San Francisco - Community & Society

A new community garden in a former vacant lot, which has been designed to encourage social distancing, will open next month in the SoMa Pilipinas cultural district.

Earlier this month the Castro Merchants were selected as one of four SF merchants' associations to receive a $50,000 Avenue Greenlight grant.

The Bay Area Tigray Community is hosting a virtual event this afternoon to raise awareness of the ongoing conflict and humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia.

Mirigian, an avid Giants fan who had lived in the same Balboa Park house she bought back in the 1950s, passed away Friday morning surrounded by friends and family. At 114, she was believed to be the oldest-living San Franciscan.

This city’s first navigation center dedicated to homeless youth aged 18-24 opened in District 3 this week, four years after funding was set aside to build it.

The city’s only sanctioned Vehicle Triage Center for people living in RVs, next to Balboa Park BART, will be decommissioned by March 15, as a 138-unit affordable housing complex will take its place.

On Thursday, the Castro/Upper Market Community Benefit District (Castro CBD) launched its new unarmed Public Safety Ambassadors program, part of its new public safety initiative.

Another “tiny house” proposal is in the works for what’s currently a safe sleeping site at Jones and Turk Streets, and while it’s still just a submitted plan, the funding is reportedly lined up.

The SF Queer Nightlife Fund (QNF) — a Bay Area nonprofit geared toward supporting the region’s LGBTQ+ entertainment workers — has announced it’s accepting yet another round of applications for emergency grant awards.

A former Richmond District art and framing shop that almost became a cannabis dispensary will now be the permanent home of the Russian-Speaking Jewish Community of SF Bay Area.

The Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a relief measure that would pay ailing Chinatown restaurants nearly $2 million to serve up meals for their neighbors in need.

Yesterday the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club (Milk Club) held a Martin Luther King Jr. Day tribute at Castro's Bank of America (501 Castro St.), commonly referred to as 'Hibernia Beach,' honoring the civil rights icon and the passing of recent community members.

Castro residents are up in arms after Bank of America (501 Castro St.) installed signs last week alerting residents and community members that posters, signs, and other materials could no longer be placed on the building — after decades during which the corner of the building at 18th and Castro has been a communal space for memorials to the recently deceased.

Supportive housing for more 115 people is coming to a Bayview parking lot, while 43 beds will be available at Post and Hyde Streets.]

It’s estimated that Indigenous people — those of American Indian descent — make up just about .03% of San Francisco’s total population. But a new American Indian heritage hub expected to be built near 56 Julian Avenue hopes to bring both awareness and support to the historically underrepresented population. 

San Francisco’s most charitable Christmas tradition carries on, as 2,000 pounds of prime beef are being served at Glide.

For the 91st holiday season in a row, the gigantic Monterey cypress tree at Stanyan and Fell Streets still dazzles as San Francisco‘s ‘official’ Christmas tree.

Two Polk Street community benefit districts are seeking community input to inform a proposal that could transform the California Street cable car turn-around at Van Ness Avenue into a new parklet.

An unruly customer messed with the wrong grandmother at Panchita's Pupuseria, where the matriarch owner took matters — and a large wooden table — into her own hands.

One of the Tenderloin’s Safe Sleeping Sites is now permanently closed after neighbors raised ongoing concerns about overcrowding and persistent illegal activity.

Following a two-year legal fight that began with the Methodist Church suing the Glide Foundation for control of its considerable assets, Glide Memorial Church announced Wednesday that it is cutting ties with the larger church under which it was founded, in order to proceed independently into the future with its charitable and spiritual work.

Many of the trees along 24th Street are coming down, but a Day of the Dead ‘ceremonia’ paid a spiritual homage to those 50-year-old ficuses set for removal.

On Saturday, a group of community members gathered at the Castro's Harvey Milk Plaza in honor of Tom Taylor, gay activist and 'keeper of the Rainbow Flag' at Harvey Milk Plaza. Taylor and husband Dr. Jerome 'Jerry' Goldstein were known for their annual Christmas display.

Things turned from tense to creepy and frightening in the ongoing argument between the SF Board of Education and prospective parents, students, and others who are upset that Lowell High School is set to switch to lottery admissions in the 2021-2022 academic year. Late last week, two female board members, both women of color, were targeted by a threatening video featuring a hand in a bloody glove burning a piece of paper with their photos on it, both with Nazi symbols on their heads.

With Lowell High School and its noted prestige among San Francisco residents making headlines this week, we thought some of you might need a lay of the educational land.