Transformation Plan

Transcription

Transformation Plan
Vis Vision
A Transformation Plan for
San Francisco’s Sunnydale
and Visitacion Valley
OCTOBER 2014
Acknowledgements
COMMUNITY PLANNING SESSIONS
Economic Mobility
Eddy Lee
Greg Asay
Jason Heckler
Kelvin Johnson
Nabihah Azim
Emily Claassen
David Mauroff
DCYF
OEWD
Resident
FACESSF
Mercy Housing
Mercy Housing
McCormack Baron Salazar
Laura Critchfield
HeartBeets
Education
Acknowledgements
2
Athena Harven
Alice Chan
Ruby Smith
Olivia Taylor
Setu Petaia
Scott Brown
Silvia Cordero
Dorick Scarpelli
Micaela Reece
David Fernandez
Emily Claassen
Nabihah Azim
Larry Jones
Theresa Wilson
Curt Yagi
Health & Wellness
David Fernandez
Emily Claassen
Nabihah Azim
Audrey Roderick
Mario Rosas
Kristen Shawnte Beck
James Lewis
Roshawn Lafu Semaneu
Safety
TURF
SF Public Library
Resident
Resident
SCDC
SFUSD
SFUSD/El Dorado
5 Keys Charter
YMCA
Mercy Housing
Mercy Housing
Mercy Housing
Mercy Housing
Boys & Girls Club
ROCK
We extend our thanks to all those who participated in the creation of this plan
Dorothy-Joan Curry
Rani Singh
Setu Petaia
Diana Olivia-Aroche
Cheeko Wells
Jonathen Massox
Rena Ilasa
Francisco Ferra
Amor Santiago
Cortez Anderson
Willy Ward
Jim Trail
Mike Peregoy
Robert Cowen
David Mauroff
Diana Bradford
Housing
Mercy Housing
Mercy Housing
Mercy Housing
Urban Sprouts
WSF
DPH
Peer Leader/Resident
Peer Leader/Resident
Peer Leader/Resident
Peer Leader/Resident
River of Life Church
SFDA
SCDC
Mayor’s Office of Crime and Safety
Health Right
DPH
Adult Probation SF
VVSF
VVSF
Resident
Resident
SFPD
SFPD
River of Life Church
McCormack Baron Salazar
River of Life Church
The 500 Sunnydale and Visitacion Valley
Community members who participated in the
Master Planning process
Samoan Speaking Seniors
Vaoita Taylor
Otila Uagolile
Tusitala Tietie
Vasa Palega
Parawu Talanoa
Seu Lafaele
Loini Lafaele
Asoiva Faatau
Faatafa Matuu
Atvevilli Seuseu
Filit Uifu
Patanife Oufn
Simalua Taiauu
Telesia Sefilino
Eseta Afalava
Salua Vaifale
Faafetai Boomhower
Aunao Sala Uiagalalei
Resident
Resident
Resident
Resident
Resident
Resident
Resident
Resident
Resident
Resident
Resident
Resident
Resident
Resident
Resident
Resident
Resident
Resident
African American Young Men
Vaughan Davis
Resident
Tristean Duree
Resident
Marvin Williams Jr. Resident
Anthony Hodges Jr. Resident
Tyree Manuel Resident
Angel Sostre
Resident
SmokeyResident
Joe Joe
Resident
JayeResident
Chinese Speaking Adults
Resident
Resident
Resident
Resident
Resident
Resident
Resident
Resident
Resident
Resident
Resident
Resident
Resident
Resident
Resident
Resident
Resident
Resident
Resident
Resident
Resident
Resident
Resident
Resident
Resident
Spanish Speaking Adults
Carmen Ledezm
Beryha Perez
Sandra Monga
Sua Morew
Virginia Ruiz
Marcela Sosa
Edwin Tobar
Resident
Resident
Resident
Resident
Resident
Resident
Resident
The Loyal Butterfly Women’s Wellness Group
La Jeanae Thompson
Ms. Melody Anne White
Ms. Carolyn Ward
Ms. Sheila James
Ms. Judy Taylor
Ms. Tanya
Tomiko Spruell
Roshawn Finley
La Tanya Lowe
Dyesha Garner
Tatiana Solorazano
Davina Smith
VISVISION STAKEHOLDERS
CBO Collaborative Retreat
Zoey Rogers
Dorick Scarpelli
Lakland Long
Helen Hale
Pierre Stroud
Faye Henderson
Romonica Grayson
Micaela Reece
Lillian Lai
Ra’shena Martin
Amor Santiago
Jack Siu
Larry Jones
Patsy Harney
Nabihah Azim
David Fernandez
Neikiha Jones
Robert Cowan
Setu Petaia
Drew Jenkins
Angelica Flowers
Patsy Tito
Theresa Wilson
Curt Yagi
La’Jeana Thompson
Kristen Lyseggen
Kim Mitchel
Mercy Housing
5 Keys Charter
FACESSF
MOHCD
MOHCD
BUTLCFRC
STA/Resident
YMCA
YMCA
VVSF
VVSF
VVSF
Mercy Housing
Mercy Housing
Mercy Housing
Mercy Housing
Mercy Housing
River of Life Church
VVSF/SCDC
TURF
TURF
SCDC
Boys & Girls Club
ROCK
Loyal Butterflies
Photographer
TURF
3
Acknowledgements
Judy Taylor
Ernestine Chester
Latanaya Warren
Dorothy Forre
Romonica Grayson
Chanella Hunter
Maria Stewart
Lisa Lezcano
Tanisha Landry
Yu Qun Zhao
Hui Xiang Li
Huizken Huang
Dirun Thin
Chu Chung Liao
Jian Yan Li
Rier Eurue
Bi Fang Huang
Hui Chang Lin
Sirby Rus
Gemong Yue
Lue Ying Zhing
Juan Sitze
Jian Ming Huang
Miuon Shum
Rui Ying Zhen
Acknowledgements (continued)
Partners Acknowledgements
4
Tomiquia Moss
Mayor’s Office
Mayor’s Office
Malik Looper Mayor’s Office
Ronack Okoye Anne Romero
Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development
Pierre Stroud
Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development
Helen Hale Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development
Anne Griffith
Enterprise Community Partners
Enterprise Community Rich Gross
Partners
Ellie Rossiter
Campaign HOPE SF
Toni Autry
Housing Authority
Visitacion Valley Planning Alliance Fran Martin
Chris Barnett
Anne Seeman Marlene Tran
Resident
Resident
Resident
Resident
Heartbeets Consultants
Laura Critchfield Shelby Lanza
Sheila Pagcu Ria Espinoza
Lianna Chun
Anthony Williams Juanita Brown Jennifer Duenas
Katya Khan Loey Hargrovw
Facilitator Intern
Intern
Intern
Intern
Yoga Instructor Facilitator Intern
Architect Muralist Learning For Action Consultants Nancy Latham
Elba Garcia
Jasmin Serim
Sarah Illing
Stephanie Lloyd
Amy Fourrier
Valerie Okelola
Hannah Melnicoe
Svetha Janumpalli
Annie Dods
Liz Tang
Resident Surveyors
Breana Ball
James Lewis
Lafu Seumanu Roshawn Finley Development Team Doug Shoemaker
Lydia Tan
Bill Witte
David Fernandez Ramie Dare
Barbara Gualco Nabihah Azim
Larry Jones
Emily Claassen Tonja Boykin Jessica Soske Resident
Resident
Resident
Resident
Mercy Housing
Related Companies
Related Companies
Mercy Housing
Mercy Housing
Mercy Housing
Mercy Housing
Mercy Housing
Mercy Housing
Mercy Housing
Mercy Housing
Strategic Advisory Team
Captain Falvey
Carla Javits
David Fernandez
David Mauroff
Diana Olivia-Aroche
Doug Shoemaker
Emily Claassen
Fran Martin
Jessica Wolin
Larry Jones
Lydia Tan
Nabihah Azim
Phylis Strain
Principal Cordero
Principal Lee
Ramie Dare
Raymond Martin
Tomiquia Moss
Toni Autry
SFPD REDF
Mercy Housing Staff
McCormack Baron Salazar
Mayor’s Office of Safety
Mercy Housing Staff Mercy Housing Staff
Vis Valley Resident SF State
Mercy Housing
Related California
Mercy Housing Staff
Vis Valley Resident Eldorado Elementary Vis Valley Elementary Mercy Housing Staff
Sunnydale Resident
Mayor’s Office
SFHA
Tracy Parker
DPH
Youth Residents/Seedfolks Plan Creation and Documentation Team
EJP Consulting
Abbott Consulting
VMWP Architecture and Urban Design
Crook Beales Design
5
Acknowledgements
Armond King
Seedfolks
Emani Williams
Seedfolks
Haylee Seumanu
Seedfolks
Jonathan Green
Seedfolks
Kinglogostasi Ale
Seedfolks
Lamar Chappelle
Seedfolks
La’ Joy Spruell Seedfolks
Lakayla Gathron
Seedfolks
Mia Moore
Seedfolks
Natae Armstrong
Seedfolks
NyrishaBeasleySeedfolks
Olivia Austin
Seedfolks
Raymond Brown
Seedfolks
Saleena Ortiz
Seedfolks
Samson Laefele
Seedfolks
Talia Green
Seedfolks
Tristaen Duree
Seedfolks
Vereaye Louisville
Seedfolks
Contents
Executive Summary
Contents
6
7
Partners in Hope
15
Neighborhood History & Context 25
Neighborhood Plan
47
People Plan 61
Housing Plan 79
Implementation Plan
93
References 94
Appendices
107
Executive Summary
VisVision’s Big Picture
Transforming San Francisco’s Sunnydale
and Visitacion Valley
The Visitacion Valley neighborhood and its Sunnydale-Velasco
Housing project are within San Francisco, but they don’t always
have access to the vibrant economy and other advantages seen in
the rest of the City of San Francisco. Determined to change this,
Mercy Housing California and Related California have combined
forces to lead the planning and implementation of VisVision: the
People, Neighborhood and Housing plans for a comprehensive
transformation.
Executive Summary
8
Mercy and Related are partnering with Visitacion Valley residents,
community organizations and businesses, the City of San Francisco,
the San Francisco Housing Authority (SFHA) and many other
stakeholders under the umbrella of San Francisco’s HOPE SF
Initiative, a Citywide initiative to break the cycle of poverty at public
housing sites and create thriving, vibrant mixed-income communities
that benefit all residents. The VisVision Transformation Plan,
developed with the input and ideas of hundreds of Sunnydale and
Visitacion Valley (SVV) residents, aims to transform this community
into a safer, friendlier place with high-quality housing, inviting places
for recreation and healthy living, and new opportunities for lifelong
learning and development.
Visitacion Valley is far from the City center, and public transit
and workforce connections are insufficient. Unemployment at
Sunnydale is approximately 75% and the poverty rate for the
entire Visitacion Valley neighborhood is 29%. Typical educational
attainment at Sunnydale is at or below high school level, and the
educational trajectory for neighborhood children is troubling: Many
households don’t avail themselves of the City’s free Preschool for
All programs and children entering kindergarten are often illprepared; chronic absenteeism and truancy are serious problems
at the elementary school level; and the Visitacion Valley Middle
School is low-performing. Adult and youth residents often use the
emergency room for primary care and chronic ailments at rates up
to three times higher than City wide rates, and mothers get less
prenatal care than mothers Citywide. Chronically high crime rates in
the neighborhood create behavioral, social and economic distress
for its residents and businesses.
Community assessments highlight the barriers to neighborhood
integration: The unusual street and housing design isolate Sunnydale
from Visitacion Valley; language barriers inhibit dialogue with a
majority of Visitacion Valley residents speaking a primary language
other than English; cultural gaps further complicate communication
with more than 50% of Visitacion Valley residents born outside the
U.S. while over 40% of Sunnydale residents are African Americans
born in the U.S.
Critical to the success of the Transformation Plan is aligning common
interests and ensuring that community efforts cross-fertilize and result
in a cohesive Neighborhood.
Theory of Change
VisVision’s Transformation Plan builds on a place-based, shared
leadership approach that integrates HOPE SF’s efforts to bring
together City departments with Mercy/Related’s resident centered
community engagement. This approach will be implemented through
three Community Initiatives that strengthen Sunnydale and Visitacion
Valley, even before constructing new housing.
Adding together these innovative investments and their tangible
results will bring a “tipping point” in which the City ensures delivery
and assessment of effective programs and services, and Mercy/
Related spearheads construction of new housing and amenities.
This transformed neighborhood will be sustained by residents who
assume leadership with support from a cohesive community.
Sunnydale resident at a community event.
9
Executive Summary
VisVision Theory of Change
al governance
Loc
departmen
ts
City
d
an
SAFETY
FIRST,
HEALTH &
WELLBEING,
LEARNING &
EARNING
INITIATIVES
SHARED
LEADERSHIP
DISEMPOWERED
RESIDENTS AND
FRACTURED
COMMUNITIES
RESIDENT
LEADERSHIP
TIPPING
POINT
i d e n ts
V re s
,V
ie s
M
NEW HOUSING,
NEIGHBORHOOD
HUB, COMMUNITY
BENEFITS
S o ci a l c o h e
er
cy
an
Executive Summary
10
HO
PE
SF
ves
tive in tments
ova
n
In
Ho
u s i n g , R e la t e
o
dC
m
p
s
Tang
ible result
VISVISION
MODEL OF
SUSTAINABLE
NEIGHBORHOOD
TRANSFORMATION
sio
n
One Cohesive Neighborhood
People Make it Possible
The Neighborhood Plan seeks to unite these historically divided
communities into one thriving neighborhood through place-based
shared leadership. The community has identified the following
priorities for its Neighborhood VisVision:
VisVision’s People Plan represents a partnership with Sunnydale and
Visitacion Valley residents, service providers, and merchants. The
planning efforts thus far have built trust and developed agreement
on key initiatives to move the plan forward and achieve results that
everyone can see.
• Physical and Social Cohesion, building community hubs and
offering activities that bring diverse groups together
• Systems Alignment & Accountability, bringing the vast array of City
resources to Visitacion Valley through HOPE SF
• Resources, leveraging additional funding and services
• Sustainability, brought through community-driven decisionmaking, increased local capacity, and environmental improvements
• Resident and Community Empowerment, bringing in active
resident leaders at every point in the planning and implementation
• Collective Action, to implement a neighborhood governance model
Community members were engaged extensively in the Master
Planning and Community Planning phases of VisVision, and have
already seen results.
• Prevention, with strategies to prevent violence
• Enforcement, which creates a collaborative neighborhood
safety plan
• Restorative Justice, which looks to repair the harm caused by crime
• Community Wellbeing, which breaks down barriers
between residents
The Safety First Initiative has already reached hundreds of residents
in Sunnydale and Visitacion Valley. Bringing stakeholders together
along with law enforcement has seen a reduction in homicide rates
and an increase in violence prevention activities. Also underway are a
new police substation and expanded youth programming.
11
Executive Summary
Results from the Community Engagement process as well as research
into promising practices around the country highlight the importance
of addressing sensitive issues of race, class, culture, and trauma
if we are to realize the goals in this VisVision Plan. By building a
strong foundation based on areas of shared concern, Sunnydale and
Visitacion Valley residents should reach a point where trust and pride
overcome decades of inequity and conflict. Then, the community can
achieve a socially, economically cohesive and vibrant neighborhood
where residents enjoy economic, health and education equity.
Community Engagement for VisVision has emphasized:
Safety First Initiative
Violent crime in the neighborhood has divided residents from each
other and reinforced social and physical isolation and “turf” areas.
VisVision identifies four priorities:
VisVision Big Picture
Health & Wellbeing Initiative
VisVision implementation will contribute to a community of people
who are active and healthy and take care of themselves and each
other. Community identified priorities include:
• Physical Health, using Peer Leaders to increase access to high
quality care
• Mental Health, strengthening social cohesion through group
programs and service referral
• Self-Care, with technological tools, fresh foods, and other offerings
based on interests and needs
Executive Summary
12
Residents celebrate educational achievements.
Learning & Earning Initiative
Work during planning phases made clear that education and
employment are inextricably linked in Visitacion Valley. This resulted
in a combined Learning & Earning Initiative that brings in support
for people in every age group to reach their potential. The initiative
addresses gaps in education support and barriers to employment
using the following four priorities:
• Schools, with strategies to improve access to quality childcare,
and educational achievement in neighborhood schools from
Pre-Kindergarten through high school.
• Jobs & Workforce, to increase employment
• Arts & Environment, to support arts and environmental learning
with tangible community benefits
• Technology and Finances, with classes to improve financial and
technological literacy
Planning efforts and early action have already resulted in on-site
financial literacy classes and developing school partnerships.
• Community Health, developing resident leadership in health and
wellness activities
The Sunnydale Health and Wellness Center was launched in 2014 to
offer resident-centered services including blood-pressure checks, TB
tests, health education, and referrals to physical and mental health
care providers.
VisVision Big Picture
Implementation: One Shared Direction
Sunnydale is the City’s largest public housing site at 785 units on 50
acres. It anchors one side of Visitacion Valley and is characterized
by low-density barracks that suffer from years of under-funded
maintenance. The VisVision Housing Plan replaces all of Sunnydale’s
785 decrepit units with a new, mixed-income neighborhood of 1,700
high-quality, energy-efficient homes of diverse design and type,
affordable to a wide range of households. A housing “ladder” will be
created on site that will include one-for-one replacement of public
housing units, new tax credit affordable rental housing for working
families, and new homes for purchase, affordable to San Francisco’s
middle class, which is also suffering from the City’s housing crunch
and lack of supply.
In steering implementation, Mercy Housing and Related CA will rely
on input from Initiative Implementation Teams, Participant Teams,
and the Strategic Advisory Team. Together, these teams are a force
of residents, service providers, City agencies, philanthropy, and
innovative thinkers and leaders. Three Implementation Teams will
be launched in early 2015, engaging residents and on-the-ground
experts in Health, Safety, and Learning & Earning who will facilitate
creation of and implementation of Action Plans for each Community
Initiative. A Strategic Advisory Team will align these Community
Initiatives with resident and funder priorities; make budget and policy
recommendations; review research and evaluation outcomes; and
be far-reaching ambassadors for Visitacion Valley. Through the 2015
launch of Projects and meetings to re-engage community members
who participated in planning, and establishing a location to exhibit
the plan and its early results, bringing even more residents into
VisVision transformation process.
The new housing will be constructed in combination with all new
street and utility infrastructure, new parks and the new “hub” for
the entire Visitacion Valley neighborhood. The master plan for this
development is designed to reconnect Sunnydale and Visitacion
Valley physically through a new street and urban design, and
socially through a neighborhood hub of educational, recreational,
health and retail activities that will appeal to the diversity of
neighborhood residents.
The build out of this master plan will be in phases, which will allow
existing residents to be temporarily relocated into vacant units on
site or in the neighborhood during their construction phase. All
existing households in good standing (lease compliant) at the time
of their relocation will be given the opportunity to move into a newly
constructed apartment. These households will retain a preference
over other eligible households even if they have received permanent
relocation benefits.
At a city level, HOPE SF leaders are currently developing a common
set of goals and metrics for HOPE SF sites that will be used to
evaluate progress over time. HOPE SF’s data and evaluation
consultant, Learning for Action (LFA), collected baseline data that
allows individual sites to track progress and to use early outcomes to
inform their development efforts.
By embracing this community-centered approach to transformation,
it is our hope and expectation that not only will isolated and longdivided communities become a thriving, cohesive neighborhood,
but also that everyone within the neighborhood will benefit from San
Francisco’s abundant and expanding resources and opportunities.
13
Executive Summary
Sunnydale Housing and Master Plan
14
Partners in Hope
The HOPE SF Initiative,
Mercy Housing, and
Related Companies
The HOPE SF Initiative
VisVision is a Transformation Plan for Sunnydale and Visitacion Valley
that has been developed under the umbrella of HOPE SF, a San
Francisco initiative to transform public housing sites and the lives of
its residents. HOPE SF is led by the City and County of San Francisco
in partnership with the San Francisco Housing Authority and involves
a cross-section of city agencies that deliver health, education,
employment and human services. The philanthropic leader for the
Initiative is the Campaign for HOPE SF, a partnership of philanthropy,
business and civic leaders committed to supporting the Initiative with
resources and technical assistance.
Partners in Hope
16
Since 2007, HOPE SF development teams have been working on real
estate and human capital development activities under the Initiative.
HOPE SF will transform these highly distressed public housing sites in
San Francisco into vibrant neighborhoods by rebuilding the existing
2,500 public housing units one-for-one and building an additional
4,200 units of affordable and market-rate homes.
HOPE SF is a direct response to the circumstances informing the
Seven Street Corners Study, a 2005 analysis performed by San
Francisco’s Human Services Agency (HSA) to better understand
what was happening with vulnerable families involved in multiple
systems of care. When researchers mapped out where systeminvolved families were living, they found that the majority of children
removed from their families and placed in the care of the child
welfare system lived within short walking distance of seven street
corners. Five of the seven street corners were adjacent to public
housing sites: Hunters View, Alice Griffith, Potrero Annex/Terrace,
Sunnydale, and Westside Courts.
HOPE SF will create greater equity for San Francisco’s most
vulnerable and disadvantaged families living in dilapidated public
housing developments that have become concentrated pockets
of poverty in an otherwise prosperous city. The HOPE SF Theory of
Change outlines the four key strategies and expected impacts.
Active HOPE SF Sites
HOPE SF Theory of Change
HOPE SF ADDRESSES SERIOUS PROBLEMS…
•Environmental: HOPE SF properties are extremely
dilapidated with leaking plumbing, boarded-up
windows, vermin, mold, and non- functioning
appliances, and are in neighborhoods with poor
infrastructure.
THROUGH A UNIQUE APPROACH WITH IMPLICATIONS FOR ANTI-POVERTY
EFFORTS NATIONWIDE
•Previous efforts to keep original residents have fallen short; the HOPE SF approach will create
communities where residents will be able to stay and will want to stay. This approach includes:
— On-site relocation and incentives to get on lease
— Investment in community building and service connection on site and linking residents with
the surrounding community
•Social: HOPE SF communities are pockets of
concentrated poverty, unemployment, social isolation
and violence.
•Extensive and intensive public-private partnerships to develop mixed-income communities
•Health: The stresses of poverty, isolation, crime and lack
of economic opportunity mean poor health outcomes
for residents.
•Cross-site evaluation, launched at the start with data-sharing agreements in place across
city departments with implications for demonstrating effectiveness of physical and social
interventions on improved resident outcomes
— Partnerships with SFUSD to improve schools in the community
THEN
we can have
these IMPACTS:
AND
we undertake these STRATEGIES:
•Revitalization, community building
and service connection will create a
community where people of higher
income levels will want to live. Creating
mixed-income communities will improve
opportunities and outcomes for public
housing residents.
