City Government
S.F. Mayor London Breed Announces $50 Million in Tax Credits to Support San Francisco Non-Profits, Businesses in Disadvantaged Communities
The New Markets Tax Credit program creates a pathway for local businesses and non-profits to activate underutilized buildings in San Francisco’s most high-need neighborhoods, create local jobs, and provide lasting community services.
![](https://www.postnewsgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Two-Men-Brainstorming-Over-Papers-Photo-courtesy-of-Scott-Graham-via-Unsplash.jpg)
Mayor London N. Breed announced on September 7 that the United States Treasury has awarded $50 million in tax credits to support local non-profit organizations and projects in historically underserved neighborhoods.
This allocation will help move forward critical investments in San Francisco while also creating new economic activity and jobs as San Francisco continues its economic recovery from the pandemic.
The New Market Tax Credits are distributed from the United States Treasury to the San Francisco Community Investment Fund (SFCIF), a non-profit that is tasked with helping to fund projects with substantial and sustainable community benefits in low-income San Francisco neighborhoods.
Previous credits helped fund the construction of projects such as the Meals on Wheels San Francisco food distribution center in the Bayview, SF Jazz and the Boys & Girls Club San Francisco in the Western Addition, and the ACT Strand Theatre on Central Market, the Manufacturing Foundry located at 150 Hooper Street sponsored by PlaceMade, and the renovation of the Geneva Car Barn located in the Excelsior district.
“The neighborhoods that were hit hardest by the pandemic were the same neighborhoods that had lacked access to resources and investment for generations—that is not a coincidence.
“That’s why it’s so important that our economic recovery focus on investing in these communities and creating new jobs in these communities, so we can create a more equitable city.
“The investments that these tax credits have helped advance in the past have had a meaningful impact on our city and I’m excited that this new allocation, the largest that San Francisco has ever received, will continue that progress,” Breed said.
In 2010, the City’s former Redevelopment Agency established the San Francisco Community Investment Fund to make qualified low-income community investments in the City. This program targets construction and capital improvement projects in low-income neighborhoods that deliver strong community outcomes, including job creation for low-income people, commercial and community services, healthy foods, environment sustainability, and flexible lease rates.
The New Markets Tax Credit program creates a pathway for local businesses and non-profits to activate underutilized buildings in San Francisco’s most high-need neighborhoods, create local jobs, and provide lasting community services.
Since 2010, the SFCIF has supported 12 projects across five neighborhoods that created over 1,000 construction jobs, and deployed $163.6 million in New Markets Tax Credit allocations.
“Investing in jobs and supporting opportunities for our underserved communities is critical, especially as we begin emerging from of this pandemic,” said City Administrator Carmen Chu, who serves on the SFCIF Board of Directors. “This allocation of New Market Tax Credits is significant because it means extra dollars in our hands to fully fund and bring so many worthy neighborhood projects to completion.”
“Meals on Wheels San Francisco opened a new $41 million state of the art kitchen in the Bayview neighborhood in November of 2020. Our project could not have moved forward on time and received full financing without the support of the San Francisco Community Investment Fund’s New Markets Tax Credit program,” said Ashley McCumber, CEO and executive director of Meals on Wheels San Francisco.
“Their lead investment attracted additional partners like Community Vision, Community Impact Partners, and Chase Bank to deliver a net of $8.1 million to our project. With this new facility, we have created more than 30 new jobs and expanded our production capabilities from 8,000 meals per day to as much as 30,000 meals per day when needed.”
Applications are received and reviewed on a rolling basis. For more information on the San Francisco Community Investment Fund, visit SFCIF.org.
This story comes from the San Francisco Mayor’s Office of Communication.
Activism
Oakland Post: Week of September 4 – 10, 2024
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of September 4 – 10, 2024
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Activism
Oakland Post: Week of August 28 – September 4, 2024
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of August 28 – September 4, 2024
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Activism
A New Coalition Says: ‘Respect Our Vote – No Recalls!’
Opposing the recalls of Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price and labeling the efforts as a new form of voter suppression, the coalition, “Respect Our Vote – No Recalls!” kicked off its organizing efforts last Saturday, Aug. 17, with a mass, public meeting, attended by over 100 people in East Oakland at At Thy Word Ministries Church, 8915 International Blvd. in East Oakland.
