Our History

Jamboree nonprofit grows into a community development leader

jamboree-mendocino-at-talega-affordable-community-street-entrance-sign

Jamboree began with a single dream in one city: Build quality housing people can afford. Today, that dream is an expanding vision across the state of California with a corporate strategy that generates jobs, promotes healthy living, and creates supportive housing. Jamboree builds stronger communities.

From our first $1 million federal grant to a portfolio with a value of more than $3.2 billion portfolio, Jamboree is changing perceptions of affordable housing – a vision that began more than 30 years ago. A need that is greater than ever in today’s housing crisis.

Take a creative, illustrated look at the Jamboree story and our expanding efforts from our beginning in 1990 to today.

2021

Partners entrust Jamboree with $26.8 million in local funding, and state and federal partners follow suit, empowering us to leverage $383 million to fund 1,110+ new homes at 15 new communities in eight counties across California.

Jamboree continues to create homes from motel conversions, with 479 studio apartments in the pipeline, including the newly opened Buena Esperanza. Jamboree breaks ground on its first new construction in San Diego County. Construction begins on our 10th housing development in Sacramento County. Jamboree’s Quality Development and Construction moves forward with nearly a dozen new construction, motel conversion, and acquisition/rehab projects.

Jamboree reaches a milestone with 120 employees across California. The NorCal property portfolio grows to 588 units at six different communities in the pre-development pipeline and/or under construction. Our resident services team works to safely reconnect and interact virtually with kids and students with staggered, expanded schedules onsite to ensure their safety during the ongoing pandemic. With a focus on food insecurity, Jamboree delivers 632,000 pounds of food to 2,200+ households.

2020

Orders to shelter at home in the global COVID-19 pandemic highlight the already critical need for housing. With our 35 onsite service coordinators and countless community partners and volunteers, Jamboree pivots to move resident services programs online and provides both learning materials and increased food support. Our public-private partnership with the City of Anaheim leads to the first-of-its-kind entitlement process that’s adopted into a citywide Motel Conversion Ordinance. Heroes Landing opens, Orange County’s largest affordable community exclusively for veterans.

Jamboree marks 30 years of Building for Good and finishes the year by closing on $55.3 million in state funding for new developments, along with increased donations from an expanding donor base.

2019

Jamboree begins the year breaking ground on Orange County’s largest development for homeless veterans, Santa Ana Veterans Village (renamed Heroes Landing), with a Community Collaborative of leading veterans' organizations. Jamboree concludes 2019 with financing secured for a seventh community in Fontana and two new Anaheim communities. The Fontana family development will include an onsite health clinic operated by Cucamonga Valley Medical Group, Jamboree’s newest community health partner in the Inland Empire.

In Anaheim, community health partner Providence assists with financing the purchase of Buena Esperanza, another Jamboree motel conversion to Permanent Supportive Housing. And, Jamboree’s ninth Anaheim development – located at Manchester and Orangewood Avenues – will feature our largest common area to date. It will be home to a Head Start early childhood education center, a Child Guidance Center for mental health services, and a federally qualified health clinic sponsored by Providence. Laura Archuleta, president and CEO, marks her 20th anniversary at Jamboree.

2018

Jamboree releases a study on “The Impact of Affordable Housing” to verify the real economic, educational and social benefits for Jamboree residents and the neighborhoods surrounding our communities. Jamboree joins Orange County United Way and UC Irvine to produce the first report on “The Cost of Homelessness in Orange County.” Quality Development and Construction breaks ground on Jamboree’s first community in Fullerton, Compass Rose. Rehabilitation is completed on more than 550 apartment units in Jamboree’s property portfolio. Philanthropic organizations such as The Home Depot Foundation provide more than $1 million in donations and grants. Jamboree teams up with a new joint venture partner, the Pacific Companies, to develop some 1,000 units of senior and family housing.

2017

Jamboree is awarded 75 Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH) project-based vouchers to help finance the development of Heroes Landing (formerly called Santa Ana Veterans Village), the largest veterans housing community in Orange County. Jamboree opens Wesley Village, an innovative, multi-use campus that features multigenerational housing for both families and seniors as well as services for residents and the local community. In partnership with Garden Grove United Methodist Church, Jamboree develops this affordable campus on unused church land.

2016

Co-developed with Innovative Housing Opportunities, Jamboree’s Quality Development and Construction completes its first new construction property with Rockwood Apartments, an award-winning multifamily development for formerly homeless children and their families, plus permanent supportive housing for Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) clients living with mental illness. Jamboree expands its volunteer and intern program, amassing more than 5,500 hours of donated hours.

2015

Jamboree celebrates its 25th anniversary with a banner year in growth of staff and expansion of our mission. The celebration highlights our legacy, growing community impact, and raises funds supporting resident services.

2014

Jamboree provides nearly 10,000 hours of tutoring and enrichment programs for youth and more than 1,000 students participated in our academic achievement program. More than 63,000 pounds of healthy food is delivered to seniors. The 100+ residents who live with a mental illness in our permanent supportive housing receive an average of 20 hours of clinical services each week, helping them to thrive.

2013

Nearly 1,000 of our residents gather for our sixth annual Jam!boree Day – a day of health and fitness in a local park – to celebrate the thousands of hours of physical activity logged through our Jam! Fit Clubs during the year.

2012

Jamboree establishes Quality Development and Construction, a California licensed general contractor, to serve as a technical consultant, design expert, construction manager and general contractor for affordable housing communities developed by Jamboree. Jamboree opens Courier Place, our first multigenerational and LEED for Homes Platinum property. Just steps from the state capitol, Jamboree transforms historic Hotel Berry into The Studios at Hotel Berry.

2011

Setting a new environmental standard for housing development, Jamboree is honored with OC Metro’s Green Team 2011 recognition as the only housing developer making the world a greener place, and receives the ENERGY STAR award Leadership in Housing for the fourth year in a row.

2000-2010

Laura Archuleta is named President of Jamboree, and Jamboree launches “Housing With HEART” (Helping to Educate, Activate and Respond Together), an innovative services initiative tailored to residents’ needs. Jamboree’s first new construction property is located in a 3,500-acre master-planned community. Jamboree achievements gain award recognition with the Fair Housing Leadership Award from Fair Housing Council of Orange County, Developer of the Year (SCANPH) and Communities of Quality Award.

Jamboree moves into new corporate headquarters in Irvine, CA, and in 2005 celebrate our 15th Anniversary with an event that raises $250,000 for resident service programs. Jamboree sets a new standard for energy efficiency with the green building of a transit-oriented Lancaster community.

A major step forward is the new construction of our first special needs community, co-developed with HOMES, Inc., who then merged with Jamboree, expanding our Resident Services programs to include those living with a mental health diagnosis. Our 20th Anniversary celebration highlights the long-range ripple effect of Jamboree's affordable housing in local communities.

1990-1999

Founded in 1990 to expand housing opportunities for low-income families and seniors in Irvine, Jamboree Housing Corporation started with a $1 million federal grant awarded to develop a first-time homebuyers’ program in the City of Irvine, followed by the acquisition of four Metropolitan condos in Irvine for rental housing through the Irvine Inclusionary Zoning Program.

Receiving IRS and Franchise Tax Board nonprofit status, Jamboree is also certified as a State and County Community Housing Development Organization (CHDO). Our vision comes to life with the development of three affordable housing properties in southern California for seniors, and expands into northern California with the rehab of three properties. 

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