San Francisco’s fifth Black History Month Parade and Community Block Party will take place on February 24, 2024 from 11 am to 4 pm on 3rd Street in the Bayview. The parade begins at 3rd and Oakdale, and features black cowboys and dancing horses, floats, drummers, classic cars, dance teams, and much more. The parade ends at the South East Community Facility at 1550 Evans Street, where the Community Block Party begins at 12:30. The block party will activate the Community Facility with local food vendors, kids activities, aunties competing in a gumbo cooking contest hosted by Mr. Gumbo Social, line dancing for seniors, horseback riding, performances by Feline Finesse, Alphabet Rockers, and the Gumbo Band, a beat-making workshop with Hip Hop for Change, a classic car show, and much more! The events are free and open to the public, and support small businesses and community in the Third Street corridor. Free registration is optional, and if you pre-register you can get special Black History Month giveaways at our information booth.
Please help make this community event a joyous success by volunteering. Volunteers who complete a shift will get lunch. For more information about volunteer opportunities and to sign up, click here.
Twin Peaks is one of San Francisco’s best-known public spaces. It has been a City landmark for centuries. When surveyor Jasper O’Farrell laid out Market Street in 1847 he aligned it to Twin Peaks. It is a popular spot with visitors as well as locals and immediate neighbors.
Twin Peaks is also one of the City’s outstanding natural areas. It provides habitat for San Francisco’s diverse native plants and animals, including the endangered Mission Blue Butterfly.
Twin Peaks’ public lands are owned and managed by five separate City agencies – the Recreation and Parks, Real Estate, and Public Works departments, SF Municipal Transportation Agency, and the SF Public Utilities Commission. These agencies do coordinate some activities, but they have never worked together on a plan for conserving, improving, managing, and accessing Twin Peaks.
Livable City is undertaking a planning effort for Twin Peaks, in partnership with three American Indian organizations – the American Indian Cultural District, Association of Ramaytush Ohlone, and The Cultural Conservancy. Robin Chiang and Associates will be the lead designers. The plan will engage neighbors, visitors, San Francisco’s American Indian community, and public agencies. The project is funded by a grant from the City’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development. We will seek to understand how people use and experience Twin Peaks now, what they would like to see conserved and improved, and explore options for a visitors center, access, connections, and governance. We will engage several important questions:
How can people and enjoy Twin Peaks open spaces while respecting the area’s outstanding habitat and its neighbors?
Would new or improved facilities improve the Twin Peaks experience?
How should Twin Peaks be managed and governed?
How can we improve safe, comfortable, and accessible and sustainable transportation options to Twin Peaks?
Based on the input we receive and the conversations we have, we will present a plan with options and recommendations to the community and the City.
First public workshop
We held a first public workshop on July 13, where we presented how Twin Peaks is currently managed, approved plans and projects currently underway, and discussed opportunities to improve access, experience, and care for the land, as well as draft planning principles to guide development of the plan. A pdf version of the presentation is available here.
Second public workshop
We held a second public workshop on Saturday, November 23rd from 10:30 to 12:30 pm at the Noe Valley Library, 451 Jersey Street. We presented draft recommendations for Twin Peaks, as well as designs for the Christmas Tree Point overlook and gateways to Twin Peaks’ public open spaces. The workshop presentation can be viewed here.
Notes from the two public meetings can be viewed here.
We can also attend your meetings or organize an on-site tour with you; contact us to set something up.
Draft Plan
The draft plan for public review is available here. We invite comments and questions, and any received by January 15 will inform the final report. We will then finalize the plan and submit it to the City at the end of January.
On December 16, Feeding 5000 delivered over 6,000 holiday meals to San Francisco households. Livable City partnered with the San Francisco African American Faith-Based Coalition, a coalition of 21 predominantly African American churches. Other partners included the San Francisco Human Rights Commission’s Dream Keeper Initiative and the San Francisco Department of Public Health.
