Reclaiming Our Downtown

What Reclaiming Our Downtown does

Reclaiming Our Downtown is a volunteer-driven grassroots community advocacy movement founded in June 2016 by Rod Dunham, alongside early members Linda Mello, Mary Grizzle, Donna West, and Dan Ondrasek, and based in Santa Clara, California. The organization is organized around a single mission: reversing the 1964 urban-renewal demolition of Santa Clara's historic downtown by advocating for its restoration on the original 25-acre footprint. The movement grew to 5,300+ citizens and voters over nearly a decade of canvassing, petitioning at farmers markets and festivals, City Council testimony, and earned media coverage from outlets including San José Spotlight, KPIX CBS News, and the Silicon Valley Business Journal. In 2018, founders joined the city-formed Downtown Community Task Force alongside The Old Quad, Santa Clara University, Historical and Cultural Commissions, and urban planning firms WRT and Sargent Town Planning, contributing over 150 hours of work that produced the Downtown Precise Plan ultimately adopted by the Santa Clara City Council on December 5, 2023.

The Downtown Precise Plan it champions calls for restoration of the historic ten-block street grid, 1,000+ new residential units, room for over 100 storefronts, 2,200+ jobs, mixed-use development with homes above shops, and an iconic streetcar service, all financed by private developers at $0 cost to the city's general fund. The plan uses form-based code to protect aesthetic standards and keep permitting decisions local rather than subject to state housing law overrides. The organization has no proprietary technology, sells no products or services, and operates on free membership and volunteer labor, with revenue explicitly characterized as "Not applicable" in source data. It monetizes nothing directly; its leverage comes from civic participation and the regulatory adoption of its plan. The movement is not a commercial enterprise and has no disclosed funding rounds, investors, parent company, or formal equity structure.

The customer base consists of Santa Clara citizens and voters (primary segment) and broader Bay Area residents who support the revival as a regional destination. Distribution occurs through community organizing, direct outreach at local events, and public participation in City Council processes. The organization is recognized externally — APA California awarded it in 2024 for "Reviving Downtown Santa Clara: a blueprint for community-led transformation" — and is preparing for its 10-year anniversary in June 2026. Operationally, the movement is organized around five asks: restore the grid, plan the district as a whole, blend historic and modern architecture, protect existing businesses and residents, and reintroduce a streetcar service.

Name

Reclaiming Our Downtown

Legal name

Reclaiming Our Downtown

Website

https://reclaimingourdowntown.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Reclaiming Our Downtown is a volunteer-driven grassroots community advocacy movement founded in 2016 in Santa Clara, California, with 5,300+ citizen members working to rebuild the city's downtown demolished in 1964. The movement successfully lobbied the City Council to adopt the 25-acre Downtown Precise Plan on December 5, 2023.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Community Advocacy / Civic Engagement

NAICS

Social Advocacy Organizations (8133), Civic and Social Organizations (81341)

akta.pro primary industry

Community Development & Neighborhood Revitalization (CDBG, Place-Based Initiatives) (BPAIANAE)

akta.pro secondary industries

Civil Society Strengthening & Civic Space (BPADAGAD), Community Arts, Culture & Creative Placemaking Enterprises (BPAGALAO)

Keywords

• Civic advocacy services
• Community organizing
• Urban planning advocacy
• Grassroots mobilization
• Downtown revitalization

Headquarters

HQ city

Santa Clara

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Marketing or Sales, Personnel

Revenue model

1. Professional Services: Reclaiming Our Downtown is a nonprofit community advocacy organization. It does not sell products or services. The Downtown Precise Plan it advocates for is financed by private developers at zero cost to the city's general fund.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Reclaiming Our Downtown is a grassroots civic advocacy organization founded in June 2016 by Rod Dunham in Santa Clara, California. It mobilizes a base of more than 5,300 citizens and voters to advocate for specific downtown planning, zoning, and land-use outcomes in the city. The organization's signature effort culminated in the Santa Clara City Council's adoption of the Downtown Precise Plan on December 5, 2023.

