Bay Area

Mayor London Breed Announces Nearly $2 Million in Grants for San Francisco Nonprofit Organizations

All 11 of this year’s NSI grantees provide vital services and resources to low-income residents. Eight of the organizations have Black, Latino, Asian, LGBTQ, or immigrant leadership.

Published

3 years ago

April 13, 2021

Mia Lane

Eleven organizations have received awards designed to protect and expand essential services for people experiencing mental health challenges and homelessness, provide support for low-income and first-generation college students, and create culturally responsive music, dance, and arts access at an affordable housing site in the Mission.

Mayor London N. Breed, the Office of Economic and Workforce Development (OEWD), the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development, the San Francisco Arts Commission, and Community Vision made the announcement on Saturday about $1.96 million in transformative awards for San Francisco nonprofit organizations.

The space acquisition and lease stabilization grants are part of San Francisco’s Nonprofit Sustainability Initiative (NSI), which helps stabilize nonprofits that provide services and support to residents as part of the response to COVID-19 and beyond.

With these awards, the NSI surpasses a milestone, seeding the acquisition of more than 150,000 square feet of newly nonprofit-owned space for organizations that serve low-income residents and are deeply rooted in historically underserved communities and communities of color.

All 11 of this year’s NSI grantees provide vital services and resources to low-income residents. Eight of the organizations have Black, Latino, Asian, LGBTQ, or immigrant leadership.

“This past year has shown us just how important it is that our local San Francisco nonprofit organizations have the tools and resources they need to provide essential services,” said Breed. “The Nonprofit Sustainability Initiative has supported the acquisition of critical community spaces throughout San Francisco. This round of funding will help strengthen organizations that are trusted and deeply rooted in their communities so they can recover and emerge even stronger than before the pandemic.”

These funds are especially critical for ensuring San Francisco’s nonprofit organizations are able to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and continue to provide critical services and resources for San Franciscans.

For example, in 2019, NSI funds supported the purchase of the property at 701 Alabama St., which was quickly activated last year by the Latino Task Force to distribute food and COVID-19-related assistance to some of San Francisco’s most vulnerable residents.

This round of NSI awards includes $1 million for the Bayview Hunters Point Foundation to acquire permanent space that will be shared with organizations doing complementary work for people experiencing homelessness or seeking mental health and substance abuse services.

Three past NSI awardees, La Cocina, Planned Parenthood, and Mission Kids, opened new facilities this week. A fourth awardee, Community Youth Center of San Francisco, plans to break ground later this spring.

The underlying objective of all NSI programs is to ensure access to quality-of-life resources as well as education, health, and human services for residents of San Francisco, and real estate assistance is a cornerstone of the program.

2021 Nonprofit Sustainability Awardees

Bayview Hunters Point Foundation will use its $1 million awards to catalyze a capital campaign and purchase space at 5815 3rd Street in the Bayview. The 20,470 square foot space will include shared space for organizations offering complementary services, making it easier for clients and their families to access support.

“Bayview Hunters Point Foundation has provided support and empowerment for San Francisco’s most vulnerable and disenfranchised residents since 1971,” said Bayview Hunters Point Foundation Board President Susan Watson. “The Nonprofit Sustainability Initiative acquisition grant will serve as the lead gift for our 50th Anniversary Capital Campaign, making it possible for us to purchase the building we’ve long called home. From this stable base of operations, we will continue to serve those most in need—for the next 50 years and beyond.”

Cultura y Arte Nativa de las Américas was awarded $250,000 to cover renovation costs and $75,000 to pay for architectural and engineering services in support of its new community arts space in the Mission District. 681 Florida Street will be CANA’s first permanent home and will be used for dance rehearsals/performances, recording studio/beat-making lessons, music lessons, marketplace activities, and community events and meetings.

“Funding for our future, permanent art space in the Mission District will bring long-term stability for CANA-Carnaval San Francisco and hundreds of artists, positively impacting our ability to focus on programming and development. This support will help preserve our community and city’s vibrant artistic culture for generations to come,” said Roberto Hernandez, Artistic Director, and Executive Producer.

Japanese Community Youth Council received an award of $83,500 to support the repair and replacement of items required by the relocation of its college access programs to 1710 Octavia Street. The new site will be used to offer academic support and college advising for low-income, first-generation college students. While services are offered onsite at schools throughout San Francisco, the 1710 Octavia site will be used for afterschool, evening, weekend, and summer activities.

