Qualifications

Joni Foster has worked in the community development industry for 30 years, in urban and rural areas of the U.S., Central America and West Africa. Currently, Foster is a business coach at a local incubator for everyday businesses, developing curriculum to engage entrepreneurs to learn from each other. In addition, Foster contracts with a few private clients, typically nonprofit community economic development organizations, to design new initiatives and funding. Past clients have included Greater Houston LISC, NeighborWorks, Accion Texas/Louisianna, and HousingWorks Austin.

Foster was the director of housing and community at Rural Community Assistance Corporation from 2012-2015, managing a staff of 22 professionals located in virtual offices in a 13 state service area. Foster led the reorganization and expansion of the department to include: 1) a rural economic development initiative (Building Rural Economies) and the training curriculum modeled after the Ford Foundation's multi-year initiative, WealthWorks, 2) an affordable housing development consulting team to joint develop over 400 affordable units, and 3) launched the Tribal Housing Excellence Academy, an initiative to train and coach organizations serving tribal communities in five states. Foster continues as a consultant to RCAC on these and other topics.

For 11 years, Foster was the executive director of the Jacksonville office of Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC). Opening the office in 1999, Foster helped grow a city-wide movement for neighborhood changes, raising and investing over $26 million into capacity building of nonprofits and real estate transactions of local community developers and seeding over $100 million of real estate investment in neighborhoods. She led a staff of five and worked with community members, governmental agencies and other nonprofit organizations on strategic planning, public policy, new program design and implementation and fundraising.

Prior to Jacksonville, Foster worked for LISC’s Rural program working mainly in the Southwestern border states, providing technical assistance to rural community development corporations on management, project development and financing for a variety of housing, economic development and organizing initiatives.

Prior to joining LISC, Foster worked for five years with the Rural California Housing Corporation on homeownership, rental housing development, housing rehabilitation, and water and wastewater developments. She was also the in-country project manager for El Porvenir, a U.S. nonprofit working in Nicaragua to finance rural community wells, spring developments and roads. Twenty years later, Foster is currently a board memeber and past Board Chair for El Porvenir. In 1981, she was a Peace Corps volunteer in Sierra Leone, West Africa.

Ms. Foster is an accomplished facilitator and strategic planner with over 20 years experience using an outcome based planning methodology. Foster has facilitated strategic planning and budget development for profit and nonprofit organizations during formation, periods of major change, and to design new endeavors. Foster has been a lead organizer for collaborative efforts on public policy issues including the start up of the Florida Alliance of CDCs and the Sacramento Housing Alliance.

Foster holds a Master’s degree in Social Work with an emphasis on Community Organizing, Planning and Administration from California State University in Sacramento. Her B.S. in Human Ecology came from The Ohio State University. Foster has been specifically trained in Adult Learning practices. Foster also speaks Spanish.