S.F. Mayor Lurie unveils first big haul of private funds to address homelessness
Mayor Daniel Lurie has raised $37.5 million from wealthy donors to address San Francisco's homelessness and behavioral health crises, making good on one of his early pledges to supplement taxpayer funds by tapping private dollars to clean up streets and get more people into treatment and housing.
Money generated by the public-private partnership, which is named the Breaking the Cycle Fund, will be used to acquire, build and open new interim shelter and treatment beds and to enhance supportive services to help people address addiction and mental health challenges, Lurie said Thursday.
While the funds are not insignificant, they aren't transformative. The city is facing a two-year $818 million deficit, which Lurie's administration is working to close through its proposed budget, which will be unveiled in about a month.
Lurie has initial commitments of $11 million from Tipping Point Community, $10 million from the Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation, $10 million from the Crankstart Foundation, $6 million from Keith and Priscilla Geeslin and $500,000 from the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation. He called those donations 'a great start' but said that they were 'not the end.'
The $11 million commitment from Tipping Point was already announced. Those funds will pay for a pilot program aimed at preventing homelessness among families, which skyrocketed over the past few years amid a surge in migrants.
'In order for San Francisco to recover, we must tackle the homelessness and behavioral health crisis we face alongside the historic budget deficit we inherited,' Lurie said at a press conference Thursday morning. 'We must learn to do more with less, and that's going to require an unprecedented all-hands-on-deck approach — an effort designed to reach across sectors and silos and one that brings to bear all the talents, innovation and expertise of this incredible city.'
Katie Schwab Paige, board chair and president of the Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation, said the foundation was 'proud to support this vital effort.'
'As longtime supporters of the fight against homelessness in San Francisco, we believe the Breaking the Cycle Fund presents a unique opportunity to address our city's homelessness and behavioral health crises,' she said in a statement.
The San Francisco Foundation will oversee the fund, which will be spent in coordination with the mayor's office. Under state and city laws, officials will be required to report all donations through the fund to the California Fair Political Practices Commission.
Legislation crafted by Lurie and approved by the Board of Supervisors earlier this year allowed the creation of the fund, making it easier to cut red tape and fundraise for initiatives related to homelessness, addiction treatment and mental health services.
Mark Mazza, who helps lead the city's new neighborhood-based street teams, said expanding beds and improving the behavioral health system were critically needed. Most days, he said his teams run out of beds to offer people on the streets by lunchtime.
'The announcement today is exciting,' he said, 'and a step in the right direction.'
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USA Today
6 hours ago
- USA Today
Fewer 401(k) millionaires minted in first quarter thanks to market mayhem, Fidelity says
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Fidelity reported that 512,000 savers were 401(k)-created millionaires in the first quarter, down about 4.6% from 537,000 in the fourth quarter of 2024. These savers had at least $1 million in their retirement account. The third quarter of last year was when Fidelity saw a record number of 401(k) millionaires created, at 544,000. Fidelity's 401(k) data is based on 25,300 defined contribution plans at various companies across the country. The plans covered 24.4 million participants as of March 31. The on-again, off-again market panic What a difference a few months of economic uncertainty makes. We had a good, set-it-and-forget-it kind of a year in 2024. At the end of last year, retirement savers saw average 401(k) balances go up 11% from the start of the year, according to Fidelity's data. Even seeing a 3% decline in the first quarter this year could be unsettling for some savers, considering that 401(k) savers only saw a slight 0.5% dip on average from the third quarter through the fourth quarter last year. You would have to go back about two years to the third quarter of 2023 to see a drop of 4% in average retirement savings from the second quarter that year. So far, it has been one incredibly weird kind of a year with some miserable declines and some miraculous rebounds. Fortunately, many investors are no longer dealing with the 15% year-to-date decline that we saw as of April 8 for the Standard & Poor's 500 index. "If one 'took a nap' on Jan. 19 and didn't wake up until May 31, they would have conjectured that the markets had been relatively calm," said Robert Bilkie, CEO of Sigma Investment Counselors in Northville. The S&P 500 index was up 0.92% year to date through June 2 when the S&P 500 closed at 5,935.94 points. The total year-to-date return — including dividends — was 1.49% through the market close June 2. The total return was 25.02% in 2023 and up 26.29% in 2025. Most diversified common stock accounts held by savers are up modestly for the year, Bilkie noted. Pain worse for those investing in auto stocks, other companies The key word here is diversified. Some investors continue to face deep losses in 2025, particularly if they invested a large chunk of their money in one stock or industry. General Motors stock, for example, was down 10.47% year to date from its close of $53.27 a share on Dec. 31, 2024, through the June 2 close of $47.69 a share. Stellantis was down 25% from its close of $13.05 a share on Dec. 31 through its close on June 2 of $9.78 