Voices of the Community

"I think that there is a recognition that we're all interconnected and that this area is important. It's essential for, the City and the region. I think that there is a, great opportunity for all these groups to come together and to build something great." - Chris Wright This episode focuses on the impact the COVID 19 pandemic is still having on the city of San Francisco's downtown community area....

"We are taking charge of our community. And Dr. Aboelata has coined this phrase years ago, healing our community from within. And we do have to look into ourselves to help heal what ills our communities"-Aquil Naji Over the past two-plus years, our community health care centers have faced many challenges in an ever-changing landscape, forcing them to adapt and evolve their outreach and delivery of...

“Zoe is grappling with how to be an adult or starting to be an adult in a world in which she feels, there's not really a space for her to imagine a future”- Alicia MP Nelson as Zoe In this episode, we are following back up with The San Francisco Mime Troupe who we interviewed two years ago in episode four . Back in June of 2020 with the beginning of the pandemic, Michael Gene Sullivan shared with...

" CalNonprofits was pushing for relief for the sector and contract flexibility so that we could be as responsive as possible to our communities while they were dealing with the pandemic ”- Lucy Salcido Carter We know from our interview in January 2021 with Jacob Harold and Anna Koob of Candid that from their extensive study they estimated that over 4 thousand nonprofits in California could go out...

“First responders save lives; second responders help put people’s lives back together. Artists are essential workers in our society and our economy, helping us recover, reflect, and rebuild”-Julie Baker This episode is focused on the importance and economic impact of the arts, culture and artists on both our economy and our communities.  We are hosting a panel of guests from the San Francisco Arts...

It's just understanding that, life is tenuous. Life is hard and, sometimes people need help and it's all okay - David Goodman Over the past two years of producing this special series, we have brought you stories from nonprofits working on some of our long-term social issues such as homelessness, housing, hygiene, and mental health.  In this one-hour-long special show, we wanted to turn our focus b...

“They want housing to allow them to build their lives up from there…” - Poly Pop-Tart At the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020, we featured Sammie Rayner and Community Forward SF’s work in episode 5 and with our unhoused trans-gender, LGBTQ, and people female-identify community members. In this episode, we bring Sammie back along with Felicia Torrez from Community Forward SF...

"We have to give them something to do. You know, if you're just sitting there and this is what you see, this is who you become..." - Phyllis Opara Welcome to our one-hour special on the importance of education especially to the low income youth in our communities. We explore how the combination of the covid-19 pandemic and economic meltdown has impacted the support services of an Oakland legacy ed...

"I think that housing is just fundamental and it's, unfortunately, not really a right, right now in our country" - Dan Sawislak  Since 1970 California has not been building enough housing especially affordable housing.  The latest estimate of California's housing shortages ranges from 3 to 4 million housing units. This decades-long lack of housing impacts both the estimated 160 thousand unhoused C...

"If there is anything that I've seen transformed in the past 19 months, is that more and more people are unwilling to accept what we previously accepted as normal."- Yuan Wang In this episode, our featured voices are the co-founder and director of Blue Heart Lindley, Mease and co-director of a APIENC Yuan Wang. This episode is focused on sharing the work of two grassroots organizations Blue Heart...

"We believe in investing in the real potential of every individual in the community" - Joe Wilson In this episode our featured voices are the Executive Director of Hospitality House Joe Wilson, the Director of Community Engagement of Hospitality House Windy Click and the Manager of Hospitality House’s Community Arts Program Janet Williams. Hospitality House is a San Francisco based nonprofit that...

"It's really about connecting with your community and knowing the people around you that want you to survive and in turn supporting those other small businesses". Kristin Houk, All Good Pizza, Taco, Cafe Alma In our October 2021 One Hour Special Show co-produced with the American Marketing Association SF Chapter hear from small business owners,  Michelle Pusateri  ( Nana Joes Granola ) and  Kriste...

For all of us remembering that the performing arts is kind of like the town square, that everyone comes to better understand their humanity, whether it's through music or dance performance, to interpret the world as it is. And as they want it to be, and they want to see themselves.” - Michael Sullivan Welcome to our September 2021 virtual live panel discussion show. Given the fourth wave of COVID...

