A New Façade for a Familiar Face!
When Portola Family Connections was awarded funding to become an Anchor Institution (Anchor Newsletter) in our community, one of our biggest goals was to provide more space for our programs, our families and for the overall community.
We partnered with the San Francisco based architectural firm, MK Think (website) who generously provided some pro-bono design work. After an exhaustive, competitive and public open bid process to find the best contractor for the job, months of planning have finally paid off: Portola Family Connections is getting ready to break ground on the garage renovation project!
We will re-do our current garage space to provide another community room so we can expand our current programs, offer more support groups and potentially offer a place for the community to gather and meet. This extra space is vital to our growth, as we become an even stronger and more visible Anchor in the Portola District. Our building, with YOUR help, will also be getting a facelift of sorts with a fresh, new façade (architectural rendering shown above.) that will brighten our center, and indeed the entire block of San Bruno Avenue! We still need about $90,000 to complete the façade renovation for the rest of the building.
If you would like to help us complete our facade, please donate to Family Connections! Please see our “How You Can Help Tab” for information on how you can donate to Family Connections and help us to support our communities.
Please stay tuned for updates as the project gets underway!
ANCHOR INSTITUTION
The Anchor Institution Initiative is a new citywide program of San Francisco’s Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) to support 5 community-based organizations that were selected through a highly competitive process to be community Anchor Institutions – organizations that are recognized in the community as leaders in helping to determine community needs and working with their communities to address these needs. These include: Portola Family Connections, Bayview Hunters Point YMCA, Cameron House, Jamestown Community Center, and Richmond Neighborhood Center.
Through the Anchor Institution Initiative, DCYF has made the commitment to help support each of the five community-based Anchor Institutions learn more about the needs of our communities, develop a Community Plan to address these needs, and take the steps to make our vision a reality.
Since our inception Family Connections has been an evolving Anchor Institution in the Portola neighborhood. It has established itself as a gathering place that provides Family Support services, resources, and a vision for social change. With a fifteen-year presence in the community, our institution has been an agent in catalyzing community activism around issues including immigrant empowerment, education, neighborhood safety, revitalization, and recreational center improvements. Many of our staff members are also very dedicated community participants and long-time residents in the Portola District, which has organically established Family Connections as an anchor institution. Our facility is located in the center of the business district and has consistently opened its door to the ideas, needs and diverse voices of our community.
Our goals through the Anchor Institution Initiative are to:
- Strengthen Family Connections’ infrastructure to fully realize our social justice agenda through which our staff and community can develop and implement new forms of community leadership, advocacy, and movement building,
- Build the capacity of community members to fully understand and participate in local advocacy and policy making that directly affects their unmet needs through education and training and direct community organizing.
- Network residents, neighborhood organizers, and city planners to build partnerships to implement a comprehensive, community-based plan for the Portola neighborhood.
- Work collaboratively with partner organizations to systemically promote a community defined framework of equitable development for the Portola neighborhood.
- Strengthen Family Connections’ role as a change agent that helps to ensure that the Portola Neighborhood has the community capital and resources to thrive and provide the best support possible for all its diverse families/community members
- A solid social justice agenda through which our staff and community can develop and implement new forms of community leadership, advocacy, and movement building.
- Community members will have the tools to fully understand and participate in local advocacy and policy making that directly affects their unmet needs through education and training and direct community organizing;
- Residents, neighborhood organizers, and city planners are networked and have the tools to implement a comprehensive, community-based plan for the Portola neighborhood.
- The Portola community is systemically promoting a community-defined framework for equitable development.
- The Portola neighborhood has the community capital and resources to thrive and provide the best support possible for all its diverse families/ community members.