a share. Ford stock is up 0.8% from year-end 2024 when the stock price closed at $9.90 a share through June 2 when the stock closed at $9.98 a share. "The worst losses were centered around companies that were impacted by the uncertainty surrounding tariffs and trade war," said Sam Huszczo, a chartered financial analyst in Lathrup Village. "Think Tesla or Nike, who are very dependent on a confident consumer and relying extensively on international markets, manufacturing, and supply chains." Tesla stock was down 15% year-to-date through June 2; Nike was down 18.6% during that same time before dividends. This year, many investors also sold stock in some companies as they took profits from the high-flying stocks of 2024, like technology stocks, Huszczo said. "What goes up fast, also comes down fast. As the market darlings of last year turned into this year's cautionary tales." We continue to witness unpredictability, and a sense that things are different from economic shifts in the past. Wild swings are hard for investors Unlike the 2008-09 meltdown, we've not seen stock prices just keep continuously falling so far this year. Instead, we've seen some ungodly volatility. We've had days where the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 2,231.07 points or 5.5% on April 4 and suddenly gained 2,963 points or 7.87% on April 9. Huszczo said many individual investors who are saving for retirement or other reasons tended not to panic sell, and often bought into the dip. Some "charged into the dip like it was Black Friday." On 'Liberation Day' on April 2, Trump put tariffs on every nation. On April 9, though, Trump paused his "Liberation Day" tariffs for 90 days until July 8 after Wall Street revolted over the widespread tariffs, which were expected to drive up prices and drive down economic growth in the United States. Now, the Trump administration wants countries to provide their best offer on trade negotiations by June 4, according to a Reuters report June 2. Michael Shamrell, Fidelity's vice president of thought leadership for workplace investing, said Fidelity recommends that maintaining a long-term plan is often the most appropriate strategy when investors face an uptick of volatility in the market, as has been the situation in 2025. "Factors like rapid policy changes, political uncertainty, and the impact of tariffs, along with the speed and magnitude of changes, contribute to a sense of heightened instability," the Fidelity report stated. Savers still want to continue to contribute at least enough in savings to 401(k) plans, Shamrell said, to receive their company's matching contributions. "It will not only put you in a good spot when markets recover but also allow you to continue to take advantage of any matching contributions your employer might offer," Shamrell said. Shamrell told me in a phone interview that it's encouraging that many people continued to stay on course in early 2025 and not make changes with their 401(k) savings — even with all the dramatic swings on Wall Street. The total 401(k) savings rate — adding both employee savings and employer contributions — increased to a record 14.3% in the first quarter, according to Fidelity data. The record-high 401(k) total savings rate, according to Fidelity, was driven by an unprecedented employee contribution rate of 9.5%, plus an employer match of 4.8% — the highest employer contribution rate recorded to date. At a 14.3% total retirement savings rate, Shamrell said, more people are moving closer to a recommended 401(k) savings rate of 15%. Fidelity recommends that employees aim to save at least 15% of their pretax income each year, including matching money from your employer, to help ensure that they have enough money in retirement to maintain their current lifestyle. Shamrell said the first quarter results likely benefited as some companies increased their 401(k) contributions into the plans based on profit-sharing arrangements. Beginning in 2025, the federal law called the Secure 2.0 Act also required companies with new 401(k) plans and 403(b) plans to automatically enroll eligible employees at a minimum contribution rate of 3%, but no more than 10%. The employee may opt out. Also under Secure 2.0, those enrolled in new 401(k) plans would automatically see their contributions out of their paychecks go up by 1% or so every year until they reached 10%. The employee could opt out or change the contribution rate. Both auto enrollment and auto escalation rules that began in 2025 apply to new plans established on or after Dec. 29, 2022. Employers are not required to offer 401(k) plans under Secure 2.0. 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More: Stock market meltdown driven by tariff chaos hits 401(k) investors hard for 3rd day More: Trump tariffs tank stocks, 401(k)s, as market digests massive shift in economic policy Overall, 401(k) savers and investors have been resilient, according to Melissa Joy, president of Pearl Planning, a wealth adviser in Dexter. Many investors who maintained their overall allocation saw their portfolios start to return to positive territory by early May, she said. "We were seeing accounts just north of positive — up 2% to 4% at the end of the first quarter. Then, liberation day made everything topsy turvy in early April with deep but in many cases temporary drawdowns," she said. She acknowledged, though, that it is becoming difficult for some investors to separate their political outlook from their investment perspective. "But, all-in-all, our clients maintained their allocations and investment strategy through the volatility we've seen so far this year," Joy said. Uncertainty, of course, remains among the most popular words used by CEOs and other business leaders in 2025. We don't know what's next for Wall Street, trade talks, or the overall economy — and that isn't making it easy to save for retirement in 2025. Contact personal finance columnist Susan Tompor: stompor@ Follow her on X @tompor.