Replace obsolete public housing within mixed-income developments
•Neighborhoods with enhanced
safety, high quality infrastructure, and
nearby amenities reduce isolation,
support economic self-sufficiency, and
promote health.
•This long-term, two-generation strategy
of supporting adults through workforce
development and service connection,
while simultaneously improving
learning, health, and self- efficacy
among children, will help lift current
families out of poverty and create the
conditions for the next generation to
escape the cycle of poverty and achieve
their greatest potential.
•Create new affordable housing, leveraging public and private local and
national resources.
•Incorporate green and healthy site designs and units.
Improve social and economic outcomes for existing public housing residents
•Implement a Service Connection model to link residents with
needed services.
•Create economic opportunities through workforce development efforts and the
redevelopment process.
•Promote community building efforts within public housing sites.
•Provide resident training and capacity building to promote and sustain leadership
and engagement.
Create thriving, appealing neighborhoods desirable to people of all income levels by
introducing new amenities and enhancing existing community assets
•Integrate neighborhood improvement into the revitalization strategy.
•Build a strong sense of community within sites and between sites and surrounding
neighborhoods.
•Promote mixed-income communities, which will in turn support revitalization in
neighborhoods.
•The supply of highquality affordable
housing is increased.
•Residents are stably
housed, healthy, and
economically selfsufficient.
•Communities are
economically and
environmentally
sustainable.
•Children are free from
abuse and neglect.
•Mixed-income
communities thrive at
redevelopment sites.
•HOPE SF serves as a new
national model for public
housing revitalization.
LFA HOPE SF Baseline Report. Prepared by LFA Group: Learning for Action
17
Partners in Hope
IF
these HYPOTHESES are true:
Components of HOPE SF
C
HOPE SF is designed to achieve its goals through the following
initiative components.
Mixed-Income Community Development
Partners in Hope
18
HOPE SF redevelopment and revitalization plans include a mix of
public, affordable, and market-rate housing that will double the
density of housing units at the sites. Income limits for housing
units will range from public housing targeted at extremely lowincome households, to affordable rental housing for households
with incomes at 40–60% of Area Median Income, all the way to
market-rate housing. The developments will include both rental and
ownership housing, further increasing the diversity of these mixedincome communities.
Within each site, public housing units will be replaced one-forone with new, quality affordable rental units. Construction will be
completed in phases, enabling current residents to remain on
site and to move into the new units as they are built. This strategy
reflects the HOPE SF principle of prioritizing the needs of the current
residents of the HOPE SF sites, ensuring that they receive the full
benefits of redevelopment. Phased construction is intended to
minimize disruption for existing households and neighborhoods. Onsite relocation is also designed to enable as many current residents
as possible to take advantage of the opportunity to live in the
improved developments.
Top: Architectural rendering of the view from Sunnydale’s new community pavilion.
Above: Architectural rendering of a street in Sunnydale.
Components of HOPE SF
Community Building
To begin their extensive relationships with the residents at each
site, the developer teams have launched extensive community
building initiatives. At each site, community builders focus on
strengthening community among the residents by engaging them
on topics of importance and shared interest, such as public safety
and neighborhood schools. During the development process,
the community builders work to involve residents in important
aspects of site planning. They also work in partnership with
property management, service connectors and community-based
organizations to build community and strengthen social cohesion.
Service Connection
Face painting at the Sunnydale Holiday Party.
A guiding principle of HOPE SF is to involve residents at the highest
levels of participation, which includes engaging residents in planning
and implementing the transformation of their communities. Based on
resident input and the need for ongoing resident participation, HOPE
SF created a Leadership Academy. Through the Academy, residents
are introduced to housing development and community building
principles, and equipped with the necessary tools and information to
participate in the revitalization of their communities.
19
Partners in Hope
Leadership Development
In the HOPE SF model, service connectors at each site play a
specialized role in helping families navigate the complex array
of public and private services. The service connection model
purposefully links residents to specialized services in the surrounding
community, and to more general service needs that can be met on
site, like childcare. Service connectors conduct needs assessments
with each household, develop individual service plans, refer
individuals and families to services, and follow up to monitor service
enrollment, progress, and changing needs. A dedicated network of
social service providers supports service connectors, working actively
to meet resident needs.
HOPE SF Task Forces
In 2011, the Campaign for HOPE SF convened three cross-sector
Task Forces to develop goals, priorities, and strategies for making
significant improvement in resident outcomes in the three core areas
of Health, Education, and Economic Mobility. The Task Forces’ visions
and strategies are summarized below.
Vision for Health
HOPE SF will help create communities and homes in which
individuals and families reach and maintain health and wellness.
Goals for Health
• Residents live in socially-cohesive communities that support
meaningful community engagement, and resident leadership.
• Residents are safe from violence and unintended injuries, and the
resulting emotional trauma in their homes and in the community,
and healed from intergenerational trauma.
• Residents live in communities free from substance use and the
impact of untreated mental health conditions.
• Residents have health coverage and are well-connected to
preventative and primary healthcare services.
Partners in Hope
20
In addition to developing vision and strategies, the HOPE SF Task
Forces developed priorities for action in the short term that are
feasible and leverage resources already in place. At sites in or
nearing construction, the activities prepare residents for the changes
that come with the transformation of their communities. In the long
term, evidence based interventions responsive to resident needs, and
targeted activities that are sustainable over time will be developed.
Health
• Residents engage in increasingly healthy behaviors, and
participate in self-management of their chronic diseases and other
health conditions.
• Children and youth develop in healthy and resilient ways,
supported by their families and their neighbors to become the
next generation of hope.
• Residents live in homes that are healthy and built or maintained
with safe materials.
Health fair at Heritage Homes.
Components of HOPE SF
Department of Public Works participating at the Backpack Giveaway.
Education
Economic Mobility
Children enter kindergarten ready to succeed in school and youth are
prepared for success in college and career.
Increase the earned income and assets of HOPE SF residents.
Vision for Education
Goals for Education
• HOPE SF Residents aged 0–5 are ready for kindergarten.
• HOPE SF residents are reading at grade level by 4th grade.
• HOPE SF residents successfully transition from 5th to 6th
grade, 8th grade to high school, and from high school to
college or career.
• HOPE SF residents graduate from high school college- and
career-ready.
• HOPE SF neighborhoods have high performing vibrant community
schools with a range of programs and curricular opportunities that
educate the whole child.
• Families and community members are informed about and
engaged in the schools.
Vision for Economic Mobility
Goals for Economic Mobility
• HOPE SF residents of all ages who want to work — or participate
in workforce development programs — are able to do so.
• Residents succeed in competitive employment, increase their
earned income, and build assets.
• Residents build assets through smart money management.
• Residents who work and save will be better off financially.
21
Partners in Hope
Parents for Public School Partnership at the Backpack Giveaway.
HOPE SF Leadership
Partners in Hope
22
Given the complexity and scale of HOPE SF, the
community of stakeholders is necessarily large and
diverse. Key partners directly involved in planning
and implementing HOPE SF include the San
Francisco Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community
Development, the San Francisco Housing Authority,
the Human Services Agency, the Mayor’s Office of Economic and
Workforce Development, the Department of Children, Youth and
Families, the Department of Public Health, San Francisco Unified
School District, First 5 San Francisco, The San Francisco Police
Department, the Adult and Juvenile Probation Departments,
the affordable housing developers and management companies
represented on the development teams, public and private financing
institutions, and many community-based organizations as well as
individual residents, representatives from other city departments, and
community leaders.
To succeed, HOPE SF requires deep collaboration among these
partners and stakeholders. HOPE SF uses three primary structures to
bring together individuals and organizations critical to the initiative:
• The HOPE SF Campaign Steering Committee. This committee
provides the structure for public-private collaboration. It includes
representatives from the City of San Francisco (the Mayor’s Budget
Director and the Director of the Mayor’s Office of Housing),
Enterprise Community Partners, The San Francisco Foundation, JP
Morgan Chase, The Walter and Elise Haas Fund, Bank of America,
and other key philanthropic and financial institutions. The Steering
Committee has also helped to form a Campaign Leadership
Committee, comprised of approximately 20 philanthropic and
civic leaders who bring credibility, connections, and direct financial
support to the initiative.
• The City Services Team. This team is convened by the Mayor’s
Office of Housing and Community Development (MOHCD), and
consists of high-level representatives of the Office of the Mayor,
Housing Authority, the Human Services Agency, the Office of
Economic and Workforce Development, the Department of
Children, Youth, and their Families, First 5, Adult and Juvenile
Probation Departments, the Department of Public Health, and the
School District. This team originally came together to develop the
predevelopment services plans for the residents. It continues to
function as a collaborative body, bringing together key personnel
from these departments to coordinate programs and services that
are implemented on site.
• The HOPE SF Oversight Committee. This committee, convened
by the Mayor’s Office, is composed of director-level departmental
leadership from all key City partners. It meets regularly to review
service delivery and development activities. The goal of the
Oversight Committee is to help create a more streamlined and
efficient service-delivery system.
Lead Agencies
Campaign for HOPE SF
The residents and staff of Mercy Housing’s four affordable housing
developments in the Visitacion Valley neighborhood were directly
impacted by Sunnydale, which motivated Mercy Housing to be a
leader in its transformation.
Partnering with MHC in the planning and development, The Related
Companies has completed the revitalization of three large public
housing communities in California into thriving mixed income
communities and brings experience with large, master planned
development to Sunnydale’s transformation.
23
Partners in Hope
San Francisco has committed $95 million in public housing finance, as
well as Section 8 funding, Redevelopment funds and Affordable Housing
funds, and has secured some state and federal dollars for HOPE SF.
Yet federal money for public housing revitalization has decreased in
recent years. In response, Enterprise Community Partners (a national
nonprofit intermediary for affordable housing) has partnered with The
San Francisco Foundation, the Mayor and the City of San Francisco to
launch an innovative fundraising Campaign to raise funds separate from
the $2 billion in housing development costs. The Campaign mobilizes
and aligns local and national philanthropic investment, and leverages
public dollars to ensure that HOPE SF has the resources necessary to
create diverse, thriving communities for all residents. The Campaign
is governed by a Steering Committee and has a national Leadership
Committee. The goal is to raise $25 million for grants, contracts, HOPE
SF evaluation, and program-related investments over the next five years.
The Sunnydale/Visitacion Valley Transformation Plan is led by a 50/50
partnership of Mercy Housing California (Mercy) and The Related
Companies of California. This partnership was formed in response to
the San Francisco Housing Authority’s 2007 request for developers
and proposals for Sunnydale.
Components of HOPE SF
Mercy Housing California (MHC)
Partners in Hope
24
MHC is a not-for-profit housing development
corporation with the mission of creating and
strengthening healthy communities through quality
service-enriched housing for economically poor
people and families. MHC developed, manages and
owns four family and senior properties in Visitacion
Valley: Britton Courts, Heritage Homes, John King
Senior Community, and Carter Terrace and has also
developed three community serving facilities in the
neighborhood. Mercy Housing is one of the top notfor-profit developers of program-enriched housing
in the country.
The Related Companies
of California
The Related Companies of California is an industry
leader with expertise in virtually every aspect of
development and a commitment to continue
to break new ground and reshape the industry.
Related’s diverse developments span from luxury
condominiums and rental residences to awardwinning apartments for low- and moderate-income
seniors and families. Related is one of the most
active developers of residential and commercial
properties in California.
Mission Creek by Mercy Housing is senior affordable housing in San Francisco, California.
Neighborhood
History & Context
Tale of Two
Communities
Introduction
San Francisco has a wealth of natural, cultural, and economic
features that make it a world-class travel destination and a highly
desirable place to live. The ‘City by the Bay’ is renowned for
its counter-culture movements, spirit of innovation, status as a
sanctuary city, global leadership in gay rights and treating HIV/AIDS,
and its pioneering of universal healthcare. Yet despite its progressive
brand, the city is at a crossroads.
Neighborhood History & Context
26
Visitacion Valley homes.
San Francisco housing prices have exploded with a second tech
boom and an influx of high-wealth residents. The median price for
a two-bedroom house is now over $1 million. (Trulia, San Fancisco
Market Trends) San Francisco is among the top cities in the U.S.
(Bloomberg, Most Income Inequalities) with the greatest income
inequality. Simultaneously, it has one of highest achievement gaps
among California school districts. With quality housing and education
increasingly out of reach for low and middle-income residents, the
city struggles to curb the exodus of families and its diverse racial and
ethnic populations.
While the San Francisco skyline transforms with new midtown and
downtown high-rises, the Visitacion Valley neighborhood, including
the 50-acre Sunnydale-Velasco public housing development,
experience a degree of physical and social isolation that leave the
impression of being in a different city from the rest of San Francisco.
This “tale of two cities” has been both good and bad for people
living and working in Visitacion Valley and Sunnydale. Residents,
businesses and neighborhood institutions suffer from a lack of
investment, a dearth of commercial and social services, and major
safety concerns, but they celebrate the community’s racial and
economic diversity and its slower-paced, more relaxed feel.
Visitacion Valley has a unique profile within San Francisco. Only
13% of San Francisco’s households include children, the lowest
percentage of any major U.S. city, but about half of Visitacion Valley
households are families with children. The neighborhood also has
a higher rate of households with residents who were born outside
the U.S., with 70% of households speaking a language other than
English at home. The majority of Visitacion Valley residents are Asian,
African American, Latino, or mixed race, and only 6% of residents are
White. The median household income in Visitacion Valley is $44,373
compared to San Francisco’s median household income of $70,040.
Demographics
Age Distribution
Race
Sunnydale
Visitacion Valley
San Francisco
Ages
Sunnydale
Visitacion Valley
San Francisco
White
20%
6%
48.50%
41%
25%
15.50%
Black or African American
39%
57%
6.10%
Under
20*
American Indian and Alaska Native
1%
0.02%
0.50%
25-64*
39%
62%
70.70%
Asian/Pacific Islander
23%
57%
34.00%
65+
4%
13%
13.80%
Latino
17%
21%
15.20%
Some Other Race/Multi ethnic
1%
0.04%
6.60%
*Sunnydale includes residents under 24. Visitacion Valley
and San Francisco data combines ages 20–64 years old.
in Poverty Percent ofPercent Households
in Poverty
Sunnydale is isolated from its neighbors in multiple ways. Only services and
amenities located on or near the edges of the Sunnydale site are used by those
who live outside Sunnydale; otherwise neighborhood visitors to Sunnydale
are infrequent and social isolation is reinforced. The “us” and “them” feeling
between Sunnydale and the surrounding Visitacion Valley is reinforced by
perceptions that Sunnydale and Visitacion Valley residents, particularly youth,
will not be safe outside their normal turf. This physical, social and economic
isolation of Sunnydale must be reversed for residents to improve the quality
of their lives and for Visitacion Valley to reach its full potential as a thriving,
integrated neighborhood.
80%
$80,000 70% 70%
$70,000 60%
$60,000 50%
40%
30%
20%
15% Visitacion Valley
$50,000 Sunnydale
$40,000 San Francisco
$30,000 13.2% 10%
0%
$20,000 $10,000 1 Median Household Income
Sources: (LFA Preliminary Sunnydale Needs Assessment)
(U.S. Census 2010, Visitacion Valley)
(San Francisco 2010 Census)
$0 27
$44,373 Neighborhood History & Context
The contrast between Sunnydale and the surrounding Visitacion Valley
neighborhood is also striking. While Visitacion Valley consists of regular
streets lined with small, single family homes that connect to major transit
thoroughfares, Sunnydale’s 50 acres is built with 90 long blocks of housing units
that face perpendicularly to the street. Sunnydale is hidden to many, as it is
surrounded on the west and north sides by the steep topography of McLaren
Park. This physical location and design isolates Sunnydale residents from the
rest of the Visitacion Valley neighborhood. All of Sunnydale’s housing is public
housing subsidized to be affordable to extremely low-income households. On
average, Sunnydale’s household annual income is only $13,487, compared to
the Visitacion Valley annual household income of $44,373.
Median H
Neighborhood History
Until 1777, when Catholics claimed the land for cattle grazing,
solely Native Americans inhabited Visitacion Valley. Later, in 1834,
the Mexican government took the land and gave it to prominent
“Californios.” At that time, the land that would become Visitacion
Valley was called Rancho Canada de Guadalupe, La Visitacion y
Rodeo Viejo.
Once the land was annexed by the United States in 1848, it was sold
to host gardens, nurseries, and a dairy farm. Soon, industry came to
Visitacion Valley, with breweries, silk ribbons, the Southern Pacific
Railroad, and Schlage Lock. The latter was a neighborhood anchor
for over a century, providing many jobs until it closed in 1999.
Neighborhood History & Context
28
Two streetcar lines in operation by 1910 increased population
growth in Visitacion Valley. Single-family dwellings were first built
in the 1930s. Rows of modest, one-family stucco houses followed
a design pattern similar to newer neighborhoods throughout the
city. Farmland increasingly gave way to residential development
and the main commercial thoroughfare along Leland Avenue.
Residential housing also spiked as the San Francisco Housing
Authority built affordable housing for 35,000 service members, war
workers, and families.
The largest project, the Geneva Towers, was built in 1967 as a
private housing complex for middle-income renters. Over the next
three decades, the two 20-story Geneva Towers fell into disrepair
and became a haven for crime and violence, providing terrible
housing conditions for its largely low-income renters. The property
was eventually foreclosed by the U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development in 1991, demolished in May 1998, and three
new family and senior apartment buildings were built to replace the
affordable housing: Britton Courts, Heritage Homes and John King
Senior Community. These three developments and Carter Terrace
Sunnydale in 1941.
are owned and managed by Mercy Housing California. Together
with Sunnydale, they provide the 1,200 units of rental housing in the
neighborhood. The rest of Visitacion Valley’s 6,762 units are all singlefamily homes.
Built in 1939 to house wartime ship builders, the Sunnydale public
housing development was designed with long, simple buildings
located on its slopes to overlook the San Francisco Bay. Thomas
Church, a well-known landscape architect, designed the wide-open
lawns between buildings as key features of a garden community,
and street circulation was minimized to contrast with the street grid
of the City. Over time, though, the maintenance of the common
landscaping and of the housing was neglected, and Sunnydale is now
in a severely distressed condition.
Land Use
The Visitacion Valley neighborhood is located in the southeast
portion of San Francisco, tucked in between McLaren Park on the
west and north sides, Bayshore Boulevard on the east side, and
Geneva Avenue on the south side. Most of Visitacion Valley is
designed with a regular street grid, even where the topography
is steep. Roughly three square miles in area, the neighborhood
consists largely of single family and small multifamily homes,
four nonprofit-owned affordable multifamily properties, and the
Sunnydale public housing community. More than 13,000 residents
live in the primarily residential neighborhood. Visitacion Valley has
only 90 businesses employing 600 people. Many of the businesses
are within the Leland Avenue corridor of small stores, eateries, and
other neighborhood services.
29
Sunnydale Land Use
Above: Sunnydale’s buildings do not face the streets.
Below: The built form of Sunnydale, shown on the left, is visibly less dense than the
typical surrounding neighborhood, shown on the right..
Asphalt parking lots provide off street parking. In addition to the
housing stock, Sunnydale currently has three playgrounds totaling
0.5 acres, and 29,000 square feet of community facilities for youth
programs, a community room, an early childhood education
program, and the Housing Authority Leasing office.
Neighborhood History & Context
Sunnydale’s 90 residential buildings were constructed to overlook
the San Francisco Bay and do not face the surrounding streets
of Visitacion Valley. Rather than following San Francisco’s more
typical grid pattern, only four winding streets were constructed on
the 50 acres. Between the long buildings are grassy open spaces
that people use to walk across the site, and that also serve as
residents’ front and backyards, although they are without fencing
or privacy. The long blocks of two-story attached units are aligned
perpendicularly to the streets, so that the short sides of each block of
attached townhouses face the street. This lack of building frontage
on the streets also creates an internally focused “barracks” dynamic
that uses the land inefficiently in this urban setting. With limited
windows on the street-facing façade, the building orientation does
not promote “eyes on the street.” The continuous roofs and flat
facades of the buildings create long, uninterrupted forms that do not
differentiate individual units.
Crime and Safety
Physical barriers divide Sunnydale from Visitacion Valley neighborhood and from recreation areas
Neighborhood History & Context
30
Connections, Circulation, and Transit
Visitacion Valley’s streets are in a regular grid pattern, most with
one driving lane in each direction. Two major streets also provide
access to the two nearby highways and to other neighborhoods.
Bayshore Boulevard forms the eastern border of the neighborhood
and leads to the 101 freeway, the City of Brisbane to the south, and
the Bayview neighborhood to the north. The MUNI T light rail line
also runs on Bayshore Boulevard, terminating at Sunnydale Avenue.
The Schlage Lock development site, the Grocery Outlet, and several
other businesses are located on Bayshore. Geneva Avenue is a major
arterial that forms the southern border of the neighborhood, and is
partially located in Daly City. Geneva Avenue leads to the Excelsior
and Ocean Avenue neighborhoods, and to Interstate 280.
Currently, there are no bicycle lanes in the neighborhood. Plans are
in study, though, to convert Geneva Avenue from an auto focused
street into one that is pedestrian friendly, has bike lanes and has
a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line. The City of San Francisco is also
planning a Green Connection from the Candlestick Recreation Area
to the Sunnydale public housing development and McLaren Park that
would be on Leland Avenue, Hahn and Sunnydale Avenue. A Green
Poor Connections Impact Sunnydale
and its Neighbors
Sunnydale has only the four described street connections to the
rest of the neighborhood: Sunnydale Avenue, Blythedale Street,
Brookdale Street and Santos Street. The physical disconnectedness
of Sunnydale resulted in the broader neighborhood building away
from the housing development. Single-family townhouses along
Parque Drive face their neighbors to the south, rather than the
Sunnydale edge. Sunrise Way ends in a cul-de-sac, an atypical
design in San Francisco, because it had nothing to connect to within
Sunnydale. The Gleneagles Golf Course, created in the southeastern
corner of McLaren Park in 1962, established another barrier, cutting
off the neighborhood from the park. There is no direct pedestrian
connection from Sunnydale to the Herz Playground.
The four curvilinear streets of Sunnydale not only cut off Sunnydale
residents from the rest of the neighborhood, but they also make
traveling across the site difficult. Each long building includes narrow
concrete paths that lead to apartment doors, but these paths do not
connect to each other throughout the site. Residents and visitors
often walk on the grassy open spaces in between the buildings,
which are unlit and often filled with trash. Despite this less-than-ideal
environment, the streets and sidewalks are filled with residents in the
afterschool and commute hours, though poor lighting discourages
pedestrian activity after dark.