Nearly 200 volunteers showed up to transform a parking lot into a one-day food distribution hub, loading turkeys and boxes of fresh fruits and vegetables and holiday groceries into trucks for distribution at churches across the City.
Too many San Francisco households experience food insecurity and community health disparities. Feeding 5000 helps every household in the City to enjoy a healthy, tasty, and nourishing holiday meal together. Livable City and our partners will present Feeding 5000 again in the 2024 holiday season. To keep up to date sign up for our e-news. To volunteer for Feeding 5000 and similar community-serving events, register at our volunteer page.
It’s SF’s #1 Holiday Happy Hour featuring Dozens of Retail Vendors & Local Businesses, Food Trucks, a massive Kids Wonderland & Live Music!
Relax after work and enjoy our Indoor/outdoor Cocktail Social for the 21 & up with L ive performances by Legendary Soul Singer, Dave Hollister & Gospel Star, Ashling Cole plus the Bay’s own Cherronda G and Shannie S.
The free, family attractions begin with the magic and joy at the Kids Winter Wonderland as Gene Suttle Plaza is transformed into a real-life snow globe with faux-snow, games & train ride, arts & crafts, photos with Santa and so much more.
Your love and admiration for San Francisco empowers organizations like ours to advocate for a more just and healthy city. Looking back on Livable City’s work in 2023, can you believe that this one small organization can produce joyous street festivals, foster community-led changes in the streetscape for safety and health, and advocate for policy changes necessary for more affordable housing? Please consider volunteering or donating to grow our impact even more.
Looking to the next five years, Livable City’s growing presence will enable us to make powerful contributions to improve the feasibility of building sanely-priced housing, ease the bureaucratic burden for communities seeking to activate their streets and public spaces, strengthen the ability of the African American and other historically marginalized communities to claim space for cultural and economic resurgence, and encourage grassroots leadership of streetscape changes that will foster vibrant cultural and commercial hubs.
This is a critical time to lead Livable City. The tragic impacts of the pandemic, police killings of Black people, and extreme weather are creating a renewed impetus to move the livability agenda forward. As we grapple with the repercussions of historical wrongs on our loved ones and the planet, our hearts and minds are moving toward a better place, recognizing the need to celebrate and protect our collective existence. I am excited because it seems that every day we learn of another City department, business leader, or community organization that is joining the effort to reclaim San Francisco for people and the life that is all around us. Along with Tom Radulovich, who will continue to work on policy and advocacy here at LC, and our entire staff and Board of Directors, I look forward to engaging existing and new friends in the movement to create a San Francisco that welcomes everyone back to live in health, joy, and justice, and that again will be a beacon for progressive change.
There are three ways you can help foster a just, healthy, and joyful San Francisco:
Please donate. Livable City is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and all donations are fully tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. Additionally, Livable City can now accept donations of stock. Contact [email protected].
Register to volunteer at open streets events like Sunday Streets or the Juneteenth Freedom Day Parade.
Register to volunteer for advocacy efforts related to more affordable housing, easing community access to activating public space, and reclaiming space for communities driven out of the City in recent decades.
Thank you for your support and for believing in San Francisco! Best regards,
Our Sunday Streets season may have come to an end, but the memories and connections we’ve made will last a lifetime. From rocking performances to creative activities, this season was filled with unforgettable highlights. To every neighborhood, vendor, performer, and participant who joined us this season, we couldn’t have done it without you.
Check out the highlights below and keep the good vibes going by sharing your @SundayStreets story on social media with #SundayStreetsSF.
Open Streets For The People, By The People
Sunday Streets SF came to the Bayview, Tenderloin, Mission/Valencia, Western Addition, and Excelsior neighborhoods with open streets filled with music, dance, cultural performances, food, games and play space for kids and grown-ups. Sunday Streets also provided 100,000+ attendees access to health, housing, education, and employment resources in their own neighborhoods while having fun.
