Building Inclusive Economic Development | FUSE

About Us
About Us
FUSE is a national nonprofit dedicated to increasing the capacity of local governments to engage communities, advance racial equity, and work more effectively for everyone.
About us Overview
Our Model
The FUSE Model centers around a one-year full-time public service role in city or county government and includes three primary phases from start to finish.
Our Fellows & Alumni
FUSE Executive Fellows and Alumni are experienced leaders committed to advancing equity through action-oriented partnerships with government agencies.
FUSE Careers
FUSE is a national nonprofit dedicated to increasing the capacity of local governments to engage communities, advance racial equity, and work more effectively for everyone.
Our Team
The FUSE team and board of directors are committed to driving equitable change locally and nationally.
Work with FUSE
Work with FUSE
The power of government. The experience of community. The impact of new ideas. Together we can build better systems
Work with FUSE Overview
Partner With FUSE
The FUSE Model centers around a one-year full-time public service role in city or county government and includes three primary phases from start to finish.
Executive Fellowship Program
FUSE Executive Fellows and Alumni are experienced leaders committed to advancing equity through action-oriented partnerships with government agencies.
Funders And Supporters
Thanks to the generous support and close partnerships of our funders and supporters, we have been able to deepen our impact on issues that matter the most to communities and the government agencies that serve them.
Newsroom
Read more about our work, partner success, and updates.
Our Projects
Our Projects
Through strategic collaboration, these initiatives harness innovative solutions and practices to bridge gaps in healthcare access.
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Health
Expanding access to affordable health care and mental health resources to improve key indicators of community health.
Justice
Enhancing public safety and reform of criminal justice by changing policing, 911 dispatching, bail, sentencing, probation, reentry.
Education
Improving options for childcare, early education, STEM, out-of-school-time, and post-secondary enrollment and affordability.
Climate
Building new infrastructure, disaster resilience, renewable energy, green economy jobs, and plans to reduce emissions.
Housing
Addressing issues of homelessness, housing insecurity, gentrification, and the need to preserve and build more affordable housing.
Jobs
Increasing the number of living-wage jobs and preparing for the future of work through expanded job training.
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As part of a plan to reduce racial disparities and promote economic opportunity for all communities, Oakland is working to revive the 7-mile International Boulevard corridor, which crosses through the city’s lowest-income neighborhoods and improves the economic conditions in far East Oakland. In light of the impact of COVID-19, Oakland is also striving to help small businesses, especially those in historically vulnerable neighborhoods, survive and rebuild during and after the pandemic. Working with the Department of Economic and Workforce Development, FUSE Executive Fellow Marsha Murrington helped engage property owners, implement business recruitment strategies, and promote revitalization without displacement along the corridor.

Marsha led work on a grant that resulted in the city receiving $28.2 million to implement a range of projects in East Oakland and supported the city’s COVID-19 recovery efforts. To lay the groundwork for the grant, she engaged with relevant city staff, grassroots organizations, and residents in far East Oakland to develop plans for improving their neighborhoods without displacing residents and businesses. The grant will create more than 60 jobs, 55 units of affordable housing, a health clinic, an aquaponics farm, a bike lending program, the planting of more than 2000 trees, and a Creekside trail linking the neighborhood to the shoreline. To sustain the transformative work in East Oakland, Marsha also helped two local Black nonprofits establish operations. Marsha’s pandemic response support included applying for grants to support economic recovery and identifying partners to assist with the reopening, rebuilding, and recovery. Marsha developed multiple small-business support initiatives while also leading the implementation of grant-related development projects in East Oakland. This included securing (still in the final process) a U.S. Economic Development Administration grant for $1M. The Department will partner with two key organizations, the Unity Council and Black Cultural Zone CDC, to provide direct services to small businesses along the International Boulevard corridor.

MARSHA MURRINGTON has more than 20 years of experience in community economic development. She most recently served as a senior program officer at the Local Initiatives Support Corp. in the Bay area. Prior to that, she spent more than a decade with the Unity Council in the Fruitvale neighborhood of her native Oakland, where she developed programs that enhanced equity and helped address the economic needs of the community. During this time, she implemented a façade improvement program, attracted new businesses without displacing local residents and business owners, supported existing businesses in purchasing property, and reduced the commercial property vacancy rate from almost 40 percent to less than 1 percent. Marsha holds a B.A. in psychology from UC Berkeley.

Marsha Murrington

2018-2020 | City of Oakland - Department of Economic & Workforce Development

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