31
Neighborhood History & Context
Over 20% of Visitacion Valley households and over 50% of Sunnydale
households do not have a car, so public transit is an important
connector. The neighborhood is served by San Francisco’s public
transit MUNI lines 9, 8X, 8AX, 8BX, 56 and the T light rail, which take
passengers to other San Francisco neighborhoods, the Balboa BART
station, and to downtown. The MUNI lines 9 and 8X run through the
Sunnydale development. In addition to MUNI service, the Caltrain
Bayshore stop is located 1/4 mile east of Bayshore Boulevard at
Tunnel Avenue. The SamTrans line 292 connects Visitacion Valley
residents at Bayshore Boulevard to downtown San Francisco to the
north and to San Mateo County cities to the south.
Connection is a pedestrian and bike friendly street network that
connects people to parks and open spaces with wildlife, improving
people’s access to the City’s urban ecology.
Crime and Safety
Visitacion Valley Transit Circulation Map
Neighborhood History & Context
32
Visitacion Valley Housing Profile
Sunnydale’s Current Streets
Avg. Housing Units per acre
Number of Listings (last 6 months of 2012)
Annual Income needed to afford Two Bedroom
Craiglist Fair Market Rent
Median Home Value from Zillow
Structure Type
Single Family Housing
2–4 Units
5–9 Units
10–19 Units
20 Units or more
Other
Vacancy Rate
Owner Occupied
Renter Occupied
7.13
55%
$72,000
$642,000
76%
9%
5%
4%
7%
0%
9.46%
55%
45%
Source: (SF-Planning, San Francisco Neighborhoods Socio-Economic Profile)
Housing
Semi-public open space — between buildings
Roads and parking lots
A
Willie Brown Jr. Teen Center, Boys + Girls Club
B
Internalized courtyard playground
C
An interior block basketball court
D
Typical front yard
E
Typical rear yard
The neighborhood’s housing is more affordable than other locations
in the City. Overall, the rent for a two-bedroom market rate unit in the
area is $1,800 per month, compared to the Citywide average of $2981
monthly rent. Vacancy is between 5-10% per year.
Visitacion Valley’s residential density is only 7 housing units per acre,
while Sunnydale’s density is higher at 16 units per acre. Despite its
low density, 13.3% of Visitacion Valley’s housing is overcrowded,
defined as each habitable room occupied by more than 1 person.
This is 2.5 times the Citywide 5.1% rate of overcrowding, (Asian
Pacific Islander Council Report: A San Francisco Neighborhood
Analysis) a result of multiple generations typically live under one roof.
33
Neighborhood History & Context
Public open space — playgrounds, gardens, etc.
The majority of Visitacion Valley housing, 76%, is single family homes.
Occupants own 56% of the neighborhood’s housing stock, which
is significantly higher than the City’s overall ownership rate of 36%,
and a world apart from Sunnydale’s 785 units, which are 100% rental
housing. Other multifamily rent restricted apartment developments
in Visitacion Valley include Heritage Homes, Britton Courts, Carter
Terrace and John King Senior Community, which are all managed and
owned by Mercy Housing California.
Parks and Open Spaces
Left: Tree-lined ridge at McLaren Park and
Sunnydale
Parks and Open Spaces
Below: Seedfolks youth present their ideas to
improve Sunnydale’s playgrounds.
The 312-acre John McLaren Park, the City’s second largest park
after Golden Gate Park, flanks Visitacion Valley on its west side.
McLaren Park includes natural areas rich in native plants and
animals, playgrounds, sports fields, hiking and biking trails,
picnic areas, gardens, a lake, and an amphitheater. Access to
McLaren Park from Visitacion Valley is primarily through Mansell
Street and Sunnydale Avenue, which climb up to the Park
entrances from the neighborhood.
Neighborhood History & Context
34
Sunnydale is bound by McLaren Park to the west and north, yet
has minimal access to these spaces. The Gleneagles Golf Course
forms the majority of the northern border of Sunnydale and McLaren
Park. Adjacent to the golf course is the 6-acre Herz Playground
and Coffman Pool, which are separated from Sunnydale by a grade
change and a fence.
On the west side, the wild, natural area of McLaren Park is accessed
by a hidden unmaintained set of stairs. Just to the west of this natural
area and down the hill is the popular Crocker Amazon Park, which
contains sports fields, a skateboard park, playgrounds and other
facilities. SF Urban Riders is fundraising to build a new off-road
bike skills park immediately next to Sunnydale and Gleneagles Golf
Course. In 2015, the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department
will launch a “visioning” process to engage stakeholders in plans to
improve access and activities in the Park.
The other neighborhood open spaces include Kelloch-Velasco
Park, Visitacion Valley Playground and the Vis Valley Greenway,
a chain of small City owned vacant parcels that were converted
into parks that are programmed by neighborhood residents as
quiet open spaces and children’s learning labs for gardening and
nutrition. At the Schlage Lock development site, an additional two
acres of open space will be developed for the neighborhood in the
next several years.
Sunnydale’s Open Spaces
Currently, the Sunnydale site itself has a great deal of open space,
but most is amorphous, consisting of leftover space between
buildings rather than well-defined places. Residents appreciate this
perceived openness, but also feel that the spaces between buildings
are unsafe and not very usable. Some residents have converted the
open spaces in front or behind their units into gardens. There are
three recreation areas in Sunnydale containing a basketball court and
play structures. This summer, 17 Sunnydale youth in the Seedfolks
leadership program conducted an assessment of Sunnydale’s
recreation areas and made recommendations toward the goal of
creating “a safe, family oriented” set of parks. The Seedfolks group
noted that Sunnydale’s recreation areas contained play structures that
were broken, did not have shade or benches, and the play areas did
not feel safe. Two of the four community garden plots in Sunnydale
are maintained by residents with guidance from the Boys and Girls
Club, and Mercy/Related with Urban Sprouts.
Parks and Open Spaces
Local Economy
Visitacion Valley’s 90 businesses are primarily small businesses
located on Leland Avenue, Bayshore Boulevard and Geneva Avenue.
On the east side of the neighborhood on Bayshore Boulevard is
the 20-acre site that once was the home of the Southern Pacific
Railroad Company and the Schlage Lock Factory. Vacant since 1999,
the factory has been demolished, the site has undergone hazardous
materials clean up, and the City recently approved the development
of approximately 1,600 housing units and 46,000 square feet of
neighborhood retail including a new grocery store to add to the
recently opened discount store Grocery Outlet.
Despite Leland Avenue’s under-performing spaces, an analysis
supported the viability of an additional retail center at the Schlage
Lock development site located just off Leland Avenue. The analysis
indicated that the additional retail at the Schlage Lock development
site could provide a more complete retail environment, attract
patrons to purchase in the neighborhood, and stem economic
leakage. The study found that 90% of spending by neighborhood
residents, or $160 million annually, was on businesses outside the
Visitacion Valley neighborhood.
Future developments that will
change Visitacion Valley
Schlage Lock
The Schlage Lock site on Bayshore Boulevard has been cleared and
plans to construct approximately 1,600 housing units, 2 acres of
open spaces, a new street grid, and approximately 46,000 square
feet of neighborhood retail, including a major grocery store, have
been approved by the City. Neighborhood residents and business
owners are looking forward to the activity and services that these
uses will bring to this side of Visitacion Valley, including beautification
of Bayshore Boulevard and revitalization of nearby Leland Avenue
storefronts. Construction may start as soon as 2015.
Shipyard, Candlestick, and Executive Park
Visitacion Valley and Sunnydale will be influenced by large
developments underway and planned for adjacent neighborhoods.
Currently in construction is the redevelopment of the Hunters Point
Shipyards and Candlestick Park (former home of the San Francisco
49’ers football team) into 6,000 new homes, 930,000 square feet of
retail and office space, and 100 acres of parks. Recently approved by
the City is the development of a suburban style office park into 2,800
housing units at Executive Park. These developments are located
only a mile east of Visitacion Valley.
35
Neighborhood History & Context
Leland Avenue is Visitacion Valley’s “Main Street” with traditional
small businesses, a public library, post office and bank. Lined with
one- and two- story storefronts and new streetscape improvements,
the four-block-long Leland Avenue corridor suffers from a 23%
vacancy rate for its 66,000 square feet of existing retail space. The
City’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development has included
Leland Avenue in Invest in Neighborhoods, an initiative to provide
focused, customized assistance to meet the specific needs of San
Francisco’s neighborhood commercial corridors.
Leland Avenue
business storefront.
Neighborhood Services
In Visitacion Valley there are a number of services developed by local
nonprofit organizations to work with the neighborhood’s diverse
residents. These services include childcare, family case management,
youth education and leadership, and senior services. The Community
Asset Map illustrates the variety and location of these services, with
notes on the capacity of the childcare and youth programs, not
including youth programs offered by the local schools and library.
Community Asset Map
RUTLAND ST.
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RAYMOND AVE.
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FRESH START
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LELAND AVE.
HERZ
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VISITACION AVE.
BASKETBALL
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VVSF FAMILY
RESOURCE CENTER
WILLIE L. BROWN
CENTER
SUNNYDALE AVE.
JOHN
MACLAREN
EARLY
EDUCATION
BROOKDALE AVE.
SUNNYDALE
HEALTH
AND
WELLNESS
CENTER
YMCA
SUPPORT
SERVICES
AND MERCY
RELATED
RIVER OF LIFE
CHURCH
VELASCO AVE.
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VISITACION
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DA
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1ST PLACE
TO START
BRITTON
COURT
SUNNYDALE AVE.
VILLAGE
MARKET
SAWYER ST.
GIRLS AFTER
SCHOOL ACADEMY
(GASA)
SAMOAN
COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT
CENTER
POLLY’S
FAMILY
SUPPORT
CENTER
SCHWERIN ST.
COFFMAN POOL
HAHN ST.
THE VILLAGE
• FAMILY SERVICE AGENCY OF SF
• SENECA FAMILY OF AGENCIES
• SFDPH HAWKINS CLINIC
• SFDPH RSSE
• 5 KEYS CHARTER SCHOOL
• SOJOURNER TRUTH FOSTER
FAMILY
• SURVIVOR’S NETWORK/ POLLY’S
FAMILY SUPPORT CENTER
• VISITACION VALLEY FAMILY
HEALTH CENTER
• NEIGHBORHOOD ACCESS POINT
• WAY MENTORING PROGRAM
US POST
OFFICE
VISITACION
VALLEY
VISITACION
VISITACION VISITACION PLAYGROUND VALLEY
VALLEY
VALLEY
LIBRARY
GREENWAY ELEMENTARY
SCHOOL
ALLIANCE
ROCK
GLENEAGLES
INTERNATIONAL
GOLF COURSE
VISITACION
VALLEY
COMMUNITY
CENTER
Y
MUNI T-LINE
WILLIE BROWN CENTER
• BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB (40
YOUTH)
• TURF (40 YOUTH)
BOYS AND
GIRLS CLUBHOUSE (100
YOUTH)
VISITACION
VALLEY
STRONG
FAMILIES
SEE’S CANDY
GENEVA AVE.
CARTER TERRACE
APARTMENTS
COW PALACE
BRISBANE
BAYLANDS
POTENTIAL LOCAL
SERVING RETAIL & NEW
HOUSING
SUNNYDALE CHILD
DEVELOPMENT
CENTER
BAYSHORE BLVD.
1/2
MIL
ER
AD
IUS
VISITACION
VALLEY
COMMUNITY
BEACON
MCLAREN PARK
SAN
Neighborhood History & Context
JOHN KING
SELF HELP FOR
SENIOR
THE ELDERLY COMMUNITY
AY
NW
VISITACION
VALLEY MIDDLE
SCHOOL
EE
36
-
EL DORADO
ELEMENTARY
SCHOOL
GR
EXCELSIOR
MIDDLE
SCHOOL
LK
WA
TE
U
N
MI
15
10-
Social Services
The City’s Consolidated Plan for 2010–2014 highlights these
“persistent needs” of Visitacion Valley residents:
• Additional services providing counseling on immigration, legal,
and housing rights
• More youth programming, including programs for transitional
age youth
• Additional support for local organizations to increase organization
capacity, collaboration and leadership within the community.
• ESL services and develop Chinese language capacity at
organizations
• Crime prevention efforts
• Family support services for CalWORKS families
• More effective workforce development strategies
Some of the local service providers that serve Sunnydale residents
on many of these specific needs are part of the Visitacion Valley
Community Based Organization (“CBO”) Collaborative. This group
of community-based organizations is convened by MOHCD and
Mercy/Related to better coordinate services to residents and to
assist in engaging tenants and providing stakeholder input into the
VisVision planning process. Some of the key groups engaged in the
Collaborative and in the VisVision planning process are shown here,
along with a description of their core services.
Asian Pacific American (APA) Family Support Services/Visitacion
Valley Strong Families engages families who are at risk of child
abuse, truancy, neglect, mental health problems and domestic
violence. Programs include but are not limited to parenting
education support, access to resources and opportunities such
as food pantries and family support days, school readiness and
success promotion through drop-in childcare and parent information
workshops, community building through cultural celebrations, parent
leadership, case management, linkages with child welfare services,
and counseling services. http://www.apafss.org
Bayview YMCA is a community organization for children, youth,
adults, and seniors. Their services include financial assistance for
housing and daily needs, help with job placement and resume
building, information about other services in the community,
help applying for CalWorks, CalFresh, SSI, and other government
assistance, advocacy on behalf of clients, and other supportive
services. The Bayview YMCA and Mercy/Related established a
partnership to assist residents in accessing supportive services to
ensure that families are aware of community and citywide resources.
http://www.ymca.net
37
Neighborhood History & Context
The San Francisco Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community
Development (MOHCD) has focused on financially supporting and
coordinating providers of family support services, employment
readiness, GED education, and senior services. These services are
provided by community-based organizations, local churches, and
City agencies at various locations throughout the neighborhood, with
clusters of services at Sunnydale, at the multi- tenant center called
“The Village” on Sunnydale Avenue, and along Leland Avenue and
Raymond Avenue on the eastern side of the neighborhood.
Visitacion Valley CBO Collaborative
Mercy/Related staff and
local community building
organizations.
Neighborhood History & Context
38
Boys and Girls Clubs of San Francisco operates two Clubhouses
in Visitation Valley. Together, the two Clubhouses serve an average
of 125 youth daily. The Visitacion Valley Clubhouse is approximately
2,500 square feet, with a spacious outdoor field — including a
playground and large field. Sunnydale Clubhouse has a Learning
Center, Technology Center, Kitchen, multi-purpose room, and
a garden. The two Clubhouses focus on a Success Equation for
kids with four pillars: Academic Success, Healthy Lifestyles, Good
Character & Community Engagement, and Job Readiness.
http://www.kidsclub.org
Edgewood Center for Children and Their Families helps children
and families overcome severe challenges like abuse, neglect, mental
illness and crisis. Programs promote the behavioral health of children,
youth, and families and support a positive transition to adulthood.
The services include community and family services, intensive
treatment and residential care, kinship caregiver and youth support,
and school-based programs. http://www.edgewood.org
Five Keys Charter School provides GED completion and support as
well as high school classes and access to community-based programs
that provide recovery, parenting, and work skills. Five Keys provides
students with an opportunity to advance their educational level either
by earning a high school diploma or GED. The school holds two
graduation ceremonies per year.
Girls After School Academy (GASA) empowers 5 to 18 year old
young women of color to apply their innate talents to lead, healthy
product lives. GASA offers a range of services to improve these
young women and girls’ self esteem, educational prospects and
overall quality of life. At Sunnydale, GASA provides academic
support, mentoring, leadership training and life skills enhancement,
with a primary focus on educational success through structured
homework time and support. http://www.girlsafterschoolacademy.org
Mercy Housing California Resident Services Coordinators (RSC)
at John King Senior Community, Britton Courts, Heritage Homes
and Carter Terrace Apartments help coordinate and link residents to
resources in four program areas. Education: The focus is developing
the academic and life skills of children and adults through parenting
and life skill classes, connections to ESL, GED, college or technical
school educational opportunities, access to computer technology
and training, and after-school programs for children and youth.
Health and Wellness: RSCs coordinate programs to support health
and wellness, including education and food programs. Community:
Empowers residents to work for positive change in their apartment
community, their neighborhood, and the larger community through
voter registration and education, leadership coaching and volunteer
and leadership opportunities for both youth and adult residents.
Economic development: This component helps residents take charge
of their financial futures through financial education, realize the full
extent of tax and benefit assistance for which they are eligible and,
when possible, prepare for the responsibilities of homeownership.
http://www.mercyhousing.org/Resident-Services
Parks and Open Spaces
Real Options for City Kids (R.O.C.K.) programs are designed to
serve over 500 children ages 6–17 years in a youth development
framework. Programs take place during the school day, after school,
weekends and over the summer. R.O.C.K. provides sports/fitness,
academic support, learning enrichment, community service, outdoor
adventures, leadership training, and job opportunities to participants
who live or attend school in Visitacion Valley. http://rocksf.org
River of Life Church is open to the community as a place to reflect
and organize. The staff work to connect residents to needed services
and programs and collaborate with many of the neighborhood
service providers.
San Francisco Street Violence Intervention Project (SVIP) is a
street outreach and crisis response effort with a network of public
safety partners to reduce violence and homicides. SVIP collaborates
with the SF Dept. of Public Health to provide behavioral health
services to high at-risk individuals, and their families.
TURF focuses on serving at-risk youth living in and around Sunnydale.
Program areas include job readiness, homework program, girls
support group, fitness programs, youth recreational and enrichment
activities, and movie nights. TURF has partnered with Mercy/Related
and other CBO’s over the years to provide Thanksgiving turkeys for
families, back-to-school materials, and various community activities
varying from basketball tournaments to a workforce readiness
programs.
Vis-Valley One Stop Career Link Center provides workforce services
that promote sustainable prosperity. Services include, but are not
limited to job search assistance, career planning and exploration, job
preparation workshops, training opportunities, access to resource
rooms, unemployment information, and supportive services.
http:// www.workforcedevelopmentsf.drawon.me/jobseekerservices
39
Neighborhood History & Context
Samoan Community Development Center offers a variety of youth
services, senior services, and senior support. Services include but are
not limited to violence prevention case management for youth on
probation, empowering Polynesians in culture workshops, K–8 after
school programs, anger management workshops, 7 week summer
youth leadership program, strengthening families workshop for both
youth and parents, congregate meals twice a week, bingo, exercise
nutrition workshops, bi-monthly fieldtrips, assistance in housing,
employment, immigration issues, parent education workshops,
Visitacion Home visits, domestic violence workshops, a family crisis
hotline, and assistance in obtaining birth certificates from American
Samoa. http://www.sfkids.org/Content.aspx?id=8904
Sunnydale Health and Wellness Center is a partnership between
Mercy/Related and DPH. Services include an in-person confidential
nurse advice, assistance with minor medical issues, Flu shots, TB
testing, blood pressure check, blood sugar screening, support
for stress and grief, self-care coaching, and a variety of wellness
programs. The center connects residents to programs and services
through the Mercy/Related Peer Leaders and Community Liaison.
The Peer Leader Manager, Peer Leaders and Community Liaison work
tirelessly to connect the diverse groups of residents to the different
events and programs throughout the year.
Visitacion
Valley Service Provider Collaborative
Parks and Open
Spaces
TURF
Bayview
YMCA
APA Family/
VVSF
Samoan
CDC
VV One Stop Boys and
Career
Girls Club
ROCK
River of Life
SVIP
Mercy RSCs
Youth Services
Job readiness
After school/homework
support
Girls’ support group
Fitness/recreation
Movie nights
Back-to-school assistance
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
Youth mental health support
School-based programs
Case management
Youth violence prevention
Neighborhood History & Context
40
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
Youth leadership
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
Adult and Family Services
Financial assistance
Job placement
Resume building
Service connection
P
P
P
Benefits and practical
assistance
Parenting education
Food pantries
School readiness
Abuse and violence
prevention
P
Community building
P
Mental health services
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
Family crisis hotline
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
Treatment and residential
care
Polynesian culture workshops
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
Education
Visitacion Valley’s educational resources are primarily public schools
of the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD), childcare and
out-of-school programs for K-12 students operated by nonprofit
organizations in the neighborhood that provide structured academic
support and youth development programs. The Boys and Girls
Club, TURF, Samoan Community Development Center, Mercy
Housing’s Resident Services at its four apartment communities,
GASA, and ROCK provide these programs at various locations in the
neighborhood, including at the local schools.
The Five Keys Charter School, a high school/GED program
initiated by the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department, also has a
satellite program at The Village on Sunnydale Avenue and at Turf
in Sunnydale.
Visitacion Valley has 1,267 children who are ages 0–4, but only
15 early childhood learning centers that are licensed programs.
According to the San Francisco Child Care Planning and Advisory
Council Early Care and Education Needs Assessment, Visitacion
Valley has an unmet need of 726 subsidy eligible children between
the ages of 0–5 years.
Sunnydale has 276 children ages 0-4 on-lease, with only one licensed
childcare center within the Sunnydale border. Residents regularly
express the difficulty in acquiring childcare slots locally.
Elementary and Middle Schools
The neighborhood has three public schools: Visitacion Valley
Elementary School, Eldorado Elementary School, and Visitacion
Valley Middle School. Despite the high percentage of households
that are families with children, these schools can sometimes be
under-enrolled because parents are not selecting these schools as
their top choices for their children within the Citywide enrollment
system designed to provide school choice and racial diversity
in the schools. With only 26% of Sunnydale students attending
local schools, students are spread over 77 different schools. In an
attempt for consistency, the San Francisco Unified School District is
implementing a system in which the two local elementary schools
feed its graduating students into Visitacion Valley Middle School.
Eldorado Elementary and Visitacion Valley Middle School are Low
Performing Schools with a statewide Annual Performance Index (API)
score of 2 (well below average) and Visitacion Valley Elementary
School is ranked 4 (below average) out of a possible high score of 10.
The API score is calculated by measuring student performance in a
variety of content areas based on statewide, standardized assessment
tests. The rankings are then calculated by comparing a school with
other schools with similar opportunities and challenges.
41
Neighborhood History & Context
Early Learning
Formerly operating as a preschool program, SFUSD’s John McClaren
Early Education School is now a Transitional Kindergarten (“TK”)
school for children who are not yet old enough for kindergarten.
Located in between the Sunnydale housing community and McLaren
Park, it also provides before and after school programs for students
attending the local elementary schools listed below.