Each community block party, ciclovía open streets event, and the 3rd Annual Phoenix Day was developed and presented in partnership with a neighborhood-based organization to create a festive, culturally reflective space for all to enjoy. A few highlights include:
Bayview kicked off the season with a marketplace featuring local food and retail vendors, a live stage and music brought by Bayview Hunters Point YMCA, and resources up and down Galvez Ave from Mendell St to Phelps St including Youngblood-Coleman Playground.
The Western Addition featured a brand new route on Golden Gate Ave with live music performances on stage and a local food program near Collective Impact. Attendees explored a variety of community and livability resources along the vibrant Buchanan Street Mall. The Buchanan YMCA offered senior yoga classes, mini-games featuring basketball and soccer courtesy of SF Rebels and a giveaway by Kesh Cares.
Dozens of block captains set out to bring Phoenix Day to their own streets through the 3rd Annual Phoenix Day Block Party Program.
From knocking on doors to get neighbors to sign-on to recruiting volunteers to organizing potlucks, music, neighborhood clean-ups, and more, Phoenix Day block party hosts made their communities stronger and brought the Sunday Streets joy of playing in the streets across the City.
Thank you, Block Party Hosts, for being amazing stewards for San Francisco, community, and joy in our streets!
Volunteers & Staff Fueled The Fun
Hundreds of staff and volunteers took the streets to make Sunday Streets Phoenix Day come to life. From helping people cross the street to setting up tents to picking up trash to handing out lunches – staff and volunteers from Livable City, community partners, and the City brought the streets to life across SF with their creativity, love, and hard work.
This holiday season, Livable City joins the SF African American Faith-based Coalition in helping to provide food and resources; delivering holiday family meals to over 6,000 San Francisco households.
How can you help? Volunteer today! Send off packaged bags of food, gift cards, and health resources to San Francisco families this holiday season. Volunteer with Livable City for the 4th Annual Feeding 5000 Families on Saturday, December 16, 2023, from 8 AM to 4 PM (shorter volunteer shifts are available). The distribution will take place at Rafiki Coalition for Health and Wellness, 601 Cesar Chavez St., San Francisco, CA 94124.
City Wide Block PartiesMutiny Radio Comedy Festival | 21st St btw Florida St and Bryant StGLIDE Memorial Church | Ellis St btw Taylor St and Jones StOcean Ave CBD | Ashton Ave btw Ocean Ave and Pico AveSlow Street | Page St btw Fillmore St and Webster StSlow Street | Clayton St btw Grove St and Fulton StSlow Street | Lyon St btw Fulton St and Grove StSlow Street | 21st Ave btw Kirkham St and Judah StSlow Street | Sanchez St btw Clipper St and 26th StSlow Street | Sanchez St btw 28th St and Duncan StSlow Street | 17th Ave btw Lawton St and Moraga StPiedmont St btw Delmar St and Ashbury StSeymour St btw Golden Gate Ave and Turk StWawona St btw Taraval St and Ulloa St
Self-Guided City Wide Bike RouteAll routes begin at Sunday Streets Excelsior with scheduled stops at block parties along the way and a final stop at the First Anniversary of Car-free JFK Drive. Scan the code to view the bike routes and event locations on Google Maps.
ROUTE A: Ride with KidSafe, Livable City, and SFMTA! Route A will take the riders through block parties in the Slow Streets Network, including Slow Sanchez, Page Slow Street, Lyon Street, and Clayton Street. The group will meet at Excelsior Coffee at 11:30 AM and leave for the Page Slow Street Block Party together. Families and individuals can expect to meet the group at Page Slow Street Block Party at 1:30 PM and head to the rest of the stops.
ROUTE B: Cruise along the west side with this mostly flat option. Before landing at the JFK Promenade, this ride will take you through the block parties on Ashton Avenue, Slow Streets on 21st Avenue, and 17th Avenue.
