Photo (left to right): Laura Guadron, Hilda Saname, Lorena Moz and Arminda Peraza. Last December turned out to be no holiday for Hilda Saname and three of her family members. That’s because any joy of the season was overshadowed by an Ellis Act eviction at their Mission District Alabama Street home of 27 years. New…
MEDA just bought its 15th Small Sites Program apartment building, keeping 93 households vulnerable to eviction in place. We have shared in previous Small Sites Progam blogs how these purchases offer a targeted approach to stopping displacement in its tracks. The strategy is for nonprofits, such as MEDA, to buy four- to 25-unit properties —…
“Our bathroom is larger than the one room my two children and I used to share,” says a thankful Juana Martinez of her two-bedroom apartment at brand-new FIVE 88 in San Francisco’s burgeoning Mission Bay. Juana (photo, right, showing winning lottery ticket) is the devoted mother of sons Eduardo, a seventh-grader at Everett Middle School,…
The nightmares persist after more than two years. Jorge Flores can still see his hair on fire as he bangs on the next-door neighbor’s door at 22nd and Mission streets. His family’s third-floor apartment of 19 years was in flames, along with the rest of the historic building. It seemed like an apocalypse. Jorge waited…
A mixture of sun, plenty of kids, gleaming playground equipment, a community garden coming in bloom and a blessing from indigenous peoples combined to create a memorable day as the Mission’s first new park in a decade was inaugurated on June 23. Its name: In Chan Kaajal, which translates as “My Little Town” in Mayan….
Severin Saenz of MEDA’s Evaluation team needed to be creative and strategic when she decided it would be valuable to do a survey of clients’ housing arrangements. What would be the relevant questions that would provide needed insight? What would be culturally relevant to Latino respondents, her target audience. To determine the best questions, Saenz…
It was with trepidation that Rudy and Karen Sorto (photo, second right and third left) came to MEDA requesting translation of a letter found posted on their front door at 1411 Florida in the Mission. MEDA’s Small Sites Program team explained that the building was now for sale, but assured the couple that the current…
(Watch video of MEDA’s community-development work.) “Good evening. I want to welcome the community. Thank you for joining us this evening. My name is Karoleen Feng, and I am proud to be the director of Community Real Estate for the Mission Economic Development Agency. “Tonight is our chance to all take a pause to celebrate not…
by Director of Community Real Estate Karoleen Feng Contributed to by Project Manager Leslie Palaroan and Project Assistant Dylan Hamilton Back in 2014, MEDA responded to the call by the City of San Francisco to transition ownership and management of public housing, with the aim to have nonprofits engage with residents who had lived for…
Longtime Mission and San Francisco residents are sure to remember Rainbo Bakery, once a bustling neighborhood venture that, unfortunately, was compelled to shutter its doors a decade ago. The good news is that this abandoned bakery, at 1990 Folsom (cross street 16th), is now ready to bring grist for the mill to the community. The…
Copyright © 2025 - Mission Economic Development Agency