Schools Statistics
Parks andLocal
Open
Spaces
Neighborhood History & Context
42
Eldorado
Elementary
Vis Valley
Elementary
Vis Valley
Middle
Grades
K–5
K–5
6–8
# of Students
274
373
389
% proficient in English
(grade 5 or 8)
34%
45%
33%
% proficient in Math
(grade 5 or 8)
37%
61%
22%
% free lunch
50%
67%
61%
English Learners
22%
50%
25%
Sources: (El Dorado Elementary School Accountability Report 2012–2013”)
(Visitacion Valley Elementary School Accountability Report 2012–2013)
(Visitacion Valley Middle School Accountability Report 2012–2013)
Sunnydale youth designing a new playground.
High School and GED
Innovative programs are being implemented to raise the
performance of these schools and to address the academic and
social needs of students, who are often English language learners
and/or socio-economically disadvantaged.
Some examples of innovative approaches include:
• Visitacion Valley Elementary offers case management through their
interagency Coordinated Care program for at-risk students.
• El Dorado Elementary School aims to tap students’ different
learning modalities by integrating literacy and arts into the
curriculum, including music, ballet, drama and visual arts.
• A Wellness Center at Visitacion Valley Middle School is now open
daily during lunchtime, offering arts and crafts, music, games,
computers, and movies.
The largest concentration of Sunnydale high school students can be
found in Balboa High School with 12 students and an API score of 5.
64% of the youth in Sunnydale ages 14–17 were in SFUSD dataset
and 34% were found to be chronically truant. There may be a
correlation between the chronic truancy and low test scores among
Sunnydale high school students, as 36% score below basic levels in
English and 55% score below basic math levels on standardized tests.
Despite the high truancy rate and low standardized testing
performance, 21 students participated in the new Sunnydale
location of the Five Keys program. This represents a strong desire
for educational help among students. In addition, 54 students
from Visitacion Valley enrolled in the Village location of the Five
Keys program.
Employment
Overall, 12% of Visitacion Valley residents are unemployed compared
to 76% of Sunnydale residents who are unemployed. In contrast, the
City’s unemployment rate is 5.3%.
The extremely high unemployment rate amongst Sunnydale residents
ages 16 years and older is a result of a number of factors, including:
disabilities and trauma; low high school graduation rates; lack of work
experience, including summer and after school jobs for youth; lack of
affordable childcare, particularly for single headed households; and
the physical, social and economic isolation of Sunnydale households
from the resources and activity of the City.
Unemployment Rate
Visitacion Valley
12%
76%
San Francisco
5.3%
Number of Percent of
Households Households
Out of work & looking for work
55
22%
Out of work but not currently looking for work
36
14%
A homemaker
11
4%
Full-time student, not working
11
4%
Unable to work
47
19%
Employed part-time
28
11%
Employed full-time
33
13%
Self-employed/I have my own business
0
0%
Full-time student & working
1
1%
Part-time student & working
1
1%
Retired
22
9%
Other
8
3%
Source: (LFA Preliminary Sunnydale Needs Assessment Results)
Source: (LFA Preliminary Sunnydale Needs Assessment Results)
“Being part of the transformation team made me realize
people do care, that change is possible, that it takes the
community to change the community, that slowly we are
building a strong family.”
— Peer Leader at the Health & Wellness Center
43
Neighborhood History & Context
Sunnydale
Employment Statistics in Sunnydale
Safety
From 2010 through 2012, there were 1,284 violent crimes in Visitacion
Valley, including homicides, physical assaults and rapes reported to
the San Francisco Police Department. This is equal to 53.06 violent
offenses per 1,000 residents, compared to the rates of other San
Francisco neighborhood that range from a low of 0.7 to a high of
1,134 offenses per 1000 residents.
Number of Part 1 Crimes in Sunnydale
Year
Homicide, Rape, Robbery, Aggravated Assault, Burglary,
Theft, Vehicle Theft, Arson
2012
169
2013
150
The Sunnydale development falls within San Francisco Police
Department Plot Number 394, which has a population of
approximately 2,395 and includes a portion of Visitacion Valley
outside of Sunnydale.
Neighborhood History & Context
44
Residents perceive public safety to be considerably worse in
Visitacion Valley than the rest of San Francisco. During the day, 66%
of the residents feel safe or very safe in Visitacion Valley, but at night
this drops to only 23% of the residents feeling safe or very safe. This
is in comparison to the overall City average of 84% of San Franciscans
who feel safe or very safe during the day and 51% of San Franciscans
who feel safe in their neighborhoods at night. The perceived lack
of safety of a neighborhood inhibits social interactions and physical
activity outdoors, and may be influenced by residents’ feeling of
integration into the fabric of the neighborhood. Worrying about
safety may also cause chronic stress, which can lead to hypertension
and other physical ailments.
Key safety partners participating to envision a safe neighborhood.
Health & Well-Being
Though San Francisco fares well in key health areas, there are major
disparities in Visitacion Valley and Sunnydale. Households report lack
of access to primary care, dental care, and report various ailments
that hinder self-sufficiency. For a total population of 21,130 people in
Visitacion Valley, there is only one primary care clinic and one family
health center in the neighborhood. The San Francisco Community
Health Assessment found that San Francisco rates better than state
outcomes and national benchmarks in the area of prenatal care and
birth outcomes at 13% of mothers who did not receive prenatal care
in the first trimester, but in Visitacion Valley, 20% of mothers received
no prenatal care in the first trimester.
Percentage of Sunnydale Households
Receiving Public Benefits
Percentage of
Households
Public Benefits
Percentage of
Households
No Benefits
4%
General Assistance
5%
Medi-Cal
72%
SSI
24%
CalWORKS/TANF
31%
SSDI
7%
Healthy SF
21%
SSA
9%
Food Stamps
50%
Veteran
1%
WIC
16%
Other
8%
PAES
1%
Sunnydale residents are twice as likely as San Franciscans to be
hospitalized for diabetes, heart failure, asthma, and other chronic
diseases. Chronic illness is often a primary barrier for employment
and a significant percentage of households indicate that a household
member experiences one or more chronic conditions. According to
SFDPH research, the leading causes for emergency room visits in
Visitacion Valley are urinary tract infections and adult asthma. With
Chronic Conditions
Health Issues and Conditions
Percentage of Sunnydale households
indicating that at least one member
has the following health conditions
Difficulty standing, walking,
or climbing
36%
Difficulty seeing (blind or low
vision)
30%
Deaf or hard of hearing
16%
Any long-term (chronic) illness
(diabetes, asthma, heart disease,
others)
48%
Source: (LFA Preliminary Sunnydale Needs Assessment Results)
Source: (LFA Preliminary Sunnydale Needs Assessment Results)
45
Neighborhood History & Context
Public Benefits
The isolation of Visitacion Valley has led to stark health disparities
from San Francisco. Although 84% of Sunnydale households visit a
regular doctor, it is a common misconception among residents that
an emergency room visit is akin to primary care. Moreover, 21% of
Sunnydale households have failed to receive needed prescriptions in
the past 12 months due to affordability and have expressed difficulty
accessing dental care. Although 72% of Sunnydale households are
receiving Medi-Cal, most residents feel disconnected from the health
care system.
Parks and Open Spaces
the proper primary care and health education, residents can prevent
these emergency visits. However, the isolation and lack of primary
health clinics is a perennial concern in Visitacion Valley.
Neighborhood History & Context
46
Similar to many impoverished neighborhoods in America, Visitacion
Valley exemplifies the characteristics of an urban food desert. For
years, the corner Village Market on Sunnydale Avenue remained
one of the only grocery options for residents. It was not until May
2014 that the alternative, Grocery Outlet, was opened. With 50%
of Sunnydale households receiving Food Stamps, food insecurity is
a severe issue that can negatively impact development and impair
residents’ productivity and economic potential. In the absence of
a farmers market, residents opt for McDonalds and Kentucky Fried
Chicken because of their value meal pricing. In response to the lack
of healthy food options, the Sunnydale Health and Wellness Center
instituted a weekly smoothie party and started a community garden
to improve health education in the neighborhood.
Conclusion
Vis Valley and Sunnydale share key neighborhood assets—green
space and ample sun, proximity to downtown and the South Bay, and
a large percentage of families and immigrants, bringing vital diversity
to a city that is increasingly less so. The two communities also share
significant challenges—physical and social isolation from the broader
city and each other, low-performing schools, insufficient services and
amenities, and a disproportionately high crime rate. Any plan for
transformation must begin by confronting Sunnydale’s challenges:
the high percentage of unemployed adults, neighborhood isolation,
and disparate crime rates, and must simultaneously remove the
barriers dividing Sunnydale from Visitacion Valley and Visitacion
Valley from San Francisco.
Mental health and stress are also contributors to low health
outcomes. Despite a high crime rate in Sunnydale, only 27% of
households have sought professional help to deal with negative
feelings. Improving the multifaceted issues contributing to poor
health can help improve residents’ wellbeing. The high rate of
chronic illness and inability to access proper health care affects the
ability for self-sufficiency and upward mobility. Health and wellbeing
remains a huge obstacle in transforming lives of Sunnydale residents.
Smoothie party at the Health and Wellness Center,
Neighborhood
Plan
Two Communities,
One Cohesive Neighborhood
VisVision
One + One = One
Neighborhood Plan
48
The VisVision Neighborhood Plan is designed to unite Visitacion
Valley’s historically isolated communities into one thriving and
cohesive neighborhood. Visitacion Valley has long been physically
and economically isolated from many of the amenities and
opportunities that make San Francisco such a sought-after place
to live and work. Within the neighborhood, racial, cultural, and
linguistic divides and turf-related violence between public housing
developments inhibit the relationships and bonds that form the
foundation of a healthy neighborhood. After decades of widening
disparities and broken government promises, a monumental
effort is required to replace the sense of abandonment with one
of shared hope that this time, the neighborhood’s vision for a
brighter future will finally become a reality. Fortunately, there is
growing understanding that “business as usual” is not sufficient for
uniting the neighborhood. The goal of VisVision is to transform this
fractured community into a sustainable neighborhood.
The cornerstone of VisVision’s Neighborhood Plan is a place-based,
shared leadership theory of change that integrates HOPE SF’s efforts
to bring together City departments with Mercy/Related’s residentcentered community engagement. This shared leadership approach
will be implemented through three Community Initiatives that build
tip·ping point
noun
1. the point at which a series of small changes or incidents
becomes significant enough to cause a larger, more
important change.
strength in the community, even before constructing new housing.
The combination of innovative investments in and tangible results
from these Community Initiatives will bring a “tipping point” in
which the City ensures delivery and assessment of effective programs
and services, and Mercy/Related spearheads construction of new
housing and amenities. This transformed neighborhood will be
sustained by residents who assume leadership with support from a
cohesive community. The ultimate impact of these changes will be a
VisVision in which all residents enjoy living in a thriving neighborhood
with quality activities and amenities, responsive city services, and
a beautiful and healthy environment. To achieve this vision for
neighborhood transformation, residents, community partners, and
investors will focus on the following priorities.
Physical & Social Cohesion
Residents in all corners of the neighborhood share a deep desire
to connect across the current divides. The primary strategy for
increasing cohesion is to facilitate a community-centered process
that inspires hope, builds confidence, directs actions, and results
in a sense of pride in Visitacion Valley. Connections between
communities and across racial, cultural, linguistic, and geographic
lines will allow residents to move freely within all areas of the
neighborhood. A robust and inclusive local business sector will serve
all residents fairly. Community hubs will offer a variety of programs
and services that draw people from throughout the neighborhood.
In the long-term, thriving schools, services, and a local economy
will bring equity to economic status, health and wellbeing, and
education. Metrics to show cohesion will include survey responses,
voting rates, participation in neighborhood initiatives, and family
and community stability.
VisVision Roadmap
WHY HERE? WHY NOW?
• Hope SF — San Francisco’s major initiative to increase equity among SF families by creating new public
housing in thriving, mixed income neighborhoods.
• Neighborhood Need — Visitacion Valley’s diverse residents and families experience high crime and poverty
rates in this neighborhood populated primarily by families with children..
VISVISION THEORY OF CHANGE
• Shared Leadership — All stakeholder groups actively participate in planning and implementation.
• Neighborhood Tipping Point — The point at which tangible changes add up to large-scale transformation.
• Resident Leadership — Residents are empowered to sustain a transformed neighborhood.
1
A
PH S E
2
A
PH S E
3
A
PH S E
APPROACH
Shared Leadership
APPROACH
Shared leadership with City alignment
TOOLS
Research assessments, community
forums, and planning workshops
TOOLS
Research assessments, community
forums, and planning workshops
TOOLS
Community Initiatives, Innovative
Investments, Tangible Results
STAKEHOLDERS
Residents, community providers,
city government
STAKEHOLDERS
Residents, community providers,
city government
STAKEHOLDERS
Residents, Bay Area providers,
government/funders
MASTER PLANNING
2008–2012
COMMUNITY PLANNING
2013–2014
IMPLEMENTATION
2014–2030
+
+
=
+
+
=
+
+
=
Neighborhood Plan
APPROACH
Shared Leadership
49
Health Care
Neighborhood Plan
50
Systems Alignment & Accountability
Vital to the success of the shared leadership approach is the City’s
willingness to embrace change, explore new ways of partnering,
and respond quickly to residents’ immediate needs. Residents and
providers have emphasized the need to create access to streamlined,
effective, and resident-friendly services and opportunities, especially
for residents not currently engaged. Equally important is residents’
and providers’ desire to see responsive and transparent assessment
of City services and their results. Strategies to achieve systems
transformation start with identifying what is vital to make progress,
then work to align VisVision with efforts underway at other HOPE SF
sites. While building capacity among existing providers, it will be vital
to establish new partnerships with high-impact organizations beyond
the neighborhood. In addition to health, education, employment,
and safety impacts described in the People Plan, increased systems
alignment and accountability will result in safe and reliable public
transportation, improved public works projects, and enhanced
parks and recreation spaces and programs. Metrics will be created
to measure systems impacts through direct resident feedback on
programs and services as well as HOPE SF data.
Resources
The transformation plan’s ambitious scope and limited current
funding require innovative investments to lay a strong foundation
for implementation. Strategies to secure sufficient resources include
leveraging adequate funding over a sufficient period of time to
realize impacts, maximizing return on investment by creating a
robust implementation infrastructure, and expanding initial city
investments into increasingly diverse local and national funding
streams. In light of historic shifts in investor priorities that often
leave the community hanging, VisVision’s implementation will bring
consistent, reliable resources with which to implement and sustain
transformation. Metrics include savings from reduced expenditures
on crisis response, matched by a stronger tax base from increased
business, employment, and property taxes. The ultimate return on
investment will be the increased ability of families to stay and thrive
in San Francisco.
Sustainability
With HOPE SF, VisVision provides an opportunity to create and
implement solutions to some of the country’s most pressing
challenges in human, natural, and built environments. Strategies
to sustain the success of VisVision include crafting policy solutions
and reaching a tipping point beyond which the neighborhood
is predominantly self-sufficient. At a human level, outputs
include greater community capacity and local control as well as
increased equity and justice for all resident groups. For the natural
environment, sustainability is all about the green: green buildings,
green energy, green spaces, green foods (and we’re not just talking
broccoli!) and green transportation. Metrics include policies that
support community-driven decision making, family and community
stability, and local and national recognition of VisVision’s groundbreaking practices.
Local service
providers
collectively plan
for the future of
Visitacion Valley.
Health Care
RESULTS
Roadmaps: Drawing on results of this shared leadership approach,
Mercy/Related’s Development Team (the Development Team) has
spearheaded creation of six ‘Roadmaps’ that synthesize input from all
of Visitacion Valley’s key stakeholder groups. These are described in
detail in their respective sections of the Plan.
UNDERWAY
HUD-Choice Neighborhood Plan: The VisVision Transformation
Plan is providing an opportunity to synthesize and refine the results
of the community planning process. Sharing the plan with residents
during the launch of the Implementation Phase through a series of
community meetings will be a major boost to residents’ grasp of the
overall direction and how they can become involved.
51
Neighborhood Plan
UP NEXT
Neighborhood Hub: As part of the first phase of construction, a
new neighborhood Hub at the border of Sunnydale and Visitacion
Valley will provide the whole neighborhood with new parks,
community facilities, and retail locations. This Hub will engage
residents of all ages in healthy activities and help build the trust
and social cohesion necessary for uniting the neighborhood to
support the VisVision transformation.
Residents working together to envision a vibrant neighborhood.
Neighborhood Transformation Roadmap
• Systems Alignment &
Accountability
• Sufficient Resourcing
Neighborhood Plan
52
• Sustainability
STRATEGIES
• Ensure ongoing
community
engagement in
transformation
• Organize community
activities, connect
residents to programs
and services
• Coordinate with HOPE
SF to conduct ongoing
assessments that
measure impact
• Hold City accountable
for specific impacts
• Secure dedicated,
sustainable resources
• Maximize return
on investment
thru collective
impact of safety,
health, education,
employment, and
housing strategies
• Align with HOPE SF
systems change to
craft policies informed
by community-driven
innovations
IMPACT
Short-term, 3–5 yrs.
Outputs:
• Residents express HOPE
about the neighborhood’s
future
• Residents, organizations, and
businesses are connected in
neighborhood
• Coordination within and
alignment across City
departments including key
domains plus parks and
transportation
• Partnerships with high-impact
orgs. throughout SF/Bay
Metrics:
• # and % of positive survey
responses
• # and % of residents doing
volunteer work
• # of public/private
partnerships
• # of new partnerships and
providers
• % of residents voting
• Amount of dedicated city
resources
PA C T
V
ST
P
• Physical & Social
Cohesion
3
IM
Mid-term, 5–10 yrs.
Long-term, 10 yrs. +
Outputs:
Outputs:
• Residents express
CONFIDENCE in the
transformation process
• Robust and resident-friendly
local business district and
community Hub
• Partnerships with high impact
orgs. around U.S.
• Responsive and effective
City services
• Diverse funders partner in
long-term support
• Residents express PRIDE
of place in VV
• Residents enjoy economic,
health, and education equity
and experience social justice
• Thriving schools, services,
and local economy
• Expanded housing with
ethnic and economic diversity
• Healthy natural and built
environment
• Increased family and
community stability
Metrics:
• # of positive survey responses
• # of participants in community
programs/events
• # of new amenities
• # of new businesses
• # high-impact organizations
serving neighborhood
• # of statistical trends in
positive direction
• # of policy changes
• Amount of total dedicated
resources
Metrics:
• # and % of positive survey
responses
• Self-sufficiency indicators
• Disparities in safety, health,
education, employment,
and housing
• Ratio of affordable and
market rate housing to public
housing
• Racial and ethnic mix
• # of green-designed features
and elements
• # of places that adopt
VisVision model
• Tenure of residents, services,
businesses
4
IS
VIS IO
N
PRIORITIES
2
TEGI
RA
ES
1
OR I T I E
S
RI
VISVISION
VV residents enjoy
living in a thriving
neighborhood with
quality activities
and amenities,
responsive city
services, and a
beautiful and healthy
environment.
Community Engagement
One + One + One = 1,000
53
Neighborhood Plan
The cumulative impact of the three-phase transformation process
is designed to be far greater than the sum of its parts. As the
cornerstone for achieving VisVision, community engagement is
integral to every aspect of the plan. Mercy/Related launched the
planning process in 2008, confident that the wisdom and insights
of those most affected by current challenges would lead to a
host of innovative and impactful strategies for how to overcome
past challenges. Demonstrating immediate ‘wins’ throughout the
engagement process has built momentum toward a VisVision in
which residents are active leaders in the neighborhood and beyond,
generating high-impact innovations and contributing to creative
problem solving. Achieving this vision will require a dramatic shift
in the images residents hold for themselves, their neighborhood,
and the city. Significant barriers to community engagement include
that residents must feel safe and be able to meet their basic needs
before they have the capacity to prepare for what lies ahead;
they must be convinced that a history of unfilled promises will be
replaced by responsive systems that function with integrity; and
they must trust that they and their neighbors have the capacity to
learn and lead at previously unimagined levels. Planning participants
identified the following priorities for assessing the community
engagement process to ensure it meets criteria for overcoming
these barriers:
Resident & Community Empowerment
Mercy/Related Development Team selected a resident-centered
community engagement process that builds capacity to move
residents along the continuum from involvement to ownership to
leadership. Residents will also participate in developing assessments
of the process and its impacts. The long-term result will be residents
who are active leaders in local and city governance, generating highimpact innovations and contributing to creative problem-solving at all
levels. Metrics include the number of residents receiving leadership
training and holding formal leadership roles in the transformation
process and beyond.
Resident planning workshops were held in various languages to capture the diversity
of Visitacion Valley. This planning workshop was held in Spanish.
Health Care
Collective Action
Residents, community partners, and City departments will work
together on three community-designed initiatives. A Visitacion
Valley Leadership Academy will be formed to help build capacity
for residents to design and lead implementation of VisVision’s
Community Initiatives. Robust partnerships with high-impact
organizations within and outside the neighborhood will maximize
residents’ investment while a neighborhood governance model
will be designed to ensure long-term decision-making is heavily
influenced by residents. Metrics include participation in the
community initiatives, positive process assessments, and the number
of highly effective organizations involved in the neighborhood.
Neighborhood Plan
54
Tangible & Lasting Benefits
The combination of resident empowerment and collective action
will result in tangible and lasting benefits as measured by residents
as well as external evaluation. VisVision will have an ever-expanding
impact, reaching around the city and beyond. Long-term, the impact
of multiple generations being engaged in transformation will inspire
a culture of positive leadership that becomes self-sustaining. Metrics
include visible evidence of collective action, improved data for
community outcomes, and examples of the engagement process
being used a model for replication.
Community Engagement Process
Approach
The Community Engagement Process includes three phases:
Master Planning, Community Planning, and Implementation. The
Master Planning phase generated resident priorities for physical
living spaces and vital amenities; the just-concluded Community
Planning phase identified collective priorities for `collective action
with tangible and lasting community benefits. The Process surfaced
collective priorities for safety, education, employment, health, and
housing as well as innovative, community-centered strategies for
transforming the neighborhood. Given the neighborhood’s long
history of isolation, the Planning Process placed primary emphasis
on building trust among all stakeholders through a residentcentered approach to the planning phases and will implement a
shared leadership approach during the Implementation Phase.
Workshops used the ToP
planning workshops to create
a safe space for individuals
to envision a vibrant
neighborhood
Health Care
Surveys
Workshops
Research
SAFETY FIRST
HEALTH &
WELLBEING
LEARNING &
EARNING
Stakeholders
The VisVision Planning Phases engaged residents, community
partners, and government agencies. By convening people as
naturally and conveniently as possible, the Community Planning
process has been particularly effective at engaging populations that
are often not reached including Samoan seniors, African American
young men, and recent Chinese immigrants among others. The
Community Planning phase also engaged stakeholders from city
agencies across all the key domains including representatives
from Violence Prevention Services, SF Unified School District,
and the Housing Authority. A broader, even more diverse cohort
of organizational partners and funders will be included in the
implementation phase.