ROUTE C: Adventure through the City with this dynamic option to explore Bayview’s Fall Fest at the India Basin Shoreline Park, Mutiny Radio’s Comedy Festival, Youth Art Exchange Open House in the Mission, and GLIDE’s Block Party in the Tenderloin. This route is for experienced bikers determined to see all Phoenix Day offers.
NORTH HUB ACTIVITY HIGHLIGHTS Hands-on science activities with Mission Science Workshop ‧ SF Public Library Excelsior Branch open house & Bookmobile book giveaway ‧ Free vaccines with Dept of Public Health/Visit Healthcare with other health Screenings and resources ‧ Saint Pigeon @ The Recovery Room with Friends of JGA
EXHIBITORS: Alcoholics Anonymous ‧ Alternative Family Services Foster Care and Adoption Agency ‧ Bay Area Air Quality Management District / Spare the Air ‧ Bay Area Cancer Connections ‧ Bay Wheels ‧ Book Wagon SF ‧ Bright Knights Chess Club ‧ Combat Krav Maga SF ‧ Dare 2 Dream LLC ‧ Dolores Street Community Services – Home Support & Companionship ‧ Embarcadero Rowing Club ‧ Food & Water Watch ‧ Habitat for Humanity Greater SF ‧ Home Match SF, a Front Porch Community Service ‧ Institute on Aging ‧ Mental Health Association of SF ‧ National Financial Literacy Campaign ‧ Nature in the City ‧ Our Water Our World ‧ Positive Coaching Alliance ‧ SaveMUNI ‧ SF Clean City ‧ SF Democratic Party ‧ SF Dept of Public Health CHEP Healthy Eating Active Living & Visit Healthcare Mobile Vaccine ‧ SF District 11 Democratic Club ‧ SF Municipal Transportation Agency Sales Van & Vision Zero Outreach ‧ SF Public Works ‧SF Recreation & Parks Coyote Coexistence Campaign ‧ SF Transit Riders ‧ SF State University Nursing Students Association ‧ SF Unified School District Shared Schoolyard Program ‧ UCSF Memory and Aging Center Community Outreach Program ‧ Livable City & Sunday Streets Info Booth LIVE
MUSIC & PERFORMANCE: Frances Ancheta’s singer/songwriter corner ‧ Saint Pigeon
BRICK & MORTAR ACTIVATIONS: All My People x Eseph ‧ Boys & Girls Clubs of SF, Excelsior ‧ Jerry Day / Friends of JGA ‧ Mission Neighborhood Health Center ‧ Mission Science Workshop ‧ OMI Cultural Participation Project ‧ On Lok PACE ‧ SF Campus for Jewish Living ‧ SF Public Library Excelsior Branch & Mobile Outreach Services ‧ SF SPCA
LOCAL EATERIES ALONG THE ROUTE Aloha Hawaiian Barbecue ‧ Amami Sushi Bistro ‧ An Chi ‧ Andrea’s Bakery ‧ Ann’s Doughnut Coffee Shop ‧ Bottoms Up Bar & Lounge ‧ Bravo Pizza ‧ Café Guatemalteco ‧ Coco’s Bar ‧ Cumaica Coffee ‧ Do Eat ‧ Double Shot Coffee ‧ El Gran Taco Loco ‧ Ensenada ‧ Excelsior Coffee ‧ Freshito ‧ FrosTea Café ‧ Gentilly ‧ Glaze Donuts ‧ Good Orchard Bakery ‧ Hawaiian Drive Inn ‧ Hong Kong Bakery ‧ Little Joe’s Pizza ‧ Mamá Mari’s Taqueria ‧ Media Cancha ‧ Mexico Tipico ‧ Mr. T Café ‧ New Royal Bakery ‧ North Beach Pizza ‧ Pampanguena ‧ Princess Bakery ‧ Pupusería Metapán ‧ Recovery Room ‧ Restaurante San Vicente ‧ Rincon Latino ‧ Rocks Den ‧ Sweet Delight Bakery ‧ Taqueria El Farolito ‧ Taqueria Guadelajara ‧ Taqueria Vallarta ‧ Tea Plus Tea Bar ‧ TS Café ‧ Zabb Thai Cuisine
