The Hunters Point Family is working to manifest our vision of strengthening and enriching our children so that they will participate in the creation of a healthy, sustainable, and joyful community, where they can raise their children in an environment that nurtures them to achieve their greatest potential. Thus, partnership makes up the fibers of our existence. We must work together within our community, throughout our community and outside of our community to realize our vision. The Hunters Point Family enjoys a diversity of partnerships that provide the energy, resources, and support to create an infrastructure that incubates positive growth. Each of these partnerships represents an exciting exchange of energy that has transformed both parties for the better.
This year HPF embarked on a partnership with the Bayview Business Resource Center to help us grow our existing youth-run businesses, “Somethin’ Fresh” a fruit delivery business and “Bread Me Out” a music group and record label, with one-on-one coaching, business and marketing classes, and access to start-up and operational funding. They are also helping us to reformulate our approach and marketing strategy for the Bayview Hunters Point Farmers Market.
The Somethin’ Fresh business enjoys mentoring, and technical support from Mr. Chris Mittlestaedt, CEO of The Fruit Guys, to sustain and grow their business where they deliver fresh produce to families in the Bayview Hunters Point community. If you are interested in receiving a weekly bag of fresh fruit, please call (415) 822-8989 and place an order.
The Hunters Point Family, in partnership with the San Francisco Department of the Environment was awarded our first federal grant from the USDA to maintain our Bayview Hunters Point Farmers Market on Third Street at Palou. Our program participants, along with other farmers sell fresh, organic produce, grown at local farms to the public at prices at or below retail costs. HPF youth sell the produce they harvest from our organic farms, located within Bayview Hunters Point.
Funding from the San Francisco Department of Children, Youth, and Families, Pacific Gas & Electric, Clif Bar, and the McAtter Foundation, HPF has successfully maintained two certified, organic farms, located in Bayview Hunters Point, where our youth are employed to grow food that they distribute to residents of the public housing community, and sell at their booth at the Bayview Hunters Point Farmers Market. In 2007, Rock and Rose Landscaping and Friends of the Urban Forest installed a fruit orchard with over 50 different types of fruit trees and an irrigation system at the Double Rock Farm. Volunteer employees from Clif Bar installed a green house employees of PG&E volunteered several clean-up days at the garden and donated a solar oven, so that children could make meals with the food they grew. World-renown permaculturalist Starhawk taught several permaculture courses at the Farms, to our youth and others. In 2008, HPF will begin a partnership with Sustainable Agriculture Education (SAGE) to grow additional crops in Sunol, CA on PUC property.
Thanks to a grant from Kaiser Permanente, HPF enjoys an exciting partnership with the San Francisco Department of Public Health and Brett Harte Elementary School to teach children about health, nutrition, and science education The children have a green house, tool shed, vegetable boxes, a work bin and compost bin at the Double Rock Farm, which is across the street from the Brett Harte School
On the technology front, our agency is also making great strides. Thanks to a gift of a state of the art computer lab from Silicon Valley angel investor, Claudio Chiuchiarelli, the Hunters Point Family is able to educate and prepare our children for the technology industry of today and tomorrow. Our children our using the equipment to create and engineer music using Protools. Another cohort of our youth is working with the Cartoon Art Museum and Pixar to create public service announcements that will air on television, utilizing digital recording and editing equipment.
While the Hunters Point Family is working to provide opportunities and alternatives for our children, we still continue to work toward ending the violence in our community. This year, the agency entered a partnership with the District Attorney’s office and 7 other non-profits in Bayview Hunters Point to form the Bayview Hunters Point/Potrero Hill Community Response Network, to provide a coordinated intervention and prevention response team for issues of violence in the Southeast side of San Francisco.
The Hunters Point Family was selected, from over 400 candidates to receive a service grant from IMC’s Oak Tree Project. HPF benefited from a cache of services including systems analysis, reorganization of our fiscal department and our new website. Please check it out at www.hunterspointfamily.org.
In March of 2008, HPF entered into a partnership with Herbert Hoover Middle School in order to provide case management, intervention, and leadership activities for African American students attending the school, and racial sensitivity training and communication for the schools staff and administration in an effort to reduce the achievement gap at the school and significantly reduce suspensions and expulsions of African American students.
HPF has recently partnered with the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights in order to provide “Know Your Rights” trainings, legal clinics at HPF program locations, and other services as needed. HPF also enjoys the ongoing pro-bono representation of Littler Mendleson and Morrison Foerester.(check spelling) Hastings Law School has initiated a partnership with HPF in order to provide intense individualized internships with five (5) HPF youth who are interested in a career in the law. Youth work directly for various professors and the dean of the Law School as well as attending law classes.
HPF has been blessed to be adopted by software company Primitive Logic, who has helped to initiate, coordinate and implement the agency’s first annual fundraiser, where we raised over $70,000, and has agreed to organize the second one, celebrating the agency’s 10 year anniversary. This year’s event will feature Michael Franti of the group Spearhead, sponsors of the annual Power to the Peaceful concert in Golden Gate Park. Spearhead has been a long-time sponsor of the Hunters Point Family agency, raising money through their concerts to support leadership retreats for our girls.
The San Francisco 49ers also helped to support the agency by sponsoring a clean-up and activity day at our Gilman RecConnect site. 49ers football players worked side-by-side with youth, staff, and community members to paint the facility, install new lighting, and landscape the site.
Popularity: 27% [?]