55
Neighborhood Plan
Tools
The primary tools used in the community engagement process are
research assessments, community forums, and planning sessions and
workshops. The assessments encompass research on neighborhood
data from the Department of Public Health, Office of Economic
Development, SF Unified Schools District, and the Mayor’s Office of
Criminal Justice as well as Housing Authority and HOPE SF data on
residents of Sunnydale. Knowing the importance of using engagement
methods with proven efficacy in severely fractured and disempowered
communities, the Development Team adopted the Technology of
Participation’s (ToP) evidence-based techniques for the Community
Planning Sessions and workshops. The ToP planning workshops
created a safe space for individuals to write their top answers to a
common question, post their answers on a ‘sticky’ wall, collectively
group individual ideas into similar categories, and create a title for
each category heading. Headings from different workshops were then
combined into core priorities for the neighborhood at large.
Community
Initiative
Projects
Health Care
RESULTS
Neighborhood Blueprint: This first phase of planning succeeded
in creating blueprints for how residents of varied income levels will
inhabit family friendly housing close to services and amenities; laid
a strong foundation for the Community Planning. The Sunnydale
Master Plan reintegrates the site into the larger neighborhood with
new housing and street grids, and a new neighborhood hub on the
border of Sunnydale and Visitacion Valley.
Mercy/Related staff explains the master planning process at an Advisory Team meeting.
Neighborhood Plan
56
PHASE ONE: Master Planning
The Master Planning Phase (2008–2012) focused on housing
and amenities within the Sunnydale rebuild and how the new
Sunnydale housing will blend with the surrounding Visitacion
Valley neighborhood. Over the course of five years, the Mercy/
Related Development Team hosted a series of information sessions
about HOPE SF and Sunnydale site goals; open houses to identify
existing community assets and plan for neighborhood integration;
design workshops to conceptualize buildings, open spaces, and an
overall site plan; as well as community forums in response to urgent
transportation & safety concerns. Over 500 neighbors participated
in these gatherings which offered translation in Cantonese, Samoan,
and Spanish. These events produced a visionary Master Plan that
not only integrates Sunnydale residents into the broader Visitacion
Valley community but also invites neighbors and newcomers into the
Sunnydale community. A new mix of Sunnydale housing will attract
diverse residents; a variety of high quality programs and services will
enable youth and families to thrive; and new parks and greenscaping
will provide healthy places for everyone to gather and play.
Physical Improvements: A new bus stop has been created in the
neighborhood, and the Herz Playground has been renovated with a
new field and basketball courts.
UNDERWAY
Greening: The Boys and Girls Club and Urban Sprouts have
revived two community gardens.
Business Developments: A new Visitacion Valley grocery store
and retail projects along Leland Avenue will revitalize business and
improve nutrition options.
Health Care
UP NEXT
Green Design: Developers have obtained LEED ND certification
of the Sunnydale & Schlage master plans as green neighborhoods;
education and efficient design will lead to increased water and
energy conservation; and the creation of more bus lines, bike
lanes, and pedestrian walkways will give residents much more
independence from cars.
Surrounding Developments: With 200,000 additional residents
expected in the next 20 years, San Francisco is awash with
new housing and retail developments. Along with VisVision,
the following projects will bring new services and amenities to
Visitacion Valley residents:
• The Hunters Point Shipyard and Candlestick Park (former home
of the San Francisco 49’ers football team) are currently under
construction with 6,000 new homes, 930,000 square feet of retail
and office space, and 100 acres of parks.
• San Francisco recently approved the development of an ‘Executive
Park’ about a mile east of the Schlage Lock site which will include
2,800 housing units.
• San Francisco is planning a ‘Green Connection’ from Candlestick
Recreation Area to Sunnydale and McLaren Park along Leland,
Hahn, and Sunnydale Avenues. A Green Connection is a
pedestrian- and bike-friendly street network that connects people
to parks and open spaces, improving access to urban ecology
and wildlife.
Kids enjoy one of Sunnydale’s playgrounds.
• Large housing and retail developments are under consideration
across Geneva Avenue in Daly City at the Cow Palace, (currently a
venue for major regional events like trade shows) and at Geneva
and Bayshore Boulevard in the Brisbane Baylands, a 684-acre site
bordering Visitacion Valley, with potential for 12 million feet of
office, entertainment, hotel, convention, and retail space.
57
Neighborhood Plan
• San Francisco and San Mateo Counties are pursuing a Complete
Streets Plan for Geneva Avenue to transform it from an autofocused street to one that includes a Bus Rapid Transit line to
Balboa BART station and bicycle and pedestrian pathways.
Health Care
PHASE TWO: Community Planning
Neighborhood Plan
58
Launched in fall of 2013, Phase Two of Community Planning
engaged over 250 residents and providers in a year-long series of
planning workshops designed to build trust, honor individual voices,
and inspire a collective vision for transformation. Based on the
Technology of Participation (ToP) techniques from the Institute of
Cultural Affairs, the Community Planning Workshops were designed
as workshops that built collaborative capacity and identified shared
priorities for community transformation. Residents, CBO providers,
and community stakeholders came together to align Sunnydale
and Visitacion Valley revitalization efforts in a comprehensive and
cohesive Neighborhood Plan. Participants began each session
with breathing and stretching exercises to release stress and create
openings for new ideas and connections. A series of Sunnydalespecific planning workshops engaged residents and service providers
around issues unique to Sunnydale. Sunnydale resident workshops
(held in Samoan, Spanish, Cantonese, and in English) asked:
What are the key elements of a plan to transform the Sunnydale
community? Five additional planning workshops joined residents
and CBO providers in addressing shared priorities for transforming
health, education, economy, and safety in Sunnydale and Visitacion
Valley. In addition, workshops were held with targeted groups
including youth, women, Samoan seniors, and Asian residents.
RESULTS
CBO Collaborative: The Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community
Development began transferring facilitation of the Visitacion
Valley Community Collaborative (the Collaborative) over to the
Development Team in 2013. Visitacion Valley CBOs have historically
suffered from fragmentation similar to the neighborhood at large:
competition for funding and difficulty in crossing ‘boundaries’ to
serve residents from different areas. A Collaborative retreat in fall
2013 allowed provider and resident participants to acknowledge
the need to work together going forward, and to identify collective
priorities for the Transformation Plan. Staff learned quickly that
highlighting current neighborhood data as a prompt for discussion
dampened spirits. As one participant said, “We don’t need data to
tell us what’s not working. We need a plan and the funds to make
things right.” This feedback was incorporated into the rest of the
Planning Sessions.
Health & Wellness Center: The new Sunnydale Health & Wellness
Center provides health services, sponsors community events and
exercise classes, and serves as visible evidence of the positive
changes underway. Emergency personnel have already reported a
decrease in emergency calls and ER visits since the opening.
Community Calendar: A monthly calendar of activities includes
game nights, Zumba classes, and a neighborhood walking tour.
An Annual Family Day Celebration and Back-to-School Backpack
Giveaway each engage over 1,000 residents. Weekly garden days
have revived a community garden in Sunnydale that provides handson programs for youth and food and exercise for families and seniors.
Health Care
Resident Response: For meetings like the Safety Forums, flyers
were distributed through CBOs, churches, and neighborhood
associations. Ten Planning Sessions and two Safety Forums
drew more than 400 participants, an indication that despite
linguistic, physical, and cultural barriers, the people of Sunnydale
and Visitacion Valley are eager to bring about long-awaited
improvements to their community.
Building on strength and momentum from the CBO Collaborative
meetings and several community forums, the Development Team
recruited participants for a series of 10 resident planning workshops.
Attendance was increased when meetings were planned to coincide
with regularly scheduled activities like Bingo for Samoan Seniors
and a weekly support group for Chinese immigrants. Translation was
provided by the group’s regular facilitators, increasing participants’
trust in the process.
UNDERWAY
Sunnydale Needs Assessment Report: The Development Team
worked closely with consultants at Learning For Action (LFA) to
incorporate VisVision questions into HOPE SF’s baseline surveys.
The Sunnydale survey process included LFA staff and SF State
Health Education interns who collectively reached out to every
unit in Sunnydale. Surveys were conducted in English, Spanish,
and Cantonese, and additional outreach to under-represented
populations ensured that results will reflect the community’s
diversity. Over 400 surveys were ultimately answered; final analysis
of the surveys and writing of a needs assessment report will
be completed by LFA this fall. Based on their interactions with
residents, Spanish and Cantonese-speaking surveyors also made
recommendations for how to address barriers to engaging those
populations going forward.
UP NEXT
Phase Three: Implementation
Results of the Community Planning phase were integrated into
three Community Initiatives that will launch in early 2015. Planning
participants and community members will be invited to an exhibit
of the Master Planning and Community Planning Phases where
they will have opportunities to get involved in implementing the
Community Initiatives.
59
Neighborhood Plan
Mercy/Related staff sharing information at local community event.
Discussion of what had worked and what hadn’t work in previous
community development efforts allowed people to give voice to past
disappointment in preparation for embracing a new, shared future.
Community Engagement Roadmap
• Collective Action
(HOPE SF + VisVision)
Neighborhood Plan
60
• Tangible and Lasting
Benefits
STRATEGIES
• Ensure residents
are at the center of
transformation process
• Build capacity for
resident leadership of
community-designed
initiatives
• Strengthen relationships
at all levels
• Adopt curriculum-based
and evidence-based
practices
• Create tangible and
lasting community
benefits
• Engage residents in
assessing impact of
community engagement
IMPACT
PA C T
V
ST
P
• Resident & Community
Empowerment
3
IM
Mid-term, 5–10 yrs.
Long-term, 10 yrs. +
Outputs:
Outputs:
Outputs:
• Active resident
INVOLVEMENT in
Community Initiatives
• Resident OWNERSHIP of
VV transformation
• Resident LEADERSHIP of
transformed neighborhood
• Local governance structure
• VV Leadership Academy
graduates
• Expanded number of
Community Initiatives
• Multiple generations of
family engagement in
VisVision
• Metrics and evaluation
tools for community
engagement process
• Lasting benefits from
Community Initiatives
Short-term, 3–5 yrs.
• Tangible benefits of
Community Initiatives
Metrics:
• # and % of residents
participating in Community
Initiatives
• # and % residents with
leadership training
• # and % of positive
responses to process and
impact assessments
• # of completed community
projects
Metrics:
• # resident leaders of
Community Initiatives
• # and scale of community
projects
• # of examples of
community engagement
approach being applied
elsewhere in SF
• Active community
engagement in citywide
initiatives
Metrics:
• # and % of resident
instructors of Leadership
Academy
• # residents in city
leadership roles
• # and % of residents
involved in neighborhood
decision making
• # of places that adopt
community engagement
approach
4
IS
VIS IO
N
PRIORITIES
2
TEGI
RA
ES
1
OR I T I E
S
RI
VISVISION
VV residents are
active leaders in the
neighborhood and
city, generating highimpact innovations
and contributing to
creative problem
solving at all levels.
People Plan
People Make it Possible
People Make it Possible
People Plan
62
Visitacion Valley’s future will unite disparate communities within a
cohesive neighborhood. Residents of both will live in attractive,
affordable housing conveniently located near quality jobs, schools,
retail, services, and amenities. The Development Team has partnered
with Sunnydale and Visitacion Valley residents, service providers,
and merchants to create this VisVision for People to ensure current
residents are in the strongest position possible to reap the benefits
of the Sunnydale rebuild and the Visitacion Valley transformation.
Building trust and focusing on areas of common interest have
been key themes throughout the transformation planning process.
Community assessments identified clear reasons for the historic lack
of neighborhood cohesion: street designs isolate Sunnydale from
Visitacion Valley; language barriers inhibit dialogue with more than
70% of Visitacion Valley residents speaking a primary language other
than English; cultural gaps further complicate communication with
more than 50% of Visitacion Valley residents born outside the US
while over 40% of Sunnydale residents are African Americans born in
the US; and Visitacion Valley has a home ownership rate nearly twice
the city average compared to no homeowners in Sunnydale.
“You may believe people who live there are miserable, but
the truth is the residents are happy and full of life. A few of
them feel there’s no hope for Sunnydale, but the majority
believe the community can be made into a prosperous and
thriving one where people are proud to say they live there.”
— College intern who conducted surveys in
Spanish and English
In tandem with these real and significant differences are important
shared experiences: Visitacion Valley overall has twice as many
residents with high school or less education and only one third
as many with college or graduate degrees than San Francisco’s
average; per capita income is less than half the city, while
unemployment is nearly double; and both Visitacion Valley and
Sunnydale have nearly 50% more family households than the city
average. By building on commonalities and convening around
shared priorities, residents will be more likely to establish the
solid, stable footing required to engage as equal partners in
implementing community-wide transformation initiatives. Planning
session feedback indicated many Sunnydale residents initially prefer
leadership roles in Sunnydale-centered activities both because they
feel its needs are more urgent and because they feel less welcome
and safe outside the confines of their immediate community.
Likewise, Visitacion Valley community members are often reluctant
to venture into Sunnydale. An example of the deep-seeded distrust
is that Visitacion Valley merchants often refuse to accept Sunnydale
residents’ credit cards or to provide pickups or deliveries within the
confines of Sunnydale. Powerful community organizing is required to
heal this fractured neighborhood.
The VisVision Development Team’s original approach to Community
Planning was built around a traditional committee structure for
Health, Education, Safety, Economic Empowerment, and Housing.
Safety First Initiative
Universally identified as the most urgent of the three community
initiatives, Safety First supports a VisVision of residents as members
of a safe and socially cohesive community. Achieving this vision is
paramount to building the trust needed to implement other areas
of the Plan. With many residents consumed by meeting their basic
needs and struggling with language, cultural, and economic barriers,
safety offers a unifying focus that inspires them to become involved
in a group effort. The Community Planning phase has already shown
a strong commitment among Visitacion Valley activists to address
disparities and injustices among public housing residents—a focus
that is vital to making headway on historical tensions and violence.
City departments have already made great strides in involving the
whole criminal justice system in planning changes that address root
causes of violence. To achieve the VisVision for safety, residents,
community partners, and City departments will focus on the following
four priorities:
Recognizing the need for immediate action, the Development Team
has adopted a “Doing while Planning” approach that is delivering
tangible community benefits whenever possible.
A Samoan senior resident with her goal for a vibrant community.
63
People Plan
In the process of recruiting for these committees, it became clear
that negative experiences and poor outcomes from previous
collaborative efforts left people uninspired by the prospect of
participating in another planning process. Furthermore, mistrust
between various groups (residents and providers, Sunnydale
and Visitacion Valley residents, different ethnic and linguistic
communities) meant convening them around singular issues right
out of the gate had the potential to heighten tensions rather than
inspiring cohesion. Adopting the ToP techniques described in the
Community Engagement section placed people rather than issues
at the center of planning. ToP planning workshops were convened
by language and ethnicity as well as by subject area. Fortunately,
the resulting priorities showed common ground in what to do and
how to do it. Adding together the groups’ priorities and information
from the neighborhood assessments led directly to the design of
three community initiatives. These initiatives incorporate core issues
within a plan residents can relate to, easily participate in, and see
the obvious results. Results are particularly important for harnessing
energy and gathering momentum for implementation after so much
stalling over the years. By seeing the influence people have had on
the Community Planning process, residents and community partners
are beginning to replace skepticism with hope, anger with trust,
and apathy with determination. People from within and beyond
the neighborhood are now poised to make the following three
Community Initiatives a success.
Prevention
Strategies to prevent accidents and violence include promoting child
abuse prevention and anti-bullying, reducing partner and domestic
violence, and offering curriculum-based programs for high-risk youth
and young adults. Establishing links to job training and employment
in careers relevant to the neighborhood will increase resident
investment in improved safety. With one of the city’s highest rates
of pedestrian accidents, the Safety Initiative will sponsor a variety of
pedestrian safety projects designed for all ages.
People Plan
64
Prevention work will include partnerships with school-based family
and student safety efforts, and other city-sponsored and communitybased prevention programs. For example, The Safety Team will work
closely with the Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council, adopting its
“Circle of Care” model, which offers a continuum of services to help
youth and young adults avoid and/or permanently exit the criminal
justice system.
These safety partnerships follow a community health approach to
prevention. In the long-term, Visitacion Valley will be a neighborhood
that is safe for residents and visitors alike. To measure the results
of these strategies, VisVision will look at the number and types of
crimes per capita, the number of high-risk youth and young adults
participating in prevention programs, the number of arrests and
probation cases per capita, and pedestrian safety rates.
Local law enforcement helping pass out Turkeys for Thanksgiving.
Enforcement
The primary strategy to improve enforcement will be creation of
the neighborhood Safety Plan in partnership with residents, CBOs,
City departments, and law enforcement. This plan will detail specific
actions to be implemented during the next two years. Initial work
will focus on interventions like more effective safety devices such as
shot-spotters and security cameras and more timely responses to
local calls. Over the next several years, the focus will be on improving
relations between residents and law enforcement, and between
residents of divided communities. Combined, these changes
will result in a sense of safety that encourages residents to move
freely throughout the neighborhood. Effective enforcement will be
measured in reductions in rates of shootings, homicides, drug sales,
and property crimes; an increase in resident trust of law enforcement;
and an increased rate of students and residents who express a sense
of safety in the neighborhood.
Circle of Care for Youth
The “Circle of Care” model aims to address the individual in a holistic way, treating a young
person’s family and community as integral to prevention and intervention. How the “Circle of
Care” places youth and young adults in the center of a continuum of prevention, intervention,
enforcement and re-entry services:
Aftercare
Prevention
MORE INTENSE
LESS INTENSE
State incarceration
Early risk identification
and intervention
County residential
facilities
Structured, shortterm residential
programs
Most
restrictive
Out-of-home
County detention
Pre-adjudication and
post-adjudication
emergency shelter programs
From the Department of Children, Youth and Families: Youth
Violence Prevention Initiative Report, 2011.
Least
restrictive
In-home
Pre-adjudication
community-based
supervision and
intervention
Post-adjudication communitybased supervision and
intervention
Intensive post-adjudication
community-based supervision and
intervention
65
People Plan
Intensive, highlystructured, long-term
residential
Pre-adjudication
community-based
intervention
People Plan
66
Restorative Justice
Strategies for restorative justice, (repairing the harm caused by
crime), include supporting the significant number of residents
who suffer from the impacts of violence and trauma. Early outputs
include a rapid and relevant crisis response plan, residents with
formal training in supporting victims of trauma, established re-entry
programs, community policing, and increased local employment in
community development programs and projects. In the long run,
residents could become members of law enforcement and hold
other leadership positions in public safety. Successful community
empowerment through restorative justice will be seen in an
increase in the number of residents holding jobs that serve the
community and an increase in the number of formal, resident-led
safety projects. These will lead to a medium-term decrease in the
rate of resident arrests and incarceration, especially among African
American, Latino, and Samoan males, and a long-term decrease
in the rate of violence and incarceration compared with other San
Francisco neighborhoods.
Service providers and residents enjoy the sunny weather during the
backpack giveaway.
Community Wellbeing
Strategies to increase wellbeing in the community include a breaking
of down of barriers between different housing developments and
between residents of housing developments and the broader
Visitacion Valley community. This will lead to safe transitions into
new housing and increased trust among new neighbors. In the
long-term, residents will experience equitable outcomes through
the justice system increasing belief there is equity in the justice
system. Community wellbeing metrics include decreased rates
of personal and interpersonal violence, the number of residents
working in Visitacion Valley development jobs, safety indicators on
par with thriving neighborhoods in other parts of SF, and rates of
home purchases that indicate the desirability of living in Visitacion
Valley. Increased community wellbeing will break entrenched cycles
of violence and involvement with the criminal justice system and thus
contribute back to prevention.
Safety First Initiative Roadmap
• Enforcement
• Restorative Justice
• Community Wellbeing
STRATEGIES
• Promote child abuse
prevention and antibullying in schools
• Prevent and heal from
partner and domestic
violence
• Adopt ‘Circle of Care’
approach for high-risk
youth and young adults
• Link with job training and
careers in areas relevant
to the neighborhood
• Sponsor community
and pedestrian safety
projects
• Partner with law
enforcement and
criminal justice system to
create a Safety Plan
Short-term, 3–5 yrs.
Outputs:
• Partner with school-based
family and student safety
efforts
Mid-term, 5–10 yrs.
Long-term, 10 yrs. +
Outputs:
Outputs:
• Robust restorative justice
practices aligned in local
model
• Residents in law
enforcement and other
public safety positions
• Positive relations between
• Menu of prevention
residents of Sunnydale &
programs aligned with
‘The Towers’
other Community Initiatives
•
Safe
transitions into
• Collaborative framework
new
housing
with new
aligning community and
neighbors
criminal justice system
• Culture/’brand’ of a safe
neighborhood
• Rapid and relevant trauma
prevention and crisis
response plan
• Model for other
neighborhoods
Metrics:
• # of resident arrests and
adult probation cases
• Effective community courts
and detention alternative
programs
• # and % of students and
residents who express a
sense of safety
• VV police station with
effective devices and
timely response
• # and % of residents
who express trust in law
enforcement
Metrics:
• # and % of shootings,
homicides, drug sales, and
property crimes
• # of participants and
% of representative
neighborhood
demographics
• # of resident-led safety
projects
• # cases of personal/
interpersonal violence
• # of residents working in VV
development jobs
• Increase housing demand
• Equitable justice system
outcomes
• Residents trust there’s
equity in the justice system
Metrics:
• # and % incarcerated
compared with
neighborhood
demographics
• Rates of violence and
incarceration relative to
other SF neighborhoods
• # and % of residents who
express trust in justice
system
• # of other neighborhoods
that adopt Safety First plan
• # market rate homes
purchased
4
IS
VIS IO
VISVISION
SVV residents are
members of a safe
and socially cohesive
community.
67
People Plan
• Offer curriculum-based
youth and restorative
justice programs (e.g.
IPO)
IMPACT
PA C T
V
ST
P
• Prevention
3
IM
N
PRIORITIES
2
TEGI
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1
OR I T I E
S
RI
Doing While Planning
RESULTS
Community Safety Forums — The Development Team hosted
two forums with over 200 resident participants from Sunnydale and
the greater Visitacion Valley. Police participated in workshops and
community meetings. Just bringing all the key stakeholders together
— from on-the-ground residents and law enforcement officers to
representatives from the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice, the
Youth & Adult Probation Departments, and the Mayor’s new Office
of Violence Prevention Services — was a major accomplishment and
generated much-needed goodwill among diverse participants.
