No. 40, October 2004 Good News
– for...
Some tenderloin
provider S.F. Department of Public Health is again looking to fund agencies to do DUI
prevention and education programs in their neighborhoods. Four
groups would get $9,990 each for 10-month projects that would
run from Jan. 1- Oct. 31, 2005. Columbia Park Boys and Girls
Club, Good Samaritan Family Resource Center, Potrero Hill Neighborhood
House and the RAP Collective currently are operating programs
with last year’s funding. “In 2005, we really want
to get one of these programs in the Tenderloin,” said Nicamer
Tolentino, DPH’s DUI prevention project coordinator. “No
TL groups applied last year, but the process is easy — to
be considered, you just have to answer three community-friendly
questions.” Project ideas are due on Nov. 1. Information:
581-2420 or nicamer.tolentino@sfdph. org
Seniors at
Glide, St. Anthony’s and Presentation Senior
Community, isolated from each other in the past, have formed
new bonds, thanks to social activities at Boeddeker Park. It
began when staff members from the three organizations met at
a Friends of Boeddeker Park meeting and worked on the July 21
Children’s Parade, said Daniel O’Connor, St. Anthony’s
community liaison. They organized an Aug. 20 ice cream social
in the park that drew 120 of seniors. Such outings demonstrated
that the park is shaking off its “blighted and unsafe reputation,” O’Connor
said. “We had six women from our Madonna Senior Residence
attend the ice cream social who had been too afraid to ever go
to the park.” Next: a bingo party for the three groups
at the Madonna. Already, new relationships are being formed, “and
that’s our intention,” says O’Connor. “We
want to have regular activities together, and Boeddeker will
continue to be a focus.”
TARC With a
new $15,000 grant from the Syringe Access Fund, Tenderloin AIDS Resource Center
becomes the only syringe exchange program open on Sundays in
San Francisco. The Access Fund, a Levi Strauss Foundation, Tides
Foundation and National AIDS Fund collaboration, is an effort
to reduce blood-borne diseases by making sterile syringes easier
to obtain. The Fund is distributing $1 million in grants in California,
Florida, New Jersey, New York and Texas. TARC currently exchanges
6,000 syringes a month during its Wednesday evening syringe exchange.
Adding a Sunday exchange will double that number and further
reduce the spread of HIV and Hepatitis B and C. “Providing
a basic service such as syringe exchange is an important component
in getting injection drug-using residents to access care,” said
Tracy Brown, TARC executive director. “The
service can be the first opportunity in building a relationship
with (them).” TARC is at 183 and 187 Golden Gate. Information:
431-7476 or visit www.tarcsf.org.
Entertainment
lovers Don’t
miss the Luggage Store’s
10th annual In the Street Theater Festival, a weekend of saturated
fun in the Tenderloin Sat. Oct 8, 5-10 p.m. and Sun. Oct 9, 11
a.m.-6 p.m. More than 100 local artists present aerial choreography,
outdoor theater, hip hop and spoken word, circus acts, dance,
puppets and interactive installations — all for free — in
Cohen Alley and on the 500 block of Ellis between Leavenworth
and Hyde. The Festival opens with Ledoh and Salt Farm’s “River
of Sand,” a multimedia Butoh theater piece celebrating
the sung poetry of the Ka-Ren people, a Southeast Asian hill
tribe. “Performing ‘River of Sand’ in a neighborhood
where many of the Southeast Asian diaspora have taken root allows
the vine of traditional culture to wind its way through our new
urban context,” said Salt Farm Artistic Director Lehoh.
Info: 255-5971.
Denizens of
District Six This October marks the fifth anniversary of the formation of the Alliance
for A Better District 6, an eclectic supervisorial district that
takes in all of the Tenderloin, some of Hayes Valley, all of
SoMa down to the Bay, Yerba Buena and Treasure Island. The Alliance
schedules special presentations — on
ballot measures, candidates, land trusts and traffic safety,
among others — and maintains several message boards that
provide timely information on pertinent issues. Http://groups.yahoo.com/
group/District6inSF has 930 members. The Alliance’s Housing
Committee meets monthly, drawing 50 or more tenant leaders who
share experiences and resources, hear speakers, and discuss ways
to maintain affordable housing and improve the quality of life
in the district. Information: 820-1560.
— Marjorie Beggs
and Tom Carter
This column needs regular infusions.
If you have some good news (no events, please), send it to marjorie@studycenter.org.
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