Yardi client USA Properties teamed up with Life Steps in 1996 to create the J.B. Brown Fund, a philanthropic partnership to help residents of affordable housing fulfill their academic potential, participate in sports, and overcome financial hardships. The Fund Geoffrey C. Brown, president and CEO of USA Properties Fund Inc., co-created J.B. Brown fund in honor of his father. His father established the company’s mission back in 1981. The fund is an extension of that mission. “What’s important to me is our tagline as a company: Creating Outstanding Communities,’” says Brown. “To me, an outstanding community isn’t just a pretty project with sticks and bricks. A nice community also includes the social services that we provide.” Social services at USA Properties begin with LifeSteps, a resource provider offering skills training and educational programs that empower residents. Services are extended through the J.B. Brown fund. The athletic opportunities offered through the fund are close to Brown’s heart. He participated in youth sports as a child and coached his children in youth sports for several years. “The lessons learned in youth sports are invaluable,” begins Brown. “You learn teamwork, discipline, and competition but most importantly, you learn how to lose. You learn that you can’t be afraid to fail. That might be the most valuable of all lessons.” The crown jewels of the J.B. Brown Fund are the academic scholarships, awarded to residents that strive to attend institutions of higher learning. To date, the J.B. Brown Fund has been able to fund every qualified applicant. “We want to create a mindset where people don’t think that because they grew up in affordable housing community that they can’t go to college,” explains Brown. “We’ve had a number of successful people who have gone through the whole program....