PERSIA TRIANGLE ACTIVITY HIGHLIGHTS Music stage & outdoor dining by Excelsior and Outer Mission Merchants Association & Excelsior Action Group ‧ SF Human Rights Commission Hula Hoop & Chalk Block & Fingersnaps Media Arts ‧ Meet Bay FC ‧ Retail Marketplace
EXHIBITORS: ACLU of Northern California ‧ Affirm Your Transformation ‧ Bay FC ‧ Bayview S.O.L. ‧ Black Women Revolt Against Domestic Violence ‧ City EMT ‧ Community Living Campaign ‧ Community Tech Network ‧ Lick-Wilmerding High School ‧ Monkeybrains Internet ‧ Parents for Public Schools of SF ‧ SF Elections ‧ SF District Attorney’s Office Victim Services ‧ SF Environment ‧ SF Human Rights Commission ‧ SF Municipal Transportation Agency ‧ SF Rebels ‧ SOMCAN ‧ Xfinity ‧ Sunday Streets Check-in
LIVE MUSIC : Fingersnaps Media Arts ‧ Lazer Beam ‧ Los Mendoza Y Friends ‧ Radio Veloso ‧ The Treacherous Two
BRICK & MORTAR ACTIVATIONS: Cayuga Neighborhood Improvement Association ‧ Coleman Advocates ‧ Community Well ‧ Excelsior Action Group ‧ Excelsior and Outer Mission Merchants Association ‧ Excelsior Legal Collaborative Legal Assistance to the Elderly ‧ Filipino Community Center ‧ Open Door Legal ‧ PODER
RETAIL VENDORS: Ever Upward Productions ‧ Lisbon Street Boutique ‧ Liv’s Vida Boutique pop-up ‧ Mission Lotería ‧ SF City Football Club ‧ Xicana Out Loud ‧ Xpresion Cultural
SOUTH HUB ACTIVITY HIGHLIGHTS Family Connections Center 30th Anniversary Celebration with bounce house, live music, circus performers, and kid-friendly fun ‧ soccer drills with Street Soccer USA SF ‧ Mobile dog adoption with Finding A Best Friend Rescue ‧ Scouting BSA Scouts Zone ‧ Dance with Bloco Pirata ‧ All-day jam with SF Rock Project, Midnite Flyte Jazz, and more
EXHIBITORS: Be The Match ‧ Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County Refugee Foster Care ‧ City College of SF ‧ Cub Scout Pack 88 ‧ Exploratorium ‧ Finding A Best Friend Rescue ‧ Girl Scouts of Northern California ‧ Cristo Rey Academy ‧ Scouting BSA ‧ SF Dept of Child Support Services ‧ SF Parent Coalition ‧ SF Recreation & Parks Mobile Rec ‧ SisterWeb – SF Community Doula Network ‧ St. James Catholic School ‧ St. Peter’s School ‧ Street Soccer USA SF ‧ The Colores Painting Co Inc ‧ UCSF Children’s Health Hut (CHH) ‧ Wu Yee Children’s Services ‧Sunday Streets Info Booth & Medics
LIVE MUSIC & PERFORMANCE: Bloco Pirata ‧ etaoin shrdlu ‧ Midnite Flyte Jazz ‧ Reverse DNA Band ‧ SF Rock Project
BRICK & MORTAR ACTIVATIONS: Clinic by the Bay ‧ Community Youth Center ‧ Daring Faith / Trinity First Churches ‧ Excelsior Works ‧ Family Connections Center ‧ Italian American Social Club ‧ Mission Child Care Consortium, Inc. ‧ Mission Neighborhood Centers Inspiring Success Homelessness Prevention ‧ Mission YMCA of SF
On Sunday, September 24, 2023, Sunday Streets SF will host the Western Addition Community Block Party, creating a car-free recreational destination on Golden Gate Ave., between Laguna St. and Webster St., and the Buchanan Street Mall Park in the Western Addition for the whole family to enjoy.
