Community engagement

Green hip-hop group pruned by budget cuts

Ambika Kandasamy, SF Public Press — Aug 20 2010 - 2:50pm

A local organization that promotes environmental consciousness through hip-hop culture is going on hiatus this fall after losing major funding from the city of San Francisco. Grind for the Grind hosted its first — and final — “eco-music festival” of the year in Oakland last weekend. The event, FreshFest, brought local hip-hop musicians, artists and sustainable food producers together for a day of solar-powered live jamming, healthy eats and green-themed crafts. After losing its San Francisco grant, the festival was free to move from Yerba Buena Gardens, where it had been for two years, to Oakland’s Mosswood Park. But there still wasn’t enough money to put on the usual four summer festivals.

Minority voters think greener, statewide poll shows

Rosemary Macaulay, SF Public Press — Aug 6 2010 - 1:10pm

A poll of California's voters released last week has revealed disparities between the environmental attitudes of ethnic groups. Asian, black and Latino voters are more concerned about air pollution, more sensitive to the effects of global warming, and more willing to see the government act on environmental issues than white voters. But in the wake of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, all ethnic groups reject more oil drilling off the coast of California.

Ethnic minority voters finding their voices in multilingual polls

Rosemary Macaulay, SF Public Press — Aug 2 2010 - 5:15pm

A new multilingual polls shows that ethnic minority voters are playing a major role in the race for governor and are also shaping the outcome of a ballot measure that would legalize marijuana. In the latest Field Poll, Democrat Jerry Brown polled at 44 percent, just one point ahead of Republican Meg Whitman, in the battle for governor. However, the poll shows that it is the state’s ethnic minority communities that are making it a close race, with 48 percent of white non-Hispanics opting for Whitman and 40 percent for Brown.

SF may soon get 2 Target stores

Jerold Chinn, SF Public Press — Jul 22 2010 - 4:10pm

Officials from the chain retailer Target met with residents Wednesday to discuss plans for one of two proposed stores in San Francisco. The proposed sites include the former Mervyns storefront at Geary Boulevard and Masonic Avenue and inside the Metreon at Mission and Fourth streets.

Video quilt stitches together stories of HIV/AIDS battle

Theresa Seiger, SF Public Press — Jun 21 2010 - 2:32pm

In the store it doesn’t look like much, but inside the booth on Castro Street something bigger is going on. Generations HIV, part of the HIV Story Project, aims to get conversation flowing about how HIV/AIDS have affected different generations by allowing people to record questions, answers or stories about the diseases within the booth.

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Parents rally to save child development center

Jerold Chinn, SF Public Press — Jun 14 2010 - 6:33pm

The Children's Village Child Development Center will soon shut its doors as the San Francisco Archdiocese sold the property to a group of investors. At least 40 kids will be displaced when the center closes on August 31. Parents are trying to find ways to keep the center open, but have been unable to come to any agreement with the church or the new owners of the property.

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Census methods could provide lift to hidden homeless

T.J. Johnston, SF Public Press — Feb 1 2010 - 4:43pm

The 2010 Census may address an old problem in dealing with San Francisco’s homeless population by getting an accurate head count. The city’s homeless figures have ranged between about 6,500 and 8,600 people in the last decade, but the real number is anybody’s guess. The sketchy knowledge of who is living on the street has been a big impediment to perennial attempts to solve the crisis.

Juneteenth festival brings awareness to Bay Area African-American community

Hank Drew, The Public Press — Jun 19 2009 - 1:52pm

The 59th annual San Francisco Juneteenth activities will begin this weekend with a community and media reception event Saturday at 12 p.m. Visit http://www.sfjuneteenth.org/service.htm. The San Francisco festival is the largest gathering of African-Americans in Northern California and began in the early '50s when Wesley Johnson Sr., once owner of the Texas Playhouse on Fillmore Street, invited all Bay Area African-Americans to celebrate June 19 in his lounge.

While big banks sink, microcredit thrives

Ambika Kandasamy, The Public Press — Apr 7 2009 - 2:52pm

While giant financial service institutions in the nation are shirking under the iron hand of the economy, microcredit organizations are seeing an opposite trend — the number of lenders has been steadily increasing.

Kiva, a Web-based microcredit non-profit in San Francisco, had a record month in February as its total monthly lending soared past $3.8 million.