Business Insider
7 hours ago
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$8.5m Kenya education scam: Top govt official linked to failed Canada, Finland program
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Business Insider
a day ago
- Business Insider
Meet the founder who turned down $1.5 million — and built one of Africa's fastest-growing companies two years in a row
Most startups chase big cheques to fuel their growth, but Tonye Irims, CEO of Wisolar, took a different route. He turned down a $1.5 million funding offer. Despite that, the South African solar company has continued to rise, earning recognition as one of Africa's fastest-growing companies for two consecutive years. Tonye Irims, CEO of WiSolar, declined a $1.5 million funding offer to maintain his company's values. WiSolar provides digital solar solutions using a pay-as-you-go model in South Africa and Nigeria. The company secured $9 million revolving credit to expand its climate initiative in Nigeria. From failure to opportunity WiSolar wasn't Tonye Irims ' first venture, or his first failure. Before launching the company in 2016, he had tried his hand at two startups: WiMobile in 2006 and FriendsChip, a social payments platform he launched in Texas in 2011. Both eventually failed, but failure didn't stop him. South Africa, where Irims launched WiSolar, was in the thick of an energy crisis. Blackouts were the norm, electricity costs kept climbing, and the grid was anything but reliable. According to the Department of Trade and Industry, the country's economy lost as much as 850 billion rand (about $46 billion) between 2021 and 2024 due to six consecutive shocks. Also, despite being Africa's most industrialized economy, South Africa was still heavily reliant on coal and had only just begun to flirt with renewables. In the middle of the chaos, Irims saw a gap and moved fast to fill it. A fresh take on solar power WiSolar is a digital solar company that lets people in South Africa and Nigeria pay for solar power as they use it. The company uses a model called a power purchase agreement (PPA), where WiSolar installs and looks after the solar system in a customer's home. Then, through the app, the customer buys power per kilowatt-hour through the WiSolar app, much like topping up mobile airtime. ' This way, people can get solar power without paying anything upfront, ' Irims told Business Insider Africa. The simplicity of the model clicked, especially in underserved communities in South Africa, where reliable energy is scarce and buying solar systems is even scarcer. But the early years were tough. ' We had a hard time convincing people to believe in us,' Irims said. ' We were struggling to get stakeholder buy-in, educating customers on how solar electricity works, operating with almost zero capital to execute.' At one point, he even tried to sell the business and the first outlet. ' No one thought it was worth anything then.' Wisolar Things started to change in 2018 when he got a small seed fund of about R60,000 ($4,000). That money helped him travel to Shenzhen, China, to understand solar tech and build supplier relationships. In 2023, WiSolar got a big offer, a $1.5 million loan from South Africa's Industrial Development Corporation (IDC). But Irims turned it down. He felt the conditions were too restrictive and risked limiting the company's growth and compromising its core values and mission. The IDC's loan offer, made under its energy resilience scheme, came with a terminal drawdown date of March 31, 2025, and a ten-year repayment term. It required monthly capital repayments starting from the drawdown date, alongside excessive disclosure requirements and offered little in terms of value-added support. For many early-stage African startups, saying no to money is almost unthinkable. Capital is scarce, and founders are often under pressure to take what they can get. Raising fund is especially tough in the energy space where WiSolar operates, unlike fintech, which is typically easier to scale. But Irims believes the wrong money can kill more than it can grow. 'If you're an investor who just has megalithic views. If you're just in it to make a quick buck, not looking at the long-term vision of the company, that is a red flag for me. You need to have a long-term view, play the long game, and look at the social impacts as well, like how many jobs it's going to create, how it's going to impact the environment, ' he stressed. ' They wanted too much,' Irims told me. ' Our IP is very sacrosanct to us. Commercials are fine, but certain IPs we cannot disclose. If you start pressing for that IP information or turn us into an educational class, it becomes a bit of a turnoff. That's not the kind of investor we want.' Who is an Ideal investor? For Irims, the right investor brings more than cash, they bring vision, access, and trust. Funding remains one of WiSolar's biggest challenges, not because capital isn't out there, but because the right kind of capital is rare. 'Finding partners who get your mission, who are aligned with your values and can open doors to markets, that's tough. A lot of funds don't even have the mandate for what we do.' WiSolar Thriving against the odds Walking away from that IDC deal didn't stop WiSolar. The cleantech company now operates in both South Africa and Nigeria, two of Africa's biggest energy markets, and keeps expanding through a mix of B2B and residential offerings. Last year, it secured $9 million in revolving credit from Chinese institutions last year to back its Climate Zero Initiative, and deploy solar energy across 10 Nigerian states. It has been ranked as one of Africa's fastest-growing companies for two consecutive years by the Financial Times and Statista, which tracked compound annual growth from 2020 to 2023. So, what advice does Irims have for entrepreneurs thinking about giving up? ' It takes a heart of steel' he says. ' You'll face doubts, rejections, and naysayers, and well-meaning supporters too. You have to know the difference. '