People Plan
68
Reduced Violence Rate in Sunnydale — A 37.5% reduction in
homicide rates between summer 2012 and summer 2013 was likely
due in part to an increase in service-oriented summer jobs, teambuilding field trips, and intensive programming for high-risk youth
like the City’s Interrupt, Predict, and Organize (IPO) Initiative. IPO
was launched in 2012 to reduce Street Violence and Family Violence
among high risk families, youth and young adults residing in SFPDidentified “hot zones” including Visitacion Valley. A group of 30 of
the neighborhood’s youth at highest risk for violence now attend
a program at TURF in Sunnydale with academic, employment, and
health/wellbeing activities.
“I wish that I’d told them they’re the reason I do what I do.”
— Master Plan architect after watching Seedfolks youth
present their playground plans
UNDERWAY
Neighborhood Police Sub-Station: A plan has been proposed to
open a Visitacion Valley police sub-station at Herz playground, and
potentially an entirely new station for Visitacion Valley. The consensus
is that having a home-base in the neighborhood will improve
relationships between residents and law enforcement officers,
provide officers with a better understanding of neighborhood
challenges from residents’ perspectives, and lead to a higher level of
responsiveness and faster response times.
Expanded Youth Programming: Launched in July 2014, the
Seedfolks pilot program recruited youth from Sunnydale and
Visitacion Valley for a five-week, curriculum-based summer internship
project. Youth interns identified priorities for a healthy neighborhood,
then worked with a landscape architect to redesign the dilapidated
playground behind the new Health & Wellness Center, and worked
with an artist to create an inspiring mural design for the front of
the new Center. Their presentation was attended by parents, CBOs
and city officials, and resulted in commitments from the Housing
Authority and the Department of Public Works to help them
implement both projects during the coming school year.
UP NEXT
Safety Plan: The first order of business for the Safety Implementation
Team will be to create a community-wide Safety Plan based on
specific details and data from the Community Planning phase.
Immediate needs include infrastructure improvements like lighting
and cameras; increased interactions among residents to add more
eyes on the streets and build confidence in collective safety efforts;
and youth leadership programs to transform the neighborhood’s
youth culture from dangerous to safe.
Block Captain Program: With an initial focus on playground safety
and improvements, the Safety Implementation team will recruit
resident leaders to help implement the larger Safety Plan. After
helping organize community work days to repair, revitalize, and
maintain Sunnydale’s five playgrounds, the Block Captains will
participate in leadership training to build their capacity to encourage
residents of every block to take responsibility for their homes and
yards; sponsor common area improvement projects like street
cleaning and beautification; and lay the foundation for launching a
formal community policing program.
69
People Plan
Youth gathering input on creating a vibrant neighborhood.
Learning & Earning Initiative
People Plan
70
The Learning & Earning (L&E) Initiative combines the education
and employment priorities from the Community Planning phase.
Community Planning participants emphasized that lifelong learning
is critical to economic empowerment and felt the two would be
mutually reinforced through an integrated approach. The first order
of business for L&E Initiative participants will be to launch the
Visitacion Valley Leadership Academy modeled after Leadership
San Francisco and the HOPE SF Leadership Program. The Academy
will develop cohorts of community advocates and equip them to
contribute to the VisVision transformation. These neighborhood
advocates will work closely with community partners, schools, and
city departments to create a continuum of high quality, linguistically
and culturally relevant, curriculum-based learning opportunities
for all ages. Likewise, identifying a pipeline of meaningful local
employment options will motivate residents to pursue jobs that meet
immediate and long-term community needs. With economic security
as a driver of so many other disparities, it is critical to create a
roadmap right now for future jobs. The few years of lead-time before
implementation of the housing plan will be sufficient to identify jobs,
know the training requirements, and address many of the barriers to
employment. City departments are currently being mobilized through
HOPE SF and their staffs will be partners in all the areas required
to make this pipeline a reality for current residents. The Learning &
Earning Initiative will support a VisVision in which residents excel
academically, have stable and rewarding jobs, and enjoy creative
pursuits. With academic and professional preparation, residents will
be positioned to do the work, not just be targets or recipients of
services. To achieve this vision, residents and community partners will
focus on the following four priorities:
Schools
Strategies to improve school outcomes include developing local,
quality, affordable childcare and pre-K slots for children ages 0-4,
fostering strong community elementary and middle schools, and
accessing high school and college degree options that prepare
residents for meaningful careers after graduation. Early results
will show residents attending quality neighborhood childcare
and pre-K programs, increasing school readiness as they enter
elementary school. With strong parent and community involvement
in elementary and middle schools, students will achieve academic
success in high-performing neighborhood schools. High-achieving
middle school students will then be prepared for a range of High
School and college options. The L&E Initiative Team will work
closely with childcare programs and schools to ensure all resident
groups have the family and community supports to be successful
learners. Academic measures of success will include increased
resident enrollment in early childhood learning and Visitacion Valley
schools for young children; lower truancy, chronic absenteeism, and
suspension rates in elementary and middle school; increased parent
and community involvement in schools; improved API scores for all
local schools; and increased high school graduation and college
attendance among all resident groups. These advances will help to
reduce the achievement gap between Visitacion Valley students and
students in other SF neighborhoods, while increasing demand for
neighborhood schools.
Residents express their thoughts on a vibrant neighborhood through arts.
Arts & Environment
The primary strategy for supporting the arts and environmental
learning is to partner with high-impact organizations to offer
curriculum-based programs for residents of all ages that fulfill
personal passions and add to social cohesion. First steps will
be to offer engaging classes and activities discussed during the
Community Planning process and drawn from San Francisco’s rich
array of arts and cultural offerings. The projects that participants
create through these classes will provide lasting, visible benefits
to the community in the form of exhibits, murals, greenways, and
garden and park improvements. In the long-term, Visitacion Valley
will be known as a neighborhood in which residents are active artists
and environmentalists. Measure of success will include participation
in community-based programs, leading over time to more residentled learning opportunities and more local businesses focused on the
arts and environment.
Technology & Finances
VisVision will sponsor classes on technology and financial literacy
to increase resident strength in these areas. With shockingly low
access to technology, an immediate step will be to ensure universal
local access to computers and the internet. Success in this area
will be measured by the number and percentage of residents who
use financial and technology tools in the pursuit of education,
employment, and personal health.
71
People Plan
Jobs & Workforce
Development Strategies to increase employment centered on
creating a pipeline of training, entry-level jobs, and full-time
employment with particular emphasis on jobs related to the
neighborhood’s transformation. An example of this continuum in
the healthcare field could include Health Outreach or CAN training
programs, then a range of employment options from entry level
health outreach workers to Community College of San Francisco
and San Francisco State University nursing and mental health
professionals.. Short-term results will have residents engaging
in workforce development in fields that address local needs for
increased access to quality healthcare, healthy retail, affordable
childcare, youth and after-school programming, landscaping,
property development and property management, and construction.
Short-term results will also include establishing strong links
among pipeline partners so residents go through nearly seamless
transitions as they advance in their training and careers. Results in
the medium-term will have residents employed in local enterprises
with opportunities for advancement, resulting in long-term economic
mobility and financial security among all resident groups. These
changes also impact the neighborhood’s transformation and
sustainability. Employment metrics include completion rates for
job training programs; employment in social enterprises, local
businesses, and development projects; the number of Visitacion
Valley jobs and the number of residents employed in them; the
amount of capital available for local small businesses and social
enterprises; and income levels among all resident groups.
Learning & Earning Initiative Roadmap
• Jobs and workforce
development
• Arts and environment
People Plan
72
• Technology and
finances
STRATEGIES
• Develop local, quality,
affordable childcare and
pre-K slots (0–4)
• Foster strong community
elementary and middle
schools (5–14)
• Provide menu of
effective High School
and Community College
degree options (15–21)
• Link to quality workforce
development programs
(16–60)
• Engage healthy retail
and social and micro
enterprises
• Create a pipeline of
training, entry-level, and
full employment options
• Offer environment and
arts programs for all ages
• Offer financial and tech
literacy classes
IMPACT
PA C T
V
ST
P
• Schools
3
IM
Short-term, 3–5 yrs.
Mid-term, 5–10 yrs.
Long-term, 10 yrs. +
Outputs:
Outputs:
Outputs:
• Residents in local childcare
and schools with active
parents and strong
community partnerships
• Menu of curriculum-based
youth dev. programs and
internships
• Residents active in workforce
development and hiring
• Strong links among job
pipeline partners
• Menu of popular community
classes in arts, environment,
finances, and tech
Metrics:
• % residents from all groups
in school choice
• # and % enrolled in early
childhood learning, local
schools, and youth dev.
• # of residents in PTA and
school activities
• Rates of chronic
absenteeism and truancy
• Completion rate for job
training and internships
• # and % employed in social
ventures in VV
• # and % participating in
community classes
• High-performing local
schools and students
• High academic achievement
among all resident groups
• Residents employed in
local and nearby jobs with
advancement
• High demand for
neighborhood schools
• Tangible and lasting arts and
environmental projects
• Universal local access to
technology
Metrics:
• API scores for neighborhood
schools
• Rates of HS grads & college
enrollment
• Rate of HS dropouts
• # of Vis Valley jobs
• # residents working in
neighborhood jobs
• Employment rate among all
resident groups
• # and % of residents using
financial & tech tools
• Amount of capital for small
business and social ventures
• Economic mobility among
all resident groups
• Culture and ‘brand’ of
lifelong learning community
Metrics:
• Achievement gap between
VV & SF schools
• Rates of college graduation
among all residents groups
• Income level among all
resident groups
• # and % of home ownership
among all groups
• # of local businesses focused
on arts, environment, and
social ventures
• # of resident-led structured
learning programs
4
IS
VIS IO
N
PRIORITIES
2
TEGI
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ES
1
OR I T I E
S
RI
VISVISION
SVV residents
excel academically,
have stable and
rewarding jobs,
and enjoy creative
personal pursuits.
Doing While Planning
RESULTS
Financial Planning: Mercy/Related partnered with nonprofit Financial
IQ Consulting to provide Sunnydale residents with a three-week
series of financial literacy classes. These workshops delivered financial
education through culturally relevant materials covering 1) savings,
2) credit, and 3) home buying. Over 50 participating residents were
empowered through a better understanding the financial jargon and
the basics of financial wellness.
UNDERWAY
UP NEXT
Childcare Project: VisVision will develop a continuum of training
and employment opportunities while creating more affordable, high
quality childcare slots in the neighborhood. The plan is to encourage
parent participation in early childhood learning by offering relevant,
curriculum-based child development classes. The planning team
will also look at the possibility of launching a childcare co-op
that offers cost-free childcare in exchange for work and provides
experience to residents interested in starting their own businesses.
Youth Programming: VisVision will recruit high-impact organizations
to bring high-quality, culturally relevant academic and employment
opportunities for Visitacion Valley youth. The VisVision team
will support local youth-serving organizations in developing
curriculum-based programming and establishing stronger ties to
post-secondary opportunities. Building on successful outcomes of
summer internships, the team will support the developing culture of
academic and professional achievement among high school youth
and young adults.
Neighborhood Employment Plan: VisVision will help to reduce
barriers to stable employment through better access to social
services like mental health and addiction supports and conflict
resolution. The plan will work to build able-bodied residents’ job
skills by increasing access to job navigation, job training, and job
placements. A continuum of work opportunities through volunteer
projects, community co-ops, local businesses, and development
partners will be
offered.
Residents list employment needs.
73
People Plan
School Partnerships: The principals, social workers, and teachers
at El Dorado Elementary and Visitacion Valley Middle Schools are
working with the Development Team to engage families of children
with chronic absenteeism and truancy. School staff participated in
the annual back-to-school backpack giveaways in August. Schoolyear efforts will focus on removing the social, economic, and safety
barriers preventing children from regularly attending and succeeding
in school, and engaging families in the school selection process in
the spring. In addition, Five Keys Charter School has begun offering
high school diploma and GED classes in the Village in Visitacion
Valley, and at the TURF facility in Sunnydale.
The Development Team is beginning to work with Wu Yee Children’s
Services to plan for a childcare center in the Community HUB that will
be built during Phase One of construction.
Health & Wellbeing Initiative
People Plan
74
The Health & Wellbeing Initiative supports a VisVision of an active
and empowered community where residents live and promote
healthy lives. The VisVision community planning process expanded
standard definitions of care to create a resident-centered model for
how individual health outcomes are impacted by individual behavior,
interpersonal relationships, community dynamics, institutions, and
policy. As with San Francisco’s response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic
(known nationally as the San Francisco Model of Care), a coordinated
emphasis on culturally relevant, evidence-based practices at all
points on the continuum can position the city to be a national leader
in the current epidemic of disparities in health outcomes. The San
Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH) has engaged all its
branches in a shared commitment to supporting populations most
affected by health disparities. The combined effect of systems,
community, and individual actions will result in improved healthy
habits among residents, a reduction in health disparities, and a
community emphasis on healthy lifestyles. To achieve the VisVision
for health and wellbeing, residents, community partners, healthcare
providers and researchers, and City departments will focus on four
community-identified priorities:
H
Physical Health
VisVision will improve the physical health of residents by increasing
access to high quality, convenient, and culturally and linguistically
responsive healthcare. Peer Leaders, in conjunction with medical
navigators, will enroll residents in coverage, ensure they are
connected to a primary medical home, and advocate for an
increase in the number of culturally and linguistically competent
neighborhood-based service providers. Staff will engage and
coordinate no-cost dental and vision care and form partnerships to
provide maternal and child health programs including a continuum
of family planning, prenatal and infant care. Improved physical health
measures will include increased rates of medical coverage, increased
numbers of individuals accessing a primary medical home, decreased
rates of chronic disease and hospitalizations, and improved maternal
and child health outcomes.
Sunnydale Health and Wellness Center nurse and resident.
Health Care
Mental Health
VisVision seeks to respond to resident mental health needs by
increasing access to quality, culturally and linguistically relevant
mental health and addiction services. VisVision will strengthen social
cohesion through group programs for all ages and referrals to easily
accessible services. These services will support residents healing
from trauma and reduce related barriers to employment. Progress on
mental health strategies will be measured by looking at the decrease
in the number of residents impacted by untreated mental illness and
the effects of trauma, and decreased rates of smoking and substance
use/ abuse.
Community Health
VisVision will create a community-wide Healing Plan with
accompanying annual health campaigns. The VisVision team seeks
to build social cohesion around health-promoting activities that
reduce the sense of isolation and increase the sense of being part of
a caring community. The plan will recognize the impact of individual,
neighborhood, and systems barriers and strengths on community
health. Residents will advance from participation to leadership
roles. Eventually, work like this will bring a culture and brand for the
neighborhood that inspires healthy individual behavior and collective
action to promote community health. Measures for this priority
include resident participation and an increase in resident-led health
and wellness activities.
75
People Plan
Self-Care
Self-care can be greatly increased through access to affordable
fresh foods and cooking classes. VisVision will bring individual and
group exercise options as well as healing arts classes to reduce
stress and elevate morale. The introduction of technology tools
like apps for insulin reminders will also improve health outcomes.
Other self-care offerings will be based on residents’ needs and
interests. Improved self-care measures include rates of resident
participation in community health programs and reduced stress
levels among residents.
Heritage Homes health fair.
Health & Wellbeing Initiative Roadmap
• Mental health
• Self-care
• Community health
People Plan
76
STRATEGIES
• Develop a residentcentered model of
health and wellbeing
with aligned metrics
• Ensure health benefits
acquisition
• Offer and link to
preventive, primary
health care
• Offer and link to
behavioral health
• Promote health
education and risk
reduction
• Increase fresh food
access and knowhow
• Create a continuum
of maternal and child
health supports
• Reduce health and
mental health barriers to
employment
• Create Community Hub
as a center for wellbeing
programs and services
IMPACT
PA C T
V
ST
P
• Physical health
3
IM
Short-term, 3–5 yrs.
Mid-term, 5–10 yrs.
Long-term, 10 yrs. +
Outputs:
Outputs:
Outputs:
• Annual health campaigns
• High quality, culturally and
linguistically relevant health
and mental health services
• Successful disease
management
• Reduced stress and peace
of mind
• Health equity
• Access to a variety of
individual and group
wellness programs and
activities
• A continuum of local
maternal and child health
programs
• Effective addiction
support services
Metrics:
• Rates of medical coverage
among all resident groups
• % of residents accessing a
medical home
• Trends in maternal and child
health outcomes
• # and % of residents
participating in community
health programs
• # and % or residents
reporting depression
• Access to healthy,
affordable foods
• Healthy diet and regular
exercise
• Use of technology to
support self-care
Metrics:
• # and % of residents affected
by untreated mental illness
and trauma
• # of resident-led wellbeing
activities
• # and % of residents
reporting good health
• # and % of residents unable
to work due to health
conditions
• Healthy families
• Active and ongoing selfcare among all groups
• Culture and ‘brand’ of
healthy community
Metrics:
• Rates of chronic disease
among all resident groups
• Rates of stress among all
resident groups
• Rates of smoking and
substance abuse among all
resident groups
• Health outcomes relative to
other SF neighborhoods
4
IS
VIS IO
N
PRIORITIES
2
TEGI
RA
ES
1
OR I T I E
S
RI
VISVISION
SVV is an active
and empowered
community where
residents live and
promote healthy lives.
Doing While Planning
RESULTS
An exciting outgrowth of the Community Planning process, the
new Sunnydale Health and Wellness Center was launched in March
of 2014. The Center provides vital community services and is
evidence of resident-centered change in action. Created through
the collaboration between SFDPH and Mercy/Related, it is located
in space provided by the SF Housing Authority (SFHA). The Center’s
registered nurse provides free basic medical services including
blood pressure checks, flu shots, immunizations, assistive devices,
mental health referrals, health concern consults, TB testing, patient
education, and navigation to primary care providers. The Center also
offers services from mental health counselors who provide individual
consultation, mental health assessment, linkage with clinical mental
health services, and crisis response services.
received a variety of services including eye exams, dental procedures,
DMV identification cards, addiction recovery referrals, and food
stamps enrollment.
UNDERWAY
Community Garden Project: In a partnership between Mercy/
Related and Urban Sprouts, the Sunnydale Community Garden
Project builds social cohesion between Sunnydale and Visitacion
Valley residents while providing them with a local source of fresh,
affordable produce. It also provides opportunities for health and
nutrition education and promotes physical activity through garden
maintenance for youth and seniors. The garden aligns naturally
with Health & Wellness Center objectives and the Visitacion Valley
Greenway project, strengthening relationships across communities in
the pursuit of a common cause.
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People Plan
Based at the Health & Wellness Center, Mercy Housing’s Peer
Leadership Program increases resident connections to the Center
and offers health education and preventative health programs on
physical activity, nutrition and cooking, and maintaining healthy
homes. Currently, programs include weekly smoothie parties, Zumba
classes, and neighborhood walking tours. The four Peer Leaders are
community residents hired by Mercy. They participate in professional
development programs, including leadership and health education
training. From March 2014–June 2014, the Health and Wellness
Center provided more than 2,000 units of service to community
members including 48 counseling sessions, 160 clinic patient visits,
and 1,984 Peer Leadership Program interactions and services. The
first ever “Family Connect” day in Sunnydale/Visitacion Valley in June
was co-hosted by the new Health and Wellness Center, local CBOs,
and San Francisco’s Project Homeless Connect Initiative. Participants
Sunnydale resident accessing dental care at the Project Family Connect fair.
Health Care
UP NEXT
People Plan
78
Participants practice self care during the Health and Wellness Planning Session.
Healthy Homes Toolkits: Distributed by the Health & Wellness
Center’s Peer Leaders, these free toolkits provided by the SF
Department of the Environment (DOE) have supplies that are
clinically proven to reduce asthma triggers and prevent illnesses
caused by pests, harsh cleansers, and insecticides. The Peer Leaders
also educate residents in Pest Management techniques using less
toxic methods.
The menu of programs and services offered through the Health &
Wellness Center continues to expand in response to neighborhood
priorities brought up in the Community Planning process. The
Implementation Phase of the Health & Wellness Center will begin
with developing a community-wide Healing Plan that addresses
resident needs and interests, including: recruiting on-site healthcare
enrollment counselors for Covered CA, Medi-Cal, Medicare, and
Healthy San Francisco; certifying the clinic nurse to offer STD and HIV
testing; launching addiction recovery, elder, and grief support groups
that reduce isolation; offering classes with innovative technologies
that assist residents with self-management of chronic conditions like
diabetes and heart disease; introducing prenatal and parent/child
programs like infant massage, prenatal yoga, and infant/parent play
groups. Self-care programs will include cooking and nutrition classes
for foods distributed at community gardens and the local food
pantry, meditation, yoga, stress management, and healing arts. The
Development Team is also examining the feasibility of opening a fullscale medical clinic in the Hub during Phase One of construction.
Housing Plan
Foundation for the Future
Sunnydale Today
Surrounded by a neighborhood of well kept single family homes
and apartments, the Sunnydale-Velasco (Sunnydale) public
housing complex stands out as a poorly managed landscape of
dilapidated housing. With 785 apartments spread over 92 two-story,
long barrack buildings, Sunnydale has suffered from decades of
neglected maintenance. Empty units are boarded up. Occupied
units are infested by pests. They have, toilets, sinks and appliances
that don’t work. Plumbing, electrical, and heating systems all need
replacement. They have security bars on doors and windows that
residents buy and install themselves, out of fear for their safety.
Housing Plan
80
The community areas are similarly blighted. Garbage is strewn all
over the site, the grass is dead and the sewer system overflows
when it storms. There are no laundry facilities on the property.
On the 50 acres of the site, only half an acre is play space with
recreational equipment. The storm water and sanitary sewer system,
landscaping, irrigation, site asphalt, and crumbling sidewalks all
need to be replaced.
A 2012 Physical Needs Assessment projected $94 million of
investment was needed just to address these housing needs.
The housing is so severely dilapidated that the City and Housing
Authority concluded that it was beyond repair and should be
replaced.
Sunnydale residents, approximately half of whom are children and
seniors, suffer in these poor physical conditions. Asthma, diabetes,
hypertension, anxiety, and depression are common among residents.
Approximately 25% of residents are disabled (enrolled in SSI) but
90% of the units are townhomes that are not accessible, nor are they
located on an accessible path of travel, with some units located on
streets with a 20% slope.
An apartment building at Sunnydale.
Sunnydale has few opportunities for physical exercise and recreation.
Residents do not have common or private open spaces or a fitness
center, and there is only half an acre of formal recreation space.
Sunnydale residents live near the Coffman Pool and Herz Playground,
but this 6-acre park is inadequate for the 1,700 residents. Access to
McLaren Park, which is located on the west and north borders of
Sunnydale, is blocked by steep grades and a golf course.
