Meet the People Making SF Family-Friendly
Let’s talk about all the amazing people trying to make San Francisco the village that families need. And how you can help!
But first, spotlight on a cool project and our family summer calendar.
Our friends at Mix Mix Press have released their beautiful map of San Francisco for families! Get yours!
Mix Mix Press’ Kid City SF map: https://www.mixmixpress.com/kidcitysf
Community Calendar
It’s summer! There are so many things to do. Here are a few we love.
Mothers artists:
On July 5, catch the opening of Pissed-Off Moms, an art show by mothers about motherhood. In Dogpatch, 5pm.
Festivals:
Ferry Fest at the Ferry building on July 13.
Sunday Streets, multiple dates.
Recurring:
Every year in the Summer, the San Francisco Public Library organizes Summer Stride, with lots of events and book giveaways designed to get families reading. If you read more than 20h over the Summer you get a great tote!
Free art workshops at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on Wednesdays 2-4pm. All ages.
Tuesday-Friday is Bean Sprouts family day at the Botanical Garden!
SFPL offers a great climate action events series
The Friday kids shows at Yerba Buena Gardens
Astronomers evenings at Presidio Park
Places:
Nothing beats a day at the beach reading while kiddos build sand castles and fly kites. Our favs are: Crane Cove, Olympic Park, Baker beach, and just next to Sutro Baths (kiddos also love the caves!)
Adventure Playground in Berkeley.
Fairyland in Oakland is a short Bart ride away and open every day during the summer.
Your local public pool to keep cool!
Catch:
Misc:
Meet a Wikipedian, July 12
Hiking by transit! The Bay Area has some of the most amazing parks, and we love hiking with our toddlers.
Cool orgs to join or support
Read to the end for how to take action at the state and federal level too.
Kids Safe SF joins Streets for All
Kids Safe SF has helped bring about the new Sunset Dunes Park, the closure of JFK to cars, slow streets, and more. They’ve done tremendous work to make the city work better for families, and they’re now joining forces with Streets for All. Join their mailing list to get updates and get involved!
SF Kids Swim
SF Kids Swim campaigned last year to expand family swim hours during the weekdays and the availability of swimming classes. And with the help of lots of parents who wrote to Rec&Parks and their supervisor, it happened! Did you know that drowning is a leading cause of death for children in California? The American Academy of Pediatrics is recommending swimming classes, starting at 1 years old. Get involved by signing up for the newsletter. Disclosure: we were involved in the campaign.
SF Transit Riders
Children’s access to active and independent travel (i.e., walking, biking and transit) improves their well-being. SF Transit Riders organizes toddlers' favorite event: the Muni Heritage Weekend. They’re also behind many campaigns that have made the city more accessible and better connected. Join them!
SF Bike Coalition
SF Bike Coalition helps make streets safer, teaches to ride, and helps families get on bikes! And Bike Kitchen helps them keep their bikes in good shapes and are always super happy to teach kids.
Let's go electric!
Environmental justice is a key component for families to thrive. There are many organizations doing great work in this area! Bay Area 350 is one of them, focused on electrification, which you can join here.
Education for everyone
SF Parent Coalition is kind of like the mothership of all the parent teacher associations. They have a concise guide to the SF school lottery system, and run the SFUSD Families forum. It's a great place to ask questions, whether you're wondering about a specific school, or trying to figure out your kid's IEP. They also keep tabs on SFUSD board meetings to help make sure that parents' and students' needs are being heard and met.
The list goes on!
San Francisco libraries are awesome: we’ve said it before and we’ll say it again. Their mobile outreach program is particularly amazing. And peep their Dungeons and Dragons afternoons for older kids! We also love pajama storytime and their commitment to offering children books as diverse in languages and representations as the children of San Francisco. Or did you know the Department of Early Childhood Education programs are improving K-12 performance?
Let’s Play SF was an initiative between Rec&Parks and SF Parks Alliance to build more play spaces for kids, which concluded this year. As SF Parks Alliance is being investigated for financial misconduct, it’s unclear who’s going to pick up the torch to improve our parks and public spaces for children. But we’re also grateful for the work accomplished through that initiative.
Have you ever wondered how we got these fantastic sculptures and whimsical yellow adirondack chairs on JFK drive? Or how night lighting art, from the Bay Bridge to Fulton Plaza, got there? These are a few of the projects of Illuminate SF.
We’ve highlighted before the work of community-centered businesses and organizations such as Natural Resources, Dogpatch Hub or Black Bird Bookstore for their support to families. We also could highlight the work of neighborhood-based organizations, such as the Bernal Heights Community Center, and the Neighborhood Centers Together. We chose in this newsletter organizations that were city-wide and with which we know parents have been able to engage. We would have loved to include organizations centered around family housing - but did not find much in this area. Let us know if you do!
We’re truly lucky to have a vibrant civic life in the city. And while these organizations are focused on local action, it can inspire beyond the city’s boundaries. If you’re searching for ways to get involved with politics at the state and national level with your spare scraps of time, you might be interested in 5calls and Chop Wood, Carry Water.