by Richard Raya, Director, Mission Promise Neighborhood
These are exciting — and busy — times for the Mission Promise Neighborhood (MPN), so I wanted to make sure you are updated on recent events and what’s ahead. Thanks for being part of MPN!
State Legislation for Promise Neighborhoods
We are excited to announce new state legislation that, if passed, would fund 20 Promise Neighborhoods across California, including Mission Promise Neighborhood. This legislation, The Promise Neighborhood Act of 2019, SB 686 (Allen), is co-authored by Assemblymember David Chiu and Senator Scott Wiener. You can read more about the legislation here.
If your organization would like to offer a letter of support, please submit to this portal by Monday April 1, and copy Norma Paz Garcia at ngarcia@medasf.org. The first hearing for SB 686 is April 10, and MEDA will be arranging a bus to take community members to Sacramento to advocate for this bill the day before, April 9. If you would like to join the bus trip to Sacramento, please contact Lucia Obregon at lobregon@medasf.org.
Ending Child Poverty
The SB 686 Promise Neighborhood legislation is tied to a broader campaign inspired by recommendations in the End Child Poverty Plan. These comprehensive recommendations could eliminate deep child poverty for 450,000 California children when fully implemented, while working to break the cycles of intergenerational poverty. The campaign is led by Conway Collis, President and CEO of GRACE. We would like to thank our partners Mission Graduates and Sanchez Elementary for hosting Mr. Collis on March 7; they shared with him how the Mission Promise Neighborhood wraparound model consists of Family Success Coaches working in concert with school administration, out-of-school-time provider Mission Graduates, and mental health provider Instituto Familiar De La Raza.
Stayover Shelter at BVHM
The School Board agreed to allow the homeless shelter at Buena Vista Horace Mann K-8 to extend services to students at other schools. We are in conversation with the shelter operator, Dolores Street Community Services, to develop a process for the Family Success Coaches at the eight other Mission Promise Neighborhood schools to begin making referrals to the BVHM shelter.
State of Latino Children and Youth
The majority of homeless students in SFUSD are Latino: This is just one of many indicators of the challenges facing Latino students. Mission Promise Neighborhood is working with the San Francisco Latino Parity and Equity Coalition to develop a report on the state of Latino children and youth in San Francisco, including a dashboard showing key indicators such as homelessness, early learning scores, graduation rates and more, for presentation to the SFUSD School Board and the Board of Supervisors. We aim to align this information to the Our Children Our Families framework and present it along with a set of recommendations during Latino Heritage Month.
Huge Book Donation
March 7 was a rainy day, but that didn’t stop Mission Promise Neighborhood from rolling up our sleeves and helping Good Samaritan Family Resource Center store a donation of 10,000 children’s books in our building, Plaza Adelante. We look forward to collaborating with Mission Promise Neighborhood partners to distribute these books in the #MissionSF community. Stay tuned.
Visit from Department of Education
On February 22, MPN was honored to host Elson Nash, Promise Neighborhood program director at the U.S. Department of Education. We toured Bryant Elementary with our partner Mission Graduates and San Francisco Unified School District administrators. MPN shared how our collaborative, wraparound approach supports both students and their families.
Upcoming Events
Prop C Outreach
MPN families are helping the City prioritize how the Prop C “ECE For All” funds should be allocated through the Office of Early Care and Education once they are available. On March 7, Good Samaritan families provided feedback and their top two priorities are increasing ECE teacher wages and increasing low-income subsidies. Thank you to Good Samaritan for engaging families and hosting and MPN staff for facilitating this very important planning process. . There are two more outreach meetings to occur at MNC and Felton. The MNC event will occur Thursday, March 21. For more information contact Ada Freund at afreund@medasf.org.
Referral Redesign
Our referral tool is our secret sauce: We work with our community partners to make thousands of family referrals to each other for services such as housing, health care, legal services, job training and more (read our brief). But there is always room for improvement. Our Evaluation team is using partner meetings to discuss ways to redesign the referral tool. Using human-centered design concepts, we hope to make the referral tool even more effective. We have conducted four design meetings to date, and the next one is scheduled for April 4. If you would like to get involved, contact Michelle Reiss-Top, Technology and Data Systems Manager, at mreisstopp@medasf.org.
Scholarships Fundraiser
Students at John O’Connell High School, in #MissionSF, want to continue their education after high school, but they often struggle with overcoming financial barriers. Together, we can help them realize their dream of attending college. That’s why the Mission Promise Neighborhood Scholarship Fund is raising money that will go directly to graduating seniors to help them achieve higher education. A huge thanks to Mission Graduates! We hope you can attend our popular fundraiser events!
FIRST EVENT: Thursday, March 21st, 5 p.m.-8 p.m. at Evil Eye (3927 Mission @ 25th).
Or donate now on our crowdfunding page.
Latino Day
On April 27 from 10 a.m.-4 p.m., a collective of community partners will be celebrating Latino Academic Excellence, Culture and Higher Education. The event is geared toward the entire family. MPN will start off with a youth panel, followed by an all-day Resource Fair. We will have two workshop rotations focused on student reclassification, enrollment, A-G requirements, education supports for undocumented students, Dream Act, and how to apply for financial aid and scholarships. We will end the day with a celebration of academic excellence with the Latin American Teacher Association (LATA) issuing a certificate of recognition to students across schools in the Mission and the Excelsior. The Planning Organizations include Mission Graduates, Roadmap to Peace, My Brother and Sister’s Keeper, Human Rights Commission, John O’Connell High School, Mission Neighborhood Centers, Instituto Familiar de la Raza and MEDA.
Abriendo Puertas
In partnership with First 5, we will be hosting a three-day Abriendo Puertas new-facilitator training March 26-27. The training will build the capacity of new facilitators who work directly with families of children 0-5 years to engage them in a program created by Latino parents for Latino parents. The mission of this 10-session program is to “support parents in their roles as family leader and as their child’s first and most in influential teacher in a home that is their child’s first school.” This two-generation approach builds parent-leadership skills and knowledge to promote family well-being and positive education outcomes for children. We will have a total of eight MPN partner agencies in attendance and a graduating class of 20 new Abriendo Puertas facilitators. The MPN partners include: Tandem, Partners in Early Learning; Mission Neighborhood Centers Inc.; Homeless Prenatal Program; Jamestown Community Center; Felton Family Institute FDC; Good Samaritan Family Resource Center; El Centro Bayview; and MEDA.
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