Within walking distance of the housing site are corner stores
primarily selling liquor and convenience foods, a handful of
neighborhood restaurants, and fast food chains. Pedestrians
must walk through dead grass between barrack buildings in order
to cross the site, as there are only four streets within Sunnydale
and only four sidewalk and street connections to the rest of the
Visitacion Valley neighborhood.
Strategies, Goals and Impact
Because of its sheer scale at 785 units on 50 acres, and the impact
that this site has on the health of the surrounding Visitacion Valley
neighborhood, the Housing Plan focuses on the development of
Sunnydale into a new mixed income community. Rebuilding the site
with new housing provides an opportunity for Sunnydale families
and seniors to live in a safe, affordable housing community. This
alone will vastly improve quality of life and residents’ health. It will
also end the physical isolation of this barracks-style campus, which
is isolated from the single and small multifamily housing in the
surrounding neighborhood, contributing to an “us” versus “them”
dynamic in the neighborhood.
81
• Provide a safe, secure environment for all residents
• Support youth, elders and families through quality programs,
facilities, parks, and neighborhood retail
• Strengthen the community and end the social and physical
isolation of the site from the rest of the neighborhood and from
the City overall
• Make Sunnydale a sustainable, healthy community with green
streets, open spaces, and edible landscaping
• Bring Sunnydale up to its potential as a great place to live and visit
The physical development of Sunnydale should change from its
current form into a place where Sunnydale looks and feels like a
San Francisco neighborhood with appealing architecture. It should
Residents engaged in
master planning.
Housing Plan
Mercy Housing and Related CA facilitated an 18-month community
planning process with Sunnydale and Visitacion Valley residents to
develop a Master Plan to transform Sunnydale’s housing units to
a new mixed-income housing community. Residents said that they
wanted the Master Plan for the new development to achieve these
goals in a lasting and impactful way:
be built at a housing density and height that is comparable to the
neighborhood to eliminate the “us” versus “them” feeling caused
by the starkly different landscapes. Sunnydale should be constructed
with new, beautiful streets that encourage healthy activities like
walking and biking and encourage environmental care and healthy
living. Sunnydale under VisVision should be constructed with an
urban design that improves security and activity through housing
units that face the street, and new indoor and outdoor activity spaces
for social interaction and community building. It should have new
parks and neighborhood amenities that are for everyone in the
Sunnydale and broader Visitacion Valley community. People from
other neighborhoods should come and visit, play, eat and enjoy.
Housing Initiative Roadmap
• Housing stability for
Sunnydale residents
Housing Plan
82
• Amenities for entire
neighborhood
STRATEGIES
• Relocate Sunnydale
residents by construction
phase
• Develop new programenriched replacement
housing for current
residents and new
affordable and market
rate housing for new
residents
• Partner with residents,
property management,
and service providers on
housing retention and
clean slate program for
lease compliance
• Develop new
neighborhood Hub with
parks, retail, recreation/
fitness, youth and family
programs
IMPACT
Short-term, 3–5 yrs.
Outputs:
• Create 138 new affordable
units
• Establish clean slate/
housing retention program
for Sunnydale residents
moving into new housing
• New “Hub” of community
center with early childhood
education center, youth
activities and recreation/
fitness facility and new
health and wellness center,
neighborhood retail, parks
Metrics:
• # of original Sunnydale
households in new units
• % of housing retention and
lease violations
• Occupancy and utilization
of Hub
PA C T
V
ST
P
• New quality housing
for a range of incomes
at Sunnydale site
3
IM
Mid-term, 5–10 yrs.
Long-term, 10 yrs. +
Outputs:
Outputs:
• 373 total new affordable
units and 56 new market
rate units
• Up to 1700 new housing
units for range of
household incomes
and sizes
• 2.65 acres of new parks
• Continue clean slate/
housing retention program
for Sunnydale residents
moving into new housing
Metrics:
• # and mix of affordable
and market rate units
constructed and occupied
• 6.5 acres of parks +
approximately 60,000 sq.
ft. for early childhood
learning, youth programs,
fitness and recreation,
retail, and a health/
wellness center
Metrics:
• # of original Sunnydale
households in new units
• # and mix of affordable
and market rate units
constructed and occupied
• % of housing retention and
lease violations
• # of original Sunnydale
households in new units
• Utilization of neighborhood
Hub and parks by
neighborhood residents
• % of housing retention and
lease violations
• Utilization of neighborhood
Hub by neighborhood
residents
4
IS
VIS IO
N
PRIORITIES
2
TEGI
RA
ES
1
OR I T I E
S
RI
VISVISION
SVV has up to 1700
new quality housing
units at a mix of
affordable rents and
market rate prices
and new, quality
neighborhood
amenities that serve
the whole Vis Valley
neighborhood.
Sunnydale’s Master Plan
The Master Plan replaces all 785 of Sunnydale’s run down units with a new,
mixed-income neighborhood of 1,700 high-quality, energy-efficient homes.
Starting with a “one-for-one” replacement of public housing, the development
will also include new affordable tax credit rental housing for working families
earning 40% to 60% of Area Median Income (AMI), new affordable senior
housing for seniors at or below 50% AMI, and new housing available for
purchase by entry-level buyers. In addition, the site will include a completely
new utility infrastructure, street grid, 6 acres of new parks and urban agriculture
space, and up to 72,000 square feet of new neighborhood-serving space for
retail activities and for health, wellness, recreation and education programs that
appeal to the broader neighborhood as well as existing Sunnydale residents.
This “master plan” is not only for current Sunnydale residents but is a key
component of the VisVision plan for the broader neighborhood.
Sunnydale today.
83
New Neighborhood Hub
Adjacent to these open spaces within this Hub are two new neighborhood
facilities. A new 30,000 to 40,000 square foot community center is planned at
the corner of Hahn Street and Sunnydale Avenue, next to Herz Playground.
This center will provide a central location for neighborhood youth with early
childhood education and out-of-school programming. Assuming negotiations
are successful, it will be co-anchored by the YMCA of San Francisco and the
Boys & Girls Club of San Francisco. It will also contain indoor recreation space
such as a gym, basketball courts, and a fitness room. Across the street on the
other side of Sunnydale Avenue, two new affordable senior and family housing
developments will be constructed adjacent to each other. These developments
Housing Plan
At the development’s gateway of Sunnydale Avenue and Hahn Street, a
neighborhood “Hub” will provide the broader neighborhood with new parks,
community facilities and retail locations. The “Hub” builds off the 6-acre Herz
Playground and Coffman Pool and adds 4 more acres of open space within
a two-block radius for community gardening, neighborhood events, farmer’s
markets, and children’s play areas.
Planning diagram of Sunnydale’s new streets, housing, and parks.
“If we attack the physical issues and
address the human needs of the Sunnydale
neighborhood simultaneously, we can
catalyze permanent, positive change in the
community.”
— Bill Witte, President of Related California
How Green is Sunnydale
Going to Be?
Housing Plan
84
The Sunnydale HOPE SF master plan was the first
plan in the U.S. to be certified LEED ND by the U.S.
Green Building Council in 2011. This means that
buildings will be constructed with the best materials,
be energy and water efficient, and the development
will be walkable and bikeable with plenty of parks
and neighborhood services.
Sunnydale is also going to have an innovative
system to use landscaping and porous paving in
the public sidewalks to absorb stormwater naturally
rather than letting the rainwater run into the storm
system and into the ocean. These “green streets”
are not only better for our environment, but will also
beautify every street in Sunnydale.
An energy master plan for Sunnydale HOPE SF has
been created to guide the construction of the new
housing units so that energy consumption can be
reduced by 50% and utility costs can be reduced by
40% compared to business as usual.
A rendering of the hub at Sunnydale Avenue and Hahn Street.
will include approximately 30,000 square feet on their ground floors for a
neighborhood corner grocery store, eateries, neighborhood retail, an early
learning center, and a health center. The Hub will be served by #8X and #9
MUNI bus routes. It will also be on one end of a new 30 foot wide linear park
that will be constructed on the north side of Sunnydale Avenue to provide a
beautiful green path to McLaren Park for walkers, runners and children riding
their bikes.
New Streets, Circulation and Transit
Sunnydale will be developed with a new grid of streets that are walkable, bike
friendly and landscaped to beautify, but also to provide an innovative system
to absorb stormwater and minimize runoff into the San Francisco Bay. Existing
streets will be straightened to improve safety and new streets will be added
to improve connectivity within the site. This will also better connect Sunnydale
to the surrounding neighborhood. Sunnydale Avenue and Santos Avenue will
continue to be the main streets and improved with wide sidewalks, new “bulb”
bus stops for the #8X and #9Muni buses with NextBus technology, and bike
lanes. Car-share pods and electric charging stations for plug-in cars will be
located at various areas of the site, including the “Hub.”
Housing: Creating a New Mixed
Income Community
The housing plan will demolish all 785 public housing units, and add their one
for one replacement, the construction of new affordable rental units for working
families and low-income seniors, and sites for new market rate housing units.
The master plan has 31 housing sites that, on any given block, may contain
market rate housing or affordable housing. The inclusion of replacement public
housing, new affordable housing and new market rate housing within the
development creates a “housing ladder” with apartments and homes available
at a range of rents and prices within the same neighborhood. This housing
ladder is not only adding to the City’s severely impacted housing stock, but will
create a healthier, more economically diverse neighborhood.
Within the Housing Plan:
There is a 175 feet height difference between the
top of Sunnydale Avenue near McLaren Park, and
bottom of Sunnydale Avenue at Hahn Street. This
10% slope does present a challenge for people with
disabilities. The Sunnydale HOPE SF master plan
has been designed to provide accessible “paths of
travel” from one end of the site to the other with
many streets to be reconstructed so they are flatter
and walkable. Many of the apartments are located
on these paths of travel and because they are in
elevator buildings, these apartments are accessible
or adaptable. Over 30% of the housing units will be
accessible or adaptable units, making life easier for
people with disabilities.
85
Housing Plan
• Up to 1,006 affordable apartments will be constructed using the low-income
housing tax credit program. Of these units, 80 units are planned as senior
housing in the first phase of construction and the remaining 926 units will be
one, two and three bedroom apartments for families. Rents will be affordable
to households at or below 60% of San Francisco’s Area Median Income. All
existing households in good standing (lease compliant) at the time of their
relocation will be given the opportunity to move into a newly constructed
apartment. These households will retain a preference over other eligible
households even if they have received permanent relocation benefits. All
affordable apartments will be affirmatively marketed to be consistent with
federal, state, and local fair housing requirements. As described in the
People and Community Engagement sections of VisVision, all units will be
managed as program-enriched housing, in which on-site resident service
coordinators organize community building activities, connect residents to
the services they need, and track resident achievement toward program
outcomes in health and wellness, education, and economic development.
Making Sunnydale Accessible
Master Plan
Housing Plan
Affordable Rental Units
Number of Units
80 senior units + 926 family
units = 1006 total
694 family units
Rents or Pricing
Replacement of public
housing units to be
affordable at 30% of
household income.
Projected to be
affordable to
households between
80% AMI to 130% AMI
depending on unit and
product type
Architectural rendering of an outdoor courtyard at a new apartment building.
Housing Plan
86
• Up to 694 units are planned as market rate units in townhouses,
stacked flats and podium buildings. In a recent market study,
Polaris Pacific concluded that there would be high demand for
these units by first time homebuyers who are largely living and
working within the City or Peninsula and are interested in two and
three bedroom homes for their families. This group of buyers is
between 80% and 130% of San Francisco AMI and represents the
San Francisco “workforce” or middle class who are not finding
many homeownership options in their price range. (Market rate
rentals are not proposed, but that may change in the future if
market conditions support rental housing in this location.)
The new housing, indistinguishable between affordable and market
rate, will be 3 and 4 story residential buildings of a variety of types:
attached townhomes, walk up flats, and elevator buildings lined
with units that enter off the street. Buildings will include individual
unit entries so that many homes have their own front doors on the
street or from private interior courtyards. Living spaces, kitchens,
and balconies will overlook the streets and open spaces for security,
and to create the identity and sense of ownership that are crucial to
defining a neighborhood. These homes will have a variety of semi-
Market Rate Units
New tax credit units
affordable to households
at or below 60% AMI.
Projected Unit Mix
(Subject to change
depending on
existing household
occupancy, market
conditions, financing)
239 one bedroom
327 one bedroom
492 two bedroom
256 two bedroom
263 three bedroom
62 three bedroom
Building Types
Mixed use, podium
wrapped with townhomes,
flats
12 four bedroom
Townhouse/rowhouse,
walk up flats, podium
private interior landscaped and hardscaped courtyards providing
secure play areas for children with some private patios and decks,
depending on the individual building. The affordable apartment
buildings will include laundry facilities and community rooms for
resident events. Auto and bicycle parking for residents will be
provided in tuck under garages for townhomes or in secure parking
garages in elevator buildings that are hidden from the street. Ample
on-street parallel parking will be available for large households and
for visitors to the neighborhood.
Master Plan Conceptual Diagram
87
Housing Plan
The Housing Market
Master
Plan
The City’s population is projected to grow by another 195,000
people, from 805,000 residents to 1 million in just 18 years.
Given this growth, demand for rental and homeownership units
at market rate and affordable levels will remain strong.
Housing Plan
88
A 2013 study provided a profile of prospective homebuyers
for Sunnydale: Residents of the City and of northern San
Mateo County who are interested in buying housing to trade
up into larger homes for their expanding families, or for new
homebuyers who are interested in purchasing in the City but
cannot afford the high home prices in neighborhoods closer to
the City center. This profile of buyers is likely to be households
earning between 100% and 130% of Area Median Income
(AMI), a band of San Francisco’s middle class that is not able
to find homeownership opportunities that they can afford.
Households at 80% AMI will be able to afford these units if
they use the $200,000 per unit Downpayment Assistance Loan
Program recently announced by Mayor Lee to assist middle
income homebuyers. Homeownership units at the Sunnydale
development would sell for $400,000–$675,000 depending on
the unit type and size, compared to San Francisco’s current
median home price of $1,000,000.
According to the market analysis, demand for new
homeownership units at the Sunnydale development site would
be positively impacted by the large developments planned for
the Schlage Lock site, Executive Park and Candlestick/Hunters
Point Shipyard because they would create more housing density
and destination retail, services and amenities in the area. The
new housing units in these large developments would add
over 17,000 market rate and below-market rate units in the
next 15 years, not enough to meet the high demand in San
Francisco for homeownership and compete with the Sunnydale
homeownership units.
Above: Examples of Bay Area housing.
Constructing in Phases
One of the key goals of the HOPE SF Initiative is to improve social
and economic outcomes for existing public housing residents. HOPE
SF focuses on phasing the developments so current residents can be
temporarily relocated in their neighborhood during construction and
then move into new affordable housing on site and benefit from the
new infrastructure and amenities.
Relocation will be planned and implemented in accordance with the
Uniform Relocation Act. All existing households in good standing
(lease compliant) at the time of their relocation will be given the
opportunity to move into a newly constructed apartment. These
households will retain a preference over other eligible households
All housing developed at Sunnydale under VisVision’s Master Plan
will be an Equal Housing Opportunity. Governing laws shall be Title
VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of
1968, and the Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988. The newly
constructed housing will be marketed consistent with federal, state,
and local fair housing requirements.
Each phase includes a mix of replacement housing for
Sunnydale residents, new affordable apartments and market
rate homeownership units. In Phase 1, the number of market
rate homeownership units is significantly lower than the number
of affordable units produced. However, Phase 1 includes the
construction of the neighborhood “Hub” containing the new
community center, neighborhood retail, and four acres of park space.
The development of these neighborhood amenities in Phase 1 will
not only help provide much needed neighborhood services, but also
provide amenities to attract new residents to the development.
89
Housing Plan
The demolition and construction of Sunnydale will occur in three
main phases over a 15-20 year period. Within these phases,
individual buildings will be developed incrementally in sub-phases
depending on the funding for infrastructure and affordable housing
development. The current residents would be temporarily moved
to vacant housing on the site as each phase is constructed, or they
would be given housing vouchers by the Housing Authority for
relocation outside of Sunnydale during the construction period. This
off-site relocation could be temporary and households would move
back to Sunnydale when the new affordable units are constructed, or
the relocation could be permanent if the household chooses to stay
in their off site location. Off-site units would include existing housing
on the market and new units that have been developed and set aside
for occupancy by Sunnydale households.
even if they have received permanent relocation benefits. The new
dwellings will be populated as each phase is completed. Households
that are out of compliance may be assisted beforehand to comply
with the lease and maintain their housing options.
2
1
A
PH S E
Phase One
Phase Two
Phase Three
Phase One starts at Sunnydale Avenue
and Hahn Street, the gateway to the new
development. It also includes the new
Hub with neighborhood services, parks
and community center, and the senior and
family housing. Market rate housing will be
developed as well. Sunnydale Avenue and
Santos Street will be reconfigured in this
first phase.
Phase Two will continue the reconfiguration
of Sunnydale Avenue, beyond Santos as well
as introducing the first half of the new northsouth streets. Market rate and affordable
housing will be developed on either side of
Sunnydale Avenue. The Sunnydale Linear
Park will also be developed in this phase.
Phase Three connects the new north-south
streets to Blythedale Avenue. Brookdale is
connected south through the development
to Geneva Avenue. A variety of market
rate and affordable housing complete the
development.
DEMO: 316 Units
DEMO: 279 Units
DEMO: 191 Units
BUILD: 385 Affordable Units
BUILD: 307 Affordable Units
BUILD: 341 Affordable Units
Housing Plan
90
3
A
PH S E
A
PH S E
136 Market Rate Units
318 Market Rate Units
240 Market Rate Units
Housing Success for Sunnydale Residents
RESULTS
Significant efforts will be made to ensure that, in the long run,
Sunnydale residents will remain stably housed in safe, quality homes.
Sunnydale residents will need to be prepared for the changes that
will result when they move into the new units owned and managed
by Mercy Housing and Related CA. Their current landlord and
property manager, the San Francisco Housing Authority, has not been
able to provide the level of housing services required, such as lease
enforcement, rent collection, and timely maintenance. Sunnydale
residents will need to be aware of the new property management
services that will exist and how lease compliance and enforcement
will work in their new buildings. Prior to relocation a “clean slate”
program will need to be implemented to allow residents to
91
Scenes from Family Day.
acknowledge and address past due rents owed to the Housing
Authority, and prepare to move forward with on-time rent payments
and lease compliance in the Mercy/Related managed housing. In
addition to providing training on the new property management
procedures, it will be important to use a supportive housing model in
which households in danger of lease violations are referred to service
providers who will work with residents to address the root causes
of their lease violations so they may experience long term tenure in
their new housing.
Housing Plan
All Sunnydale households will be relocated according to the federal
Uniform Relocation Act and dedicated staff will be assigned to
provide them with the technical, logistical and financial assistance
they will need for their relocation. This assistance and support will be
provided for residents who relocate to vacant units in Sunnydale or to
vacant units in the neighborhood or other parts of the City if needed.
For households moving to off site units, the relocation assistance will
include help to look for housing and executing the lease, identifying
transportation routes to school and/or work, and setting up their
new home. Staff will interact with households on an ongoing basis
throughout the relocation period, with periodic updates to ensure
that current addresses, household composition and other necessary
data are maintained. Case managers will engage periodically with the
relocated family to assist them in accessing community services they
may need, and to track their well-being. This engagement will be
maintained for a minimum of three years.
UP NEXT
The San Francisco Planning Department and the Mayor’s Office
of Housing and Community Development is conducting an
Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Impact Study
(EIR/EIS) of the Master Plan. The full written evaluation will be
published in Fall 2014 and members of the public will be able to
submit their comments. This EIR/EIS will be submitted to the San
Francisco Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors for their
approval in 2015.
Housing Plan
92
To ensure the development of quality housing, and beautiful streets
and parks, the San Francisco Planning Department with Mercy
Housing and Related CA are creating a Sunnydale Special Use
District “SUD” zoning and a “Design for Development” document
that describes the design requirements for all construction. A
Development Agreement between Mercy Housing with Related
CA and the City and County of San Francisco will be executed
to describe the role that these parties will take to ensure the
development of the Sunnydale HOPE SF Master Plan. The Design
for Development document, the Special Use District zoning and
the Development must be approved by the San Francisco Planning
Commission and the Board of Supervisors.
Additionally, a Master Development Agreement (MDA) between the
developers and the San Francisco Housing Authority will be executed
to describe each organization’s role in developing the Master Plan.
The MDA will be required before any Development and Disposition
Agreements can be signed. The developers and SFHA will also
convene a working group of residents to develop a Sunnydale
Relocation Plan that will describe the federal, state and City legal
requirements that the developers must follow, as well as the
relocation assistance to be provided to households who are moving.
Architectural Rendering of Mid Terrace Park and Housing.
These agreements and the land use entitlements will be developed
for approval and execution in Fall 2015. After this approval, Mercy
and Related CA will work with the City and the Housing Authority to
obtain the funding necessary to design and start building the first
phase. Funding for the new streets, utilities, parks, neighborhood
hub, and housing and to pay for relocation of current households all
need to be obtained in sufficient amounts for successful completion.
Mercy and Related will engage residents and neighbors in the design
of the first phase, the construction timeline, and relocation needs.
Implementation
Plan
One Shared Direction
Making the Journey
Implementation Plan
94
VisVision offers a unique opportunity to build on the resident-led,
award-winning community development underway now in Vis Valley.
The combined work of the Mercy/Related Team and its partners
will give all neighborhood residents the best chance possible to
benefit from the Sunnydale rebuild and the broader transformation.
Strategies shared in previous sections are all keys to removing
barriers to VisVision’s implementation—barriers like the longstanding, deep divisions between communities, historic distrust of
City departments, and residents’ personal barriers to success. With
a long trail of broken dreams and unfulfilled promises, Sunnydale
residents in particular have ample cause for skepticism about what
lies ahead. One resident put it this way: “No more studies. We
know what we need. We’re ready NOW.” This third phase in the
transformation process will be the real test of whether VisVision is
sufficiently robust to transform the neighborhood.
The Mercy/Related Team has heeded community input about
implementation, replacing traditional standing committees
with dynamic teams that collaborate on key initiatives created
through the Community Planning process. This shift integrates
priorities in the Neighborhood, People, and Housing Plans into a
framework that delivers tangible and measurable results along the
way and eventually adds up to a tipping point in neighborhood
transformation. Residents are adamant about wanting a clear and
honest understanding of what will happen and when. They rightly
insist on participating only in projects that are worth their time and
energy, and they want to see frequent, positive benefits for the
neighborhood along the way.