Check-out the activity guide below and visit SundayStreetsSF.com/WesternAddition.
Activity Guide
ACTIVITY HIGHLIGHTS
LIVE MUSIC PERFORMANCES ON STAGE & FOOD PROGRAM near Collective Impact with more community & livability resources along the Buchanan Street Mall
HEALTH & RECREATION Get active with Mobile Rec rock-climbing wall by SF Recreation and Parks, Buchanan YMCA senior yoga classes, and basketball & soccer mini-games with SF Rebels and Street Soccer USA SF
KIDS & SCHOOL RESOURCES with Wu Yee Children’s Services, SF Public Library & Kesh Cares giveaway
EXHIBITOR GUIDE
ACLU of Northern California • African American Parent Advisory Council – AAPAC • Alcoholics Anonymous • Alternative Family Services Foster Care and Adoption Agency • Bay Area Air Quality Management District / Spare the Air • Bay Area Cancer Connections • Bay Wheels • Black Women Revolt Against Domestic Violence • Booker T. Washington Community Service Center • Boys & Girls Clubs of SF • Buchanan YMCA • CCL San Francisco • Children’s Council of San Francisco • Citizen Film + Opportunity Hub • City College of San Francisco • City EMT • Combat Krav Maga SF • Community Living Campaign • Covered California + Medi-Cal • Dare 2 Dream LLC • Dolores Street Community Services – Home Support & Companionship • El Bethel Church • Embarcadero Rowing Club • Exploratorium • Girl Scouts of Northern California • Honey Art Studio • ICA Cristo Rey Academy • iHeartRadio • Kesh Cares • Laurel Hill Nursery School • Livable City Info Booth • Mental Health Association of SF • Mission Cultural Center of Latino Arts • NICOS Chinese Health Coalition • Open Door Legal • Our Water Our World • Parents for Public Schools of San Francisco • Positive Coaching Alliance • Rebuilding Together SF • Rising Sun Center for Oppoortunity • ROV Tour • SaveMUNI • SF Capoeira Academy • SF Democratic Socialists of America • SF Dept. of Child Support Services • SF Dept. of Elections • SF Public Library Bookmobile & Western Addition Branch • SF Public Works • SF Rebels • SF School of Massage & Bodywork • SF Tobacco Free Project • SF Democratic Party • SF District Attorney’s Office – Victim Services • SF Human Rights Commission & Hula Hoops & Chalk Block • SF Parent Coalition • SF Recreation & Parks – Mobile Rec • SFMTA & Vision Zero • SFSU Nursing Students Association • SFUSD Educational Placement Center & Shared Schoolyard Program • SisterWeb – SF Community Doula Network • SSUSA San Francisco • St. James Catholic School • Success Centers • Sunday Streets Info Booth & Medics • The Colores Painting Co. Inc. • The Plenary, Co. • UCSF & Memory and Aging Center Community Outreach Program • Wu Yee Children’s Services • Xfinity
LOCAL FOOD & RETAIL VENDORS
Dreamer Boyz • EkLyPzE EnFuZhEnZ • Gourmonade • Limau&Co • On The Ground Catering • Quanies • Sam’s Gourmet Jams • Signature Innovation • SirhandsstreetFoodz • The Geez Freeze • The Real Big Mama’s LLC • URBAN VALLEY • Val’s Hosiery
MUSIC & ENTERTAINMENT
Midnite Flyte Jazz & DJ • San Francisco Rock Project • Catherine DeNuvaring & Mutiny Radio Comedy Show inside Rosa Parks Senior Center