“I feel like George has brought together the pieces of a puzzle of equity with people, your organizations are approaching it from the arts, and from hygiene and literacy, it's just, lovely to see these different nonprofits surviving in this very difficult time and doing such great work”- Risa Our featured voices are Executive Director of Simply the Basics, Meghan Freebeck, Interim Executive Direct...

"The Tiny Homes project was going on during the Trump administration and and during and COVID and, it was really a means of people, expressing and keeping hope alive at a time when they were not feeling so much hope" - Sally In this episode the featured voices are the Executive Director of the Youth Spirit Artworks Sally Hindman and the Social Media Manager Reginald Gentry. We wanted to host Youth...

"We want to expand the artists footprint and not just preserve what we have, but create more studio space for artists and make this the place where the creative people of San Francisco can thrive and afford to be" - Barbara  In this episode our focus and theme is on our artists, and how making art and community engagement is supporting the development of studio spaces to support both our artists a...

"I think there's a big learning about like the fragility and humanity and all our interactions. Right. And recognizing that we all belong to each other" - Nils In this episode we wanted feature the voice of a legacy social service organization that’s approach to providing a hand up to our low-income and unhoused community members is that of seeing them as guests and walking with them on their jour...

"As the San Francisco Bay Area experienced its rapid changes as the population exploded. And in some ways, even as a diversity in the bay area exploded the folks who you didn't see, in those new faces, those new careers, those new ways of being where black and brown folks, particularly legacy and long time black and brown Oaklanders"-Noni Sessions In this episode our featured voice is the Executiv...

"I think we all realize from the pandemic we all belong. We all matter. Human connection is very important and we all have to look out for each other"- Mahogany Roland In this episode our featured voice is the Executive Director of  Rebuilding Together San Francisco  Mahogany Roland. In this week’s show we continue our focus and theme on housing and share voices and solutions to our long-term hous...

For folks out on the streets, those who were not lucky enough to get a Shelter In Place hotel room. It's been very, very brutal, not having access to water. A lot of the food sources were cut off not being able to use bathrooms in cafes, et cetera - Jennifer Friedenbach Our featured voices in this episode are the Executive Director of the Coalition on Homelessness, Jennifer Friedenbach and Street...

I think sometimes people make the assumption that if someone is unhoused, there's nothing in common with someone who's housed. And that's a real misnomer because I feel like we're all, ultimately one paycheck away from being unhoused - Jen Roy In this episode, our featured voices are the Founder and CEO of Miracle Messages, Kevin Adler, Miracle Messages Friend Program volunteer Jen Roy along with...

“These are people often who are experiencing homelessness, who use the ICU as a waiting room”- Kevin Adler In this episode our featured voices are the Founder and CEO of Miracle Messages Kevin Adler and the Director of Community Engagement with the San Francisco Marin Food Bank Katy McKnight.  We are working on a full half hour show for next week’s KSFP broadcast on July 22nd with Kevin and two gu...

“We've definitely been listening to the needs of artists and artists of color not only opening ourselves up as a venue for them, but also making sure that we're helping them be successful out in the grand world”- Ashley In this episode, our featured voice is the Program Manager of the Bayview Opera House Ashley Smiley. The Bayview Opera House Ruth Williams Memorial Theatre was founded in 1989 and...

“It's for the community. We're trying to serve the community. We all live here. You know, how are we going to serve our community going forward?” - Greg   In this episode, our featured voice is the president of the San Francisco Radio Club Greg Albrecht. The San Francisco Radio Club was formed in 1909 by a handful of radio enthusiasts with the objective of exchanging messages over the air. We want...

“I think just due to pervasive sexism, racism, classism in our society, the needs of under-resourced women of color are often overlooked”- Anu Menon In this episode, our featured voice is the Executive Director of Oasis for Girls Anu, Menon who shares about Oasis for Girls programs which are really modeled on youth development, best practices that show that girls really thrive when they have multi...