Jamestown Work Receives Community Honors For Continued Excellence

It’s been a busy beginning to the school year for all of us at Jamestown. Between continuing in-person learning at our Beacon Center School sites and launching some exciting initiatives, we’ve been working hard to ensure we are meeting the needs of our Mission District youth and community. With so much going on, we wanted to take a moment to celebrate our programs staff being recognized by pivotal city leaders and institutions. 

Recently, on top of clinching the National League West Division (take that Dodgers!), the San Francisco Giants organization honored our Chavez Elementary Program Manager Diana Diaz, for the latest installment of their City Connect series, spotlighting young people making a difference in their communities. Diaz has been a key member of our Chavez team, who began as an art instructor and is now serving in a key leadership role. Her professional and personal growth is a shining example of how Jamestown invests in developing leadership from within.

Be sure to learn more about Diana’s journey on the Giants City Connect blog. You can also support her work directly by purchasing art from her website!

While Diaz and her family were lighting up the jumbotron at Oracle Park, our Loco Bloco artivists were being honored at the opening of the San Francisco Symphony’s 2021-2022 performance season. Loco Bloco was selected as this year’s recipient of the Ellen Magnin Newman Award, which celebrates outstanding community-based arts organizations who strengthen the Bay Area’s cultural fabric, serves vulnerable families and individuals, and creates a more just and equitable society for everyone who lives here.

Since our merger back in 2018, Jamestown has been proud to help carry on the legacy of Loco Bloco and support their work creating a space for Afro-Latino artistic traditions to continue thriving within our community. Be sure to join the Jamestown Loco Bloco familia as well as other local artivists for our annual ReclaMisión Dia de Muertos community celebration, November 2nd at our Buena Vista Horace Mann K-8 Beacon Center or November 7th at Hummingbird Farms in the Excelsior District. Come see why Loco Bloco has become such an honored cultural fixture within the San Francisco arts community!

Jamestown Welcomes New Executive Director Nelly Sapinski

Dear  Jamestown Familia,

In these difficult times, we are excited to announce the Jamestown Board of Directors has selected Manuela “Nelly” Sapinski as the organization’s next Executive Director. Nelly succeeds Myrna Melgar who will step down on May 29, 2020. 

We are deeply grateful for Myrna and the incredible growth and stability she has brought to the organization. We believe Nelly is uniquely equipped to lead Jamestown and continue the powerful legacy of our organization.

Nelly’s selection comes after an extensive search process in which more than 15 candidates were vetted by a hiring committee of the Board and finalists were evaluated by panels of Jamestown staff and youth. 

Nelly joined Jamestown in 2014 and currently serves as both the Deputy Director of Programs and Interim Executive Director. With six years of experience in high level leadership, Nelly begins the position with a deep understanding of Jamestown’s mission and community. She also brings extensive experience with youth development and education, which are the foundations of how our organization serves the community.

In her time at Jamestown, Nelly has been instrumental in developing and expanding programming, while also implementing data collection and evaluation systems, so important in measuring quality. Prior to joining Jamestown, Nelly served