Respond to Crisis reports, the Center for Effective Philanthropy found that “most foundations do not plan to undertake these new practices in the future to the degree they are doing so now.”

With a willingness to make a difference, Placer County prioritized helping its small businesses  and nonprofits make it through the pandemic. Through sharing emergency federal funding and partnering with nonprofit and private sectors, Placer was able to respond quickly to emerging needs.

The work this past year by the Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation took center stage during this week’s Good Morning Truckee session. Since the outbreak of COVID-19 the foundation has overseen the distribution of roughly $5.6 million in funding during a record-breaking year, while also handing out more than 500,000 meals to those in need within the community.

“We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give.” — Winston Churchill

That advice from Sir Winston really hits the mark. We work hard to be successful. Our careers become our focus, but one thing I have learned is that in the end what really matters is relationships and family. What you do for others. And health.

Today marks the start of the second of a three-week shelter-in-place order issued by California Gov. Gavin Newsom. North Lake Tahoe businesses — particularly restaurants, retail shops and gyms — must endure the financial fallout of COVID-19’s second surge. Kristin York, vice president of business innovation at the Sierra Small Business Development Center for the Sierra Business Council, said her organization helps federal, state and local governments administer small business loans and grants.

From raising funds to adopting more than a dozen puppies, organizations and individuals were in the giving spirit on Tuesday, taking part in the global event geared toward generosity.

Stacy Caldwell, CEO of the Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation, only needs to look out her back window to see the ecological challenge she hopes her institution can help solve.

The nonprofit Tahoe Regional Arts Foundation has submitted an application to develop a 22-acre parcel of land near the entrance to Northstar California Resort as The Stages at Northstar, a world-class visual and performing arts center for the community. The Tahoe Regional Arts Foundation has already reached a sublease agreement with Vail Resorts for development and use of the property for up to 80 years. The North Tahoe-Truckee region is home to more than 15 educational institutions and 30 arts-based organizations that historically have not had access to a venue where the community and visitors can see the arts flourish.

The Placer County Board of Supervisors recently approved $8 million in CARES Act relief funds to support local small businesses and nonprofits during the COVID-19 pandemic. The board of supervisors approached three local organizations — Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation, Placer Community Foundation, and Sierra Business Council — to establish criteria to distribute funds into the communities throughout the region.

It wasn’t long into 2020 that life changed irreversibly. While some coped with working from home, being out of work altogether, or finding themselves having to homeschool their kids, another group was also forced to weather this uncertain time in new way: the high school senior class of 2020. But in Tahoe Truckee Unified School District it was, unexpectedly, a piece of software that shed light at the end of the tunnel for seniors this year.

The donation made by Katz and Elana Amsterdam increase TTCF's Emergency Response Fund from $125,000 to $225,000.