Bayview community beautification project

My name is Jenny Pritchett. I'm a longtime San Francisco resident, and have lived in the Bayview since 2017. Our neighborhood is one of the last few truly diverse communities in San Francisco, with a strong and historic Black presence. The neighborhood experiences all of the issues many Black communities in the US face, including economic disenfranchisement and environmental degradation.

A recent conflict in the neighborhood led me to reach out to the business owners on the corner of 3rd and Quesada and the young men who spend a lot of time there. The men are born and raised in the Bayview, raising young children, studying, and working multiple jobs. We sat down together and worked out a proposal to beautify the corner and instill a sense of pride and ownership, a group effort to chip away at the us-and-them dynamic that has come to define the corner.

Some exciting news is that Phase 1 has been completed! Local muralist Josué Rosales took input from the community and designed and executed an incredible mural covering the entire wall of the corner store, collaborating with other local artists and a local high school student to put it up. The transformation has begun!

We have come up against issues for Phase 2, which is the site greening.

We applied for a grant, and although we came close, we did not receive it. We then began working with our district supervisor, Shamann Walton, and his staff, who have been hugely supportive from the moment they heard about it, as they are well aware of the conflict and inspired by our positive and collaborative approach. They have spent weeks working with us, trying to secure funds, but have run into bureaucratic red tape.

We are so close. We have approval from the Department of Public Works, who have agreed to waive the permit fee of $400 and have already removed a dead tree.

Crucially, we have a nonprofit partner, Climate Action Now!, who has matching Cal Fire/state funds for the soil, plants and edging in cobblestones alongside the mural – but we have not been able to secure that money, because we first need sufficient funds to remove all the pavement to ensure a healthy sidewalk garden.

CAN! has already provided critical coordination, introductions, site visits, meetings and landscaping design and care instructions!

We are seeking to raise $5,600 to remove 340 square feet of sidewalk along the building wall. Once we have that money, Climate Action Now! can match it with state dollars to provide:

Once Phase 2 is completed and the bushes and trees are planted, the shareholders – the neighbors and the business owners – will share watering and care duties of the plants, continuing to build on the respectful relationships we have been nurturing in designing this project together.

Can you please give us money to get this done? We are hoping to raise the entire amount, but if we do not reach $5,600, we will forge on – our plan B is to use whatever funds we receive to pay for a reduced removal of sidewalk.

Thank you!

Jenny Pritchett, Cantrell "D" Howard, D'Shawn Davis (neighbors), Markos Major (CAN!), Judah Dwyer and Horgan Edet (The African Outlet), Bakar Mohamad (Big Save Market business owner), E (Big Save Market building owner)