Our Keys: Several things will need to be in place prior to
implementation, including a central location and contact person
for VisVision, new partnerships with high-impact organizations,
preparations with the CBO Collaborative, incorporation of the LFA
Sunnydale/HOPE SF learning on evidence-based practices for the
Community Initiatives, and adequate resources to make all of this
viable. The official grand opening of the new Health & Wellness
Center with its youth-designed mural and continually expanding
programs and services will give credence to the commitments made
in this Plan. An exhibit of the Master and Community Planning results
will inspire new interest and attract new members to the Community
Initiative Teams.
Gaining Momentum: Continuing with the ‘Doing While Planning’
approach, the first two years of implementation of VisVision will
provide the tangible “wins” described in the planning phases that
build momentum in preparation for the start of the Sunnydale
rebuild. With the Health & Wellness Center as an early success
and cornerstone of the planned Neighborhood Hub, community
members will gain confidence in their ability to meet the
community’s most pressing needs. At the same time, residents,
partners, and funders will see hard evidence that things really
are different this time: more coordination within and alignment
across City departments; an inclusive and authentic collaborative
process; committed and high quality core partners; an infusion of
new resources; and, most important, visible results that show the
achievements of VisVision.
The Visitacion Valley Greenway Project (VVGP)
There are now six Greenway sites, beginning with the southern Hans
Schiller Plaza located on Leland Avenue, and progressing to the northern
Tioga Avenue site. The Greenway is a direct result of the commitment of
neighborhood residents and volunteers.
• Hans Schiller Plaza. Visitors enter the Greenway from the Leland
Avenue commercial area at this eye-catching and welcoming entry point
with 3 tall columns decorated with multi-colored tiles. Complete with
benches and beautiful landscaping, this mini-park site serves as the
gateway to the larger Greenway and functions as a gathering place for
community events.
Different service providers connected with residents in Sunnydale
during the Family Connect Fair.
The following leadership structure, core partners,
assessments, and timeline will support VisVision’s success
and sustainability.
• The Herb Garden includes a beautiful terraced herb garden, pathways,
outdoor nutrition education center with seating and picnic areas, two
patios with decorative elements, storage, landscaping and fencing.
• The Children’s Play Garden includes an Enchanted Forest,
children’s garden, playground equipment, Valley Viewing Pavilion
and Magic Meadow. It is much used by local daycare groups and
neighborhood children.
• The Agriculture Garden. Children from nearby schools, volunteers, the
Conservation Corps, and the Recreation and Park Department Volunteer
Program have worked to maintain this site and enjoy the fruits (and
vegetables) of their labors.
• The Native Plant Garden, the last mini-park in the Greenway, is devoted
to native plants and environmental education. The California Academy
of Science was instrumental in the design and selection of plant
materials for this site on Tioga Avenue.
VVGP has received two San Francisco Beautiful Awards for Beautification,
and the Trust for Public Land has given its prestigious Lachman Soulage
Award to the Greenway Project’s leadership.
95
Implementation Plan
Our Driving Force: Sunnydale residents prefer taking
action on Sunnydale-centered activities first, both
because they feel those needs are more urgent, and
because they feel less welcome and safe outside the
confines of their immediate community. Likewise,
Visitacion Valley neighbors are often reluctant to venture
into Sunnydale. Connecting residents through projects
like the Greenway and the Sunnydale Garden Project will
begin to build bridges to connect the whole of Visitacion
Valley to the transformation efforts underway within
Sunnydale. Completion of the new Neighborhood Hub
in Phase One of construction will provide a vital venue
for residents from all over Visitacion Valley to connect
through programs and amenities of interest to everyone.
The Neighborhood, People, and Housing Roadmaps
pick up in years 3-5, when the transformation process
begins to show impacts at a measurable level.
• The Community Garden is located on the lot directly north of the Plaza
and was funded by the Trust for Public Land. Improvements include 2
greenhouses, making this not only a community garden, but also a Plant
Propagation Center for the entire community where there will be future
horticultural classes and, hopefully, job training.
Community Initiatives: VisVision in Motion
Launch of the three Community Initiatives in early 2015 will include
a retreat with each of the three Implementation Teams in which
members will review results of the community planning phase,
brainstorm priorities for years one and two, and create one-year
Action Plans for each initiative. These will form the basis for funding
proposals to be completed in early spring.
Some examples of the type of rollouts possible based on the many
ideas gathered and the great relationships established through
community planning are described here. Each description captures
the connectedness, coordination, intersection, and alignment that
will be required to truly transform the neighborhood:
Implementation Plan
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Safety First Initiative
Youth in the Sunnydale Seedfolks summer internship selected “fixing
up playgrounds” as their top priority for making the community safer.
Their plans took shape in the aftermath of a tragic shooting in which
a large group of children and youth witnessed the death of their
mentor on a local playground in June. With five sites throughout
the Sunnydale development, playgrounds offer an ideal focus for
organizing community safety efforts. Each playground could have
a Block Captain who supports a team of nearby residents to make
and maintain improvements from cleaning to repairs to overseeing
structured play activities. This arrangement could lead to a more
formal community watch program. Aligned with the City’s model
program goals, youth intern recommendations included having
young adults learn construction skills while building planters,
benches, and picnic tables with plaques honoring loved ones
that could even be sold to residents as part of a fundraising plan.
Interviews with Sunnydale residents surfaced universal support for
playground renewal, and Housing Authority representatives who
attended the Seedfolks culminating presentation have voiced
enthusiastic support for launching more formal planning.
Playground renewal offers a natural opportunity to build ties between
Sunnydale and the Vis Valley Greenway Project. The Greenway
Project has sponsored the beautification of the Vis Valley Playground
and Clubhouse, which has received multiple awards from SF
Beautiful; and the Children’s Play Garden, a much-loved, heavily used
park. Playgrounds are also an enticing way to connect beyond the
neighborhood, partnering with national organizations like Playworks
or Kaboom that recruit Twitter, SalesForce, and others to sponsor
and volunteer on playground building days. These efforts increase
residents’ trust that the greater city is invested in their wellbeing.
They also increase awareness and commitment to Sunnydale and
Visitacion Valley among influential individuals and the city’s leading
companies.
Ideas from the Seedfolks youth interns for a safer neighborhood.
Community Initiatives: VisVision in Motion
In tandem with playground planning, Seedfolks interns invited Urban
Riders to present their proposal to turn a vacant site on the western
edge of Vis Valley into a state-of-the art bike park for enthusiasts
of all ages and skill levels. More information is available at http://
sfurbanriders.org/wordpress/mclaren-bike-park/). The park provides
a terrific venue for engaging law enforcement representatives to work
side-by-side with residents on immediate improvements like creating
a dirt bike track for younger kids. There is also space to add a bike
repair business with training courses for neighborhood residents and
income potential from servicing bikes for people from all over the
Bay Area who come to use the new park. Over $500,000 has already
been raised for the bike park, and construction for the first phase is
scheduled to begin in early 2015.
Bringing Proven Practices to Sunnydale: The opening of the new
Health & Wellness Center in Sunnydale has been an opportunity
for residents, providers, and City departments to come together to
support shared priorities. With a large population of child-bearingage women in both Sunnydale and Visitacion Valley, the Health
& Wellbeing Initiative offers an exciting opportunity to create a
community-centered program for improving maternal and child
health. Key partners include the Homeless Prenatal Program (HPP),
SFDPH, and the University of California San Francisco (UCSF). HPP
is a nationally recognized nonprofit providing housing services,
prenatal and parenting support, child development, family finances
and stability, technology access, domestic violence and substance
abuse prevention, family unification, and emergency support. HPP
has expressed interest in offering yoga, mindfulness, and infant
massage classes in Sunnydale, home to many HPP clients past and
present. HPP works closely with the SFDPH-sponsored Centering
Pregnancy Program based at SF General Hospital (SFGH). The
Centering Pregnancy program has a group model that has been
proven effective with health assessment, education, and support
for pregnant and post-partum women. Centering is considering
expansion into a community setting like Sunnydale.
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Implementation Plan
This paints a picture of how a community-centered approach to
transformation can improve social connections, generate training and
employment opportunities, create healthy environments for child and
youth development, encourage healing from violence and trauma,
and bring previously untapped attention and resources to the
neighborhood. Coupled with stronger City investment in traditional
law enforcement efforts, this type of innovative initiative holds
potential to inspire a culture of safety throughout Sunnydale and Vis
Valley while setting the stage for resident ownership of the new play
and outdoor areas that will be part of the Sunnydale rebuild.
Health & Wellbeing Initiative
Implementation Plan
98
The Peer Leadership Manager reading to a Sunnydale resident during a workshop.
Early Childhood: Also based at SFGH, the UCSF Endowed Chair
in Infant Mental Health/Director of the Child Trauma Research
Program suggests implementing use of the Learning Basket (www.
learningbasket.org) at Sunnydale. Learning Basket is a practical
tool to enable parents and caregivers to nurture learning through
play with infants and toddlers. The basket contains mostly
handmade objects that can be used in developmentally appropriate
play activities with children ages 0 to 3 years. The basket and
accompanying manual provide a simple, practical way to promote
literacy in the parents’ native language while teaching essential
information about child development and early learning. A woman
who teaches crochet to residents of SF public housing developments
(and donates baby items to HPP) is thrilled at the prospect of
teaching adults and seniors in Sunnydale how to make the learning
basket toys. Presenting new mothers with a Learning Basket and
hosting group classes for new moms and dads are natural next steps
to their participation in HPP and Centering Pregnancy classes.
Childcare: Creating free and affordable childcare was a major
priority that emerged from VisVision’s community planning process.
Planning participants sought not only more neighborhood slots
but also resident training in child development and small business
management. One idea that garnered a lot of excitement was
the idea of creating a childcare co-op, which could be modeled
after successful co-ops in other parts of the city. Training could
be offered through an extension of HPP’s Community Health
Worker Training Program, an intensive, 12-month paid job training
program that prepares small groups of women for meaningful
employment through internships, weekly workshops, and continuing
education classes at City College of San Francisco. This continuum
of empowerment opportunities would cover the full spectrum
of maternal and child health, from training doulas and childcare
providers, to bringing in community health educators and Head Start
workers, to engaging pre-school teachers and facilitating private
startups. The innovative proposal to train playground ‘coaches’,
described in Safety First, would also bring interactive support for
healthy play and child development.
Inspiring Innovation: San Francisco was recently selected as one
of four US counties to receive the Kellogg Foundation-sponsored
CityMatch grant. HPP, SFDPH, and Centering Pregnancy are part
of the CityMatch network of 25 local organizations collaborating
to reduce maternal health disparities among African American
mothers. Mark and Lynne Benioff and Gates Foundation-funded
effort to reduce pre-term births around the world. Local teams from
both networks recognize the importance of creating place-based
interventions with rigorous research on participation. Sunnydale and
the other HOPE SF sites present ideal settings for these innovative
efforts because women are already part of natural peer groups,
their class attendance isn’t hampered by transportation, and health
outcomes and other social determinants data is easily accessed
through SFDPH and other City departments.
court. Academic links are available through Education Outdoors, the
SF Unified School District’s environmental education program, and
Five Keys Charter School’s Seedfolks curriculum.
Leadership: One of the new Health & Wellness Center’s Peer
Leaders has a daughter who was born prematurely at SFGH. She is
passionate about organizing other young mothers, both before and
after delivery, to participate in maternal and child health programs.
Sunnydale residents have proposed initially locating these programs
and activities in a residential unit destroyed by a fire that took the life
of a mother and her young son last spring. Honoring them in this way
would bring healing to their family and the community at large, which
continue to be greatly affected by the tragedy. Implementing these
impactful programs at such a critical time in parents’ and children’s
development maximizes return on investment as children enter
school ready to learn, parents experience reduced stress levels, and
residents build a sense of collective power by linking local resources
to urgent community needs. Establishing a continuum of maternal
and child health opportunities will improve individual and community
health outcomes while preparing residents for leadership roles in the
new community Hub, with its dedicated space for childcare and early
childhood learning.
Restorative Justice: A new partnership with the East Bay
organization Planting Justice could work with tenants who
have exited jails and prisons to help reduce repeat offenses.
Planting Justice provides culturally relevant teaching,
meaningful entrepreneurial work, and wrap-around services
for healing and restoring participants’ connections to their
community and the environment.
Gardens: Gardening is another natural connector with the Vis Valley
Greenway project, which coordinates programs for children, youth,
and adults to be active in the neighborhood’s natural environments.
Implementation Plan
Learning & Earning Initiative
The first seeds for this initiative were planted in the Sunnydale
Garden Project in fall of 2013. As resident involvement in the garden
grows, the Health & Wellness Center is preparing to offer cooking
classes with produce available from the garden and in Sunnydale
and Vis Valley food pantries. Garden partner Urban Sprouts hosts
curriculum-based internships for local youth and ideas for future
earning projects include opening a healthy food truck and a popup café in an abandoned building beside the Sunnydale basketball
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Sunnydale community garden.
Lifelong Learning
Its Green Stewards program engages high school students in
environmental education and career opportunities through
afterschool programming with Kids in Parks, ROCK, and BuildOn. The
Green Rangers program engages children from pre-school through
elementary with program partners Daycare, El Dorado School, ROCK,
and Kids in Parks. The Greenway project recruited the California
Academy of Sciences to offer programming at Vis Valley playgrounds.
Implementation Plan
100
Arts: Community planning sessions underlined the importance of
learning and the arts. The Bigger Picture is a collaboration between
spoken word organization Youth Speaks and the UCSF Center for
Vulnerable Populations based at SFGH. In complement with the
neighborhood’s healthy food efforts, the Bigger Picture is designed
to combat the rising epidemic of Type 2 Diabetes by empowering
youth to change social and environmental factors that have led to
its spread through writing workshops, public service announcement
(PSA) videos, school assemblies, and educator toolkits. Other
community ideas for incorporating learning and the arts include a
food-film series with movies like Hungry for Change, Ingredients, The
Harvest, and Pressure Cooker; and local artist Amara Tabor Smith’s
performance piece, Our Daily Bread, which tells stories through
dance, text and video, delving into the folklore surrounding food
traditions and examining the impact of industrialized agriculture,
fast food culture, and the global food crisis. An infusion of academic,
artistic, and hands-on work experience can influence residents
to draw connections among food, health, and employment, and
establish links with food pioneers throughout San Francisco, the Bay
Area, and California.
The CBO Collaborative vision of the community from a planning workshop.
Shared Vision, Shared Leadership
Participants in the Community Planning Process highlighted
their collective desire to build trust and inspire hope, to increase
cultural awareness and understanding, to strengthen self-reliance
and social cohesion, and to ensure that every voice continues
to be heard during Implementation. The shared leadership
structure described here is designed to ensure that Phase III
continues on the path established during planning, with emerging
neighborhood leadership, new high-impact partners, and HOPE
SF’s strong commitment to coordination within and alignment
across City departments.
Strategic Advisory Team: The VisVision Development Team
launched the Strategic Advisory Team in summer 2014. Members
were recruited from among the most active and committed
participants in the Community Planning process, and from a pool
of experts in the Initiative areas of safety, health, education, jobs,
and housing. By waiting to launch the Advisory Team until after the
Community Planning priorities were identified, the Development
Team ensured the Advisory Team would focus on issues of top
concern to neighborhood residents. Advisory Team responsibilities
include aligning the Community Initiatives with City and funder
priorities; making resource and policy recommendations; advising
on research and evaluation outcomes; and being far-reaching
ambassadors for the VisVision.
Following a fall application process, the Development Team will
select 12–15 members for each Implementation Team from a pool
of residents, planning participants, city department representatives,
and community and program partners. Once established, the
VisVision Leadership Academy will work with members of all three
Implementation Teams to lead a highly innovative, robust, and
collaborative implementation process.
The Development Team will launch the Initiatives using the ToP
facilitation techniques that worked well during Community Planning.
This approach successfully brought in diverse stakeholders’ input
and has increased trust in how conclusions are reached. Applying
the same methods throughout Planning and Implementation
responds to community concerns that an Advisory Team of outside
‘experts’ will wield more influence than people ‘on the ground’.
A community-centered approach will avoid stifling grassroots
innovations.. With guidance from those within and outside the
community, the Implementation Teams will be positioned to strike
a difficult balance between what’s realistic and what’s required to
truly transform the neighborhood. By seeing the influence their input
has had on the planning process thus far, residents are beginning
to replace skepticism with hope, anger with trust, and apathy with
determination. By strengthening their capacity for shared leadership,
all Visitacion Valley stakeholders are beginning to recognize the
powerful potential of moving forward with a clear roadmap to
achieve a common vision.
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Implementation Plan
Development Team: The VisVision Development Team includes
Mercy and Related’s Sunnydale staff from Real Estate, Transformation,
Health, Education, and Resident Coordination. As with the Master
Plan and Community Planning phases, the Development Team
will continue to be the coordinating body during the VisVision
Implementation phase. In this role, the Development Team will rely
heavily on input from the Community Initiative Implementation and
the Strategic Advisory Teams.
Implementation Teams: The Safety First, Health & Wellbeing, and
Learning & Earning Initiatives will each commence an Implementation
Team in January 2015, engaging residents and focus area experts in
the creation and implementation of Action Plans for 2015-2016.
Evaluation: Reviewing Our Progress
Implementation Plan
102
The Development and Advisory Teams share a commitment to
ensuring residents and community partners are active in the
evaluation process. Feedback during the planning phases made
clear that two things will be key to making these partnerships work:
1) An ability to share data that is clear and easily understood, honest
in showing the needs of the community, in a way that relieves rather
than reinforces feelings of despair and hopelessness. Excitement
from the HOPE SF youth report provides a powerful example of how
residents can engage with institutional partners to gather critical
data, analyze it, and present it to the community in a fun and friendly
format. 2) Residents want results they can see, not read about in
reports. If their brother or uncle or neighbor was just shot or they
just lost their job, statistics on decreased violence or increased
employment will fall flat.
Evaluation of the Implementation phase itself will make use of the
tools used in the Community Planning phases to ensure the process
as well as the results meet stakeholders’ needs and expectations.
In addition to the metrics outlined in the Roadmaps and described
in the Community Initiatives, additional metrics will be developed
to measure individual trust, social cohesion, and overall family
and community stability. These elements are especially important
during the housing transitions in Sunnydale. HOPE SF is currently
developing a common set of goals and metrics for HOPE SF sites,
including Sunnydale. HOPE SF’s data and evaluation consultant,
Learning for Action (LFA), generated a 2011 study of the HOPE SF
sites. That study is currently being updated for release this fall. That
baseline data will enable VisVision leaders to track progress toward
transformation. LFA will also use this data to compare outcomes
between HOPE SF households and residents in other public housing
developments around the city.
Advisory Team members work on priorities for the neighborhood.
The combined learning from VisVision and HOPE SF evaluations will
provide thorough and balanced assessments that address city and
funder priorities while ensuring that residents’ perspectives remain
central to measuring success.
The Road Ahead
All VisVision stakeholder groups will be engaged in the
Implementation phase. They will analyze results of the Community
Planning phases, create formal action plans and funding proposals
for the Community Initiatives, and launch Implementation Teams
with resident, provider, and City department representatives. By
embracing VisVision’s resident- and community-centered approach
to transformation, it is the shared hope and expectation of the
transformation planning participants that over the next two decades,
Vis Valley’s isolated communities will unite into a thriving, cohesive
neighborhood, and all its residents will reap the benefits of San
Francisco’s abundant and expanding resources and opportunities.
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Implementation Plan
Brainstorming vision of Visitacion Valley.
Implementation Timeline
2008-2012
2013 WINTER
• Master planning
2013 SPRING
• CNI Planning Grant Award
• Safety Forum #1
• Transportation Focus
Group
Implementation Plan
104
2013 SUMMER
• Mercy/Related launches
Community Planning
phase
2013 FALL
• 30 Youth Jobs
• CBO Collaborative
Retreat
• Youth Field Trips and
Activities
• 10 Community Planning
Sessions and Workshops
• Safety Forum # 2
• 4 Sunnydale Peer
Leaders Hired
• Back to School Event
• Backpack Giveaway
2014 WINTER
2014 SPRING
2014 SUMMER
2014 FALL
2015 & BEYOND
• Sunnydale Health and
Wellness Center Opening
• Transformation Plan Draft
Submission
• Initiative Implementation
Team Selected
• Transformation Plan to
HUD
• Launch Implementation
Team
• Vis Valley Family Day
Celebration
• Complete Sunnydale
Surveys
• Convened Advisory Team
• Transformation Plan
Community Showcase
• Community
Implementation Initiatives
Selected
• Advisory Team Selection
• Launch Community
Implementation
Initiatives Projects
• Summary Pilot Projects
Selected
• Project Evaluation
• VisVision Transformation
Endnotes and References
HOPE SF Baseline Evaluation Report. 1 June 2012. Web. 1 Mar. 2014. http://www.sf-moh.org/modules/showdocument.
aspx?documentid=7645
San Francisco Market Trends. Trulia. 1 Jan. 2014. Web. 1 Jan. 2014. http://www.trulia.com/real_estate/san_franciscocalifornia/market-trends
Most Income Inequalities. Bloomberg. 1 Jan. 2014. Web. 1 Jan. 2014. http://www.bloomberg.com/visual-data/best-andworst/most-income-inequality-us-cities
Preliminary Sunnydale Needs Assessment Results. San Francisco: LFA, 2014. 10. Print.
2010 U.S. Visitacion Valley Census Data. 1 Jan. 2010. Web.
San Francisco 2010 Census Data. 1 Jan. 2010. Web. 1 Jan. 2014. http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/06/06075.html
San Francisco Neighborhoods Socio-Economic Profile. SF-Planning, 1 May 2011. Web. 1 Jan. 2014.
http://www.sf-planning.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=8501
Visitacion Valley Middle School Accountability Report 2012-2013. SFUSD. 1 Jan. 2013. Web. 1 Jan. 2014. http://www.
sfusd.edu/assets/sfusd-staff/rpa/sarcs2/sarc-868.pdf
El Dorado Elementary School Accountability Report 2012-2013. SFUSD. Web. 2014. http://www.sfusd.edu/assets/sfusdstaff/rpa/sarcs2/sarc-521.pdf
Visitacion Valley Elementary School Accountability Report 2012-2013. SFUSD. Web. 2014. http://www.sfusd.edu/assets/
sfusd-staff/rpa/sarcs2/sarc-867.pdf
References
Asian Pacific Islander Council Report: A San Francisco Neighborhood Analysis. Asian Pacific Islander, 2014. 6. Print.
105
For more information, please contact:
David Fernandez, Project Director
dfernandez@mercyhousing.org
Mercy Housing California
1360 Mission St.
San Francisco, CA 94103
Related California
333 Pine Street, Suite 300
San Francisco, CA 94104
© 2014 Mercy Housing California. All rights reserved. (10-14)