Product overview

Reclaiming Our Downtown is a grassroots community advocacy movement, not a technology product company. The organization operates a public website to share information about their mission to rebuild downtown Santa Clara and enables citizens to join their movement through email signup forms. They do not offer software products, platforms, or technology services.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Grassroots downtown-planning advocacy Ongoing community-advocacy service mobilizing citizens and voters in Santa Clara to influence downtown planning, zoning, and land-use decisions, targeted at engaged local residents and the Santa Clara City Council.

Quantifiable outcome

• 5,300+ citizens and voters joined the movement
• +4 more outcomes

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Downtown Community Task Force (DCTF)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2018Nine-member task force formed by the city with representatives from The Old Quad, Reclaiming Our Downtown, Santa Clara University, and the Historical and Cultural Commissions. Met for over 150 hours to shape the downtown plan.
• WRT (Urban Planners)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational urban planning firm engaged to help design the Downtown Precise Plan alongside the Downtown Community Task Force.
• Sargent Town PlanningcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational urban planning firm (with WRT) that brought expertise to the Downtown Precise Plan development process.
• Santa Clara UniversityminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerRepresented on the Downtown Community Task Force to provide academic perspective and community input into the downtown planning process.
• Historical and Cultural CommissionsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCity commissions represented on the Downtown Community Task Force to ensure historical preservation considerations and cultural sensitivity in the plan.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Main Street America: National downtown revitalization program with decades of experience helping communities rebuild commercial districts. Directly comparable in its downtown-revival mission and grassroots-to-policy structure, though it operates a formal accreditation network rather than a single local campaign.
• Smart Growth America: National coalition advocating for land-use and transportation policies that produce walkable, mixed-use communities. Comparable mission around downtown-form-based-code advocacy, but with policy reach at the federal and state level rather than hyper-local campaign work.
• Strong Towns: National advocacy organization promoting financially resilient, walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods. Highly comparable to Reclaiming Our Downtown in mission and grassroots urbanist advocacy, but operates at national scale with a larger staff, established donor base, and broader media footprint.
• National Trust for Historic Preservation: National nonprofit focused on historic preservation and community revitalization. Overlaps with Reclaiming Our Downtown's framing of the 1964 demolition as a recoverable historic loss and its emphasis on restoring the original street grid and architectural character.
• Congress for New Urbanism: Established professional and advocacy organization promoting walkable, mixed-use urban design — exactly the principles embodied in Santa Clara's Downtown Precise Plan. Comparable as a thought leader in form-based code and traditional neighborhood design, though operating at a national professional rather than grassroots level.

Others

• Form-Based Codes Institute: Resource organization that promotes the use of form-based zoning codes — the exact tool embedded in Santa Clara's Downtown Precise Plan. Comparable as an enabling organization in the form-based-code ecosystem rather than a direct advocacy competitor.

Direct peers

• 1000 Friends of Oregon: Statewide land-use advocacy organization founded by urbanist legend Ed McMahon. Comparable as a citizen-led advocacy group using policy and zoning reform to shape growth, though anchored at the state rather than single-city level.
• Downtown Colorado Inc. Colorado-based nonprofit supporting downtown revitalization across multiple cities. Comparable as a downtown-focused advocacy organization combining community organizing, technical assistance, and policy work to revive urban cores.
• Local First: Community-driven organization advocating for locally owned businesses and place-based economic development. Comparable grassroots structure and mission of strengthening local identity through community-rooted commerce, though focused on existing-business support rather than new construction.
• Incremental Development Alliance: Advocacy and training organization that helps local entrepreneurs and residents pursue small-scale, community-driven development. Comparable in its citizen-led, bottom-up approach to placemaking and its focus on incremental urbanism rather than top-down master planning.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/reclaiming-our-downtown

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Reclaiming Our Downtown