![Jess Inson, Rev. B.K. Woodson, Sr., Stewart Chen, and Mariano Contreras answer questions at the kickoff meeting of “Respect Our Vote – No Recalls!,” Saturday, Aug. 17, at At Thy Word Ministries Church, 8915 International Blvd. in East Oakland. Photo by Ken Epstein.](https://www.postnewsgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/respect-our-vote-featured-web-1.jpg)
By Ken Epstein
A broad, diverse coalition has come together to mobilize local communities to vote against the recalls of two East Bay reform-minded leaders, who could potentially be thrown out of office in November after serving less than two years in office.
The recall effort is a result of multi-million-dollar campaigns that the coalition says are fueled by fearmongering with funding from a Piedmont financier and promoted by a public relations campaign in the corporate media.
Opposing the recalls of Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price and labeling the efforts as a new form of voter suppression, the coalition, “Respect Our Vote – No Recalls!” kicked off its organizing efforts last Saturday, Aug. 17, with a mass, public meeting, attended by over 100 people in East Oakland at At Thy Word Ministries Church, 8915 International Blvd. in East Oakland.
Servant B.K. Woodson, Sr., pastor of the Bay Area Christian Connection in Oakland and chair of the coalition, links the surging national movement to reject the fearmongering and hateful agenda advocated by Donald Trump and the rightwing authoritarian proposals of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 to their own battle against the efforts to unseat progressive leaders in Oakland and Alameda County.
“This is a powerful moment, (and) across the nation you can feel it,” he said. “There’s joy, there’s hope, there’s expectation. We Oaklanders are at the center of the universe right now because the joy that’s bubbling up against the antipathy and the anger and the mindlessness, the battle for hope is being waged right here (against those) who profit by our poverty.”
“This is the inaugural event of ‘Respect Our Vote – No Recalls!’ because we want all people’s votes to be respected,” Pastor Woodson continued. “We are a diverse coalition, and we are open to more.”
The coalition already has the participation of the Wellstone and John George Democratic clubs, the Latino Task Force, and the Asian Americans for a Progressive Alameda, as well as active involvement of African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, whites, and others, he said.
“(Together), we want to expose what’s happening,” Woodson said. “The vehicle of recall (was intended to be) a people’s device against entrenched power (but) has been co-opted by billionaires,” who have funded these campaigns.
Those attending the meeting raised concerns about Foundational Oakland Unites, a political action committee that received $605,000 from Piedmont financier Philip Dreyfuss, which contributed $480,000 to back the Sheng Thao recall.
Dreyfuss also contributed to recall Price. A political action committee, Supporters of Recall Pamela Price, which Dreyfuss helped create, received about $400,000 to pay for signature-gathering, as well as a $200,000 loan.
Other speakers at the rally included Stewart Chen, president of the Oakland Chinatown Improvement Council; Carmen Peng of Asian Americans for Progressive Alameda; Jess Inson, lead organizing fellow for Oakland Rising Action; Chaney Turner, chair of the City of Oakland’s Cannabis Regulatory Commission; and Mariano Contreras, member of the Latino Task Force and co-chair of the African American Latino Action Alliance.
Contreras said in past decades, voter suppression was mostly designed to keep African Americans, immigrants, and poor people from being able to vote.
“(But) now we’re seeing a new type of voter suppression, the denial of our vote after we cast it,” he said.
“The recall process was (originally) designed to ensure that elected officials would represent the interests of their constituents. But the recall process has been hijacked by shadowy, conservative money that finds defeated candidates (and others) who are willing to deny you and me our vote as we originally cast it,” he said.
“This is a new, dangerous voter suppression that exists right here in our city,” he said, adding that: “We are seeing the use of fear and misinformation to attract spokespeople to promote attacks and charges that are nothing more than smokescreens to roll back progressive alliances that have been built in our local government.”
Chen said that there has been a “false narrative” about rampant crime, which is a “bunch of baloney.”
There have long been problems with crime in Oakland, and the recalls against Price and Thao began shortly after they were elected and before they had a chance to do much, he said. “Unequivocally, the people who lost wanted their candidates to win. These are sour grapes.”
“This is undemocratic. We have to stand together, unite together,” Chen said. “That’s why I’m here.”
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