“JCYC is extremely pleased to be awarded a relocation grant from the San Francisco Nonprofit Sustainability Initiative which will make it possible for our organization to move into new, long-term program space. We are grateful for the opportunity to utilize these resources to create the most welcoming and safest environment for the children and youth we serve,” said Jon Osaki, Executive Director of the Japanese Community Youth Council.

Other 2021 awardees include Bay Area Video Coalition, Charity Cultural Services Center, Children’s Book Project, Chinese Historical Society of America, Kultivate Labs, Larkin Street Youth Services, The Healing Well, and Youth Art Exchange.

Grants are administered by Community Vision, which will announce the next request for acquisition proposals in June 2021 and offer several workshops with more information. Should funding be approved by the Board of Supervisors, the next round of applications for relocation and renovation grants will open in late 2021. Past program guidelines are available at communityvisionca.org/sfsustainability.. Information about past NSI awardees and current resources can be found at oewd.org/nonprofits.

This report is from the Mayor’s Office of Communication.

Mia Lane

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Homelessness Committee and Advocates Urge City to Stop Confiscating Unhoused People’s Belongings

Encampment sweeps are not a new method of action to evict people from living and sleeping on the streets in San Francisco. However, recent reports indicate that city staff are not following proper policy, exacerbating the problems for unhoused people. Homeless advocates and allies held a press conference on Thursday at City Hall, condemning staff workers for destroying people’s property during encampment evictions and asking officials to ensure that important documents and medication are not being stripped from these individuals.

Published

3 days ago

October 2, 2024

Oakland Post

"By destroying the very items that could help people regain stability, the city is not just punishing people for being poor, but actively making it harder for them to escape homelessness," Jennifer Friedenbach, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness, said.

By Magaly Muñoz

Homeless advocates and allies held a press conference on Thursday at City Hall, condemning staff workers for destroying people’s property during encampment evictions and asking officials to ensure that important documents and medication are not being stripped from these individuals.

“By destroying the very items that could help people regain stability, the city is not just punishing people for being poor, but actively making it harder for them to escape homelessness,” Jennifer Friedenbach, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness, said.

Friedenbach criticized the city for not fixing their housing problem or finding new ways to shelter people, instead they are further adding to the harm of the “humanitarian crisis that San Francisco is facing.”

The press conference was held before the monthly Homelessness Oversight Commission (HOC) meeting, where commissioners discussed a draft resolution to submit to city staff highlighting the importance of not separating people from their items as this might cause further distress.

The resolution lists ssential items that workers should be cautious of not destroying or throwing away including medical documents and medication, work permits, identification, and survival gear, such as blankets or tents.

City policy instructs workers to “bag and tag” items left behind after an encampment sweep. These items are labeled by Public Works and kept at their operations yard for 90 days before being discarded.

But according to several reports and videos of the sweeps, the city has not always followed this policy and has on numerous occasions thrown away people’s medications or tents, leaving individuals without their essentials.

During the meeting, commissioners suggested adding school records and family related support items, such as diapers, to the resolution because of the increasing number of families living on the streets.

Virginia Taylor, senior policy advisor for Safe & Sound, said 531 families are waiting for housing in San Francisco. Many of these families are living out of their cars or in RVs, yet the city has limited safe parking spots where people can situate themselves.

Along with not throwing out people’s belongings, advocates are also continuing to ask the city to stop the encampment sweeps because all they are accomplishing is moving unhoused folks block to block without solving the root problem of lack of consistent housing.

“We need urgent action, more family shelter beds, a stop to vehicle sweeps, expanded safe parking programs and housing solutions that keep our multi-generational families together. Our children’s futures depend on it. Let’s build a San Francisco where no family falls through the crack and every child has the opportunity to thrive,” Taylor said.

Speakers referenced the RV sweep conducted in early August on Zoo Road, where dozens of people, many of them non-English speaking immigrants, were asked to leave the parking lot or else their vehicles would be towed and they would be cited.

While people were offered shelter beds or housing vouchers, some worried about where they would stay while the city processed their applications. This drew criticism of San Francisco’s method of not always having immediate options for people yet continuing to sweep unhoused folks with nowhere to go.

Commissioners of HOC agreed that the city is not trying to exacerbate the issue and the resolution is one of many steps to ensure that there are no setbacks in the progress to ending homelessness in San Francisco.

The HOC will approve the resolution at a later meeting once amendments and changes are made.

Oakland Post

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Bay Area

Former Mayor Willie L. Brown Endorses Dana Lang for BART Board District 7

Former San Francisco Mayor Willie L. Brown has announced his endorsement support for Dana Lang for BART Board District 7 Seat, which includes voters from both sides of the Bay, and in San Francisco includes Bay View Hunters Point and Treasure Island. Brown acknowledged that Lang has been a behind-the-scenes force in transportation funding for many years and can help BART manage its financial challenges.

