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

4 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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Oakland Post: Week of May 21 – 27, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of May 21 – 27, 2025

Published

5 days ago

May 25, 2025

Oakland Post

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Chevron Richmond Installs Baker Hughes Flare.IQ, Real-time Flare Monitoring, Control and Reduction System

While the sight of flaring can cause concern in the community, flares are essential safety systems that burn pollutants to prevent them from being released directly into the atmosphere. They activate during startup and shut-down of facility units or during upsets or equipment malfunctions. The typical flare stack is about 200 feet high so that vapors are well above street levels.

Published

2 weeks ago

May 19, 2025

Oakland Post

Image courtesy The Richmond Standard.

The Richmond Standard

Chevron Richmond recently installed flare.IQ, a real-time, automated system that will improve the facility’s flaring performance.

The technology, developed by Panametrics, a Baker Hughes business, uses sensors to monitor, reduce and control flaring in real time. It collects and assesses data on refinery processes, such as temperature, pressure, gas flow and gas composition, and adjusts accordingly to ensure flares burn more efficiently and cleanly, leading to fewer emissions.

“The cleaner the flare, the brighter the flame can look,” said Duy Nguyen, a Chevron Richmond flaring specialist. “If you see a brighter flame than usual on a flare, that actually means flare.IQ is operating as intended.”

“A key element in Baker Hughes’ emissions abatement portfolio, flare.IQ has a proven track record in optimizing flare operations and significantly reducing emissions,” said Colin Hehir, vice president of Panametrics, a Baker Hughes business. “By partnering with Chevron Richmond, one of the first operators in North America to adopt flare.IQ, we are looking forward to enhancing the plant’s flaring operations.”

The installation of flare.IQ is part of a broader and ongoing effort by Chevron Richmond to improve flare performance, particularly in response to increased events after the new, more efficient hydrogen plant was brought online in 2019.

Since then, the company has invested $25 million — and counting — into flare minimization. As part of the effort, a multidisciplinary refinery team was formed to find and implement ways to improve operational reliability and ultimately reduce flaring. Operators and other employees involved in management of flares and flare gas recovery systems undergo new training.

“It is important to me that the community knows we are working hard to lower emissions and improve our flaring performance,” Nguyen said.

Also evolving is the process by which community members are notified of flaring incidents. The Community Warning System (CWS), operated by Contra Costa County is an “all-hazard” public warning system.

Residents can opt-in to receive alerts via text, e-mail and landline. The CWS was recently expanded to enable residents to receive notifications for “Level 1” incidents, which are considered informational as they do not require any community action.

For more information related to these topics, check out the resources included on the Chevron Richmond, CAER and Contra Costa Health websites. Residents are also encouraged to follow @chevronrichmond and @RFDCAOnline on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter), where additional information may be posted during an incident.

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Oakland Hosts Town Hall Addressing Lead Hazards in City Housing

According to the city, there are 22,000 households in need of services for lead issues, most in predominantly low-income or Black and Latino neighborhoods, but only 550 to 600 homes are addressed every year. The city is hoping to use part of the multimillion-dollar settlement to increase the number of households served each year.

Published

2 weeks ago

May 18, 2025

Oakland Post

iStock.

By Magaly Muñoz

The City of Oakland’s Housing and Community Development Department hosted a town hall in the Fruitvale to discuss the efforts being undertaken to remove lead primarily found in housing in East and West Oakland.

In 2021, the city was awarded $14 million out of a $24 million legal settlement from a lawsuit against paint distributors for selling lead-based paint that has affected hundreds of families in Oakland and Alameda County. The funding is intended to be used for lead poisoning reduction and prevention services in paint only, not water or other sources as has been found recently in schools across the city.

The settlement can be used for developing or enhancing programs that abate lead-based paint, providing services to individuals, particularly exposed children, educating the public about hazards caused by lead paint, and covering attorney’s fees incurred in pursuing litigation.

Most of the homes affected were built prior to 1978, and 12,000 of these homes are considered to be at high risk for lead poisoning.

City councilmember Noel Gallo, who represents a few of the lead-affected Census tracts, said the majority of the poisoned kids and families are coming directly from neighborhoods like the Fruitvale.

“When you look at the [kids being admitted] at the children’s hospital, they’re coming from this community,” Gallo said at the town hall.

In order to eventually rid the highest impacted homes of lead poisoning, the city intends to create programs and activities such as lead-based paint inspections and assessments, full abatement designed to permanently eliminate lead-based paint, or partial abatement for repairs, painting, and specialized cleaning meant for temporary reduction of hazards.

In feedback for what the city could implement in their programming, residents in attendance of the event said they want more accessibility to resources, like blood testing, and information from officials about lead poisoning symptoms, hotlines for assistance, and updates on the reduction of lead in their communities.

Attendees also asked how they’d know where they are on the prioritization list and what would be done to address lead in the water found at several school sites in Oakland last year.

City staff said there will be a follow-up event to gather more community input for programming in August, with finalizations happening in the fall and a pilot launch in early 2026.