Published

3 days ago

October 2, 2024

Oakland Post

Photo courtesy of Dana Lang.

By Oakland Post Staff

Brown acknowledged that Lang has been a behind-the-scenes force in transportation funding for many years and can help BART manage its financial challenges.

“When I met with Dana Lang I asked many questions, then I asked others about her contributions. Getting to know her I realized that she truly understood transportation. At a time when BART is facing a “fiscal cliff” and an upcoming deficit of nearly $360 million per year, Dana is more than ready for this job, she is ready to meet the moment!”

Over the past 24 years Lang has been a funding and grants specialist with several municipal transportation agencies, including the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, San Francisco Muni, San Francisco Police Department and San Francisco International Airport (SFO).

Lang says, “I’ve faced a number of fiscal crises in my career — such as securing $52 million in new transit security funding for SFMTA (Muni) during the 2008 Great Recession, when others thought it was not possible. I have always managed to identify new funding and ways to make transit more secure. Facing a crisis is the best time to act, through advocacy and policy setting. We’ve got to keep BART running and make it safer and more vibrant in order to meet the needs of our riders, our work force, and our community.”

Lang grew up in the low-income minority community of East Palo Alto, CA, and knew that locating grants and resources could positively impact an entire city and its surrounding region — helping to create and retain agency jobs, getting transit riders to their workplaces, and encouraging small business development near transit hubs.

With that in mind, she pursued a bachelor’s degree in economics from Wellesley College, then an MBA from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. She started her municipal career as a policy advisor to Mayor Elihu Harris and helped secure grants for the City of Oakland before moving to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission to serve as a transportation grants specialist.

During her 24-year career she has helped secure hundreds of millions of dollars for Bay Area transit agencies and municipalities. In addition to BART’s financial health, Lang’s priorities for BART also include safety, cleanliness, station vitality — and bringing riders back to BART. She has served on the BART Police Civilian Review Board since 2022.

Lang is also endorsed by BART Board Director Robert Raburn, former BART Board Director Carole Ward Allen, the Rev. Amos Brown, pastor of San Francisco’s Third Baptist Church, Alameda County supervisors Keith Carson and Nate Miley, former Oakland Mayor Elihu Harris, District 4 Oakland City Councilmember Janani Ramachandran, Oakland Chinatown leader Carl Chan, and many others.

Lang is seeking the BART Board District 7 Seat, which includes San Francisco’s Bay View Hunters Point and Treasure Island, a large portion of Oakland, the cities of Alameda, Emeryville, Piedmont, and a small portion of Berkeley.

Oakland Post

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Art

Phenomenal Woman’ Maya Angelou Monument Unveiled at San Francisco Main Library

In a joyful community celebration attended by over 200 people, including Mayor London Breed, the highly anticipated ‘Portrait of a Phenomenal Woman’ monument to Dr. Maya Angelou was unveiled at the San Francisco Main Library on Sept. 19. Oakland-based artist Lava Thomas created the 9-foot bronze and stone monument in the form of a book featuring a portrait and quotes from the celebrated author, poet, civil rights activist and former San Francisco resident.

Published

3 days ago

October 2, 2024

Oakland Post

Attending the unveiling of the monument to the late Dr. Maya Angelou were, from left, Dr. Gina M. Fromer, CEO Glide Foundation; San Francisco Mayor London Breed, Rosa Johnson, (Angelou’s niece); Ralph Remington, San Francisco director of Cultural Affairs; Lava Thomas, artist and creator; Denise Bradley-Tydus, former interim director of Cultural Affairs; San Francisco Poet Laureate Genny Lim, and San Francisco City Librarian Michael Lambert. Photo by Linda Parker Pennington.

By Linda Parker Pennington

Oakland-based artist Lava Thomas created the 9-foot bronze and stone monument in the form of a book featuring a portrait and quotes from the celebrated author, poet, civil rights activist and former San Francisco resident.

The work was commissioned by the San Francisco Arts Commission in response to legislation passed in 2018 by San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors, requiring at least 30% female representation in the public realm.

Attending the unveiling were Angelou’s grandson, Elliott Jones, social advocate, philanthropist, and board member of the Dr. Maya Angelou Foundation; and Rosa Johnson, Angelou’s niece and family archivist, who spoke about the historic unveiling of this first public monument portraying a Black woman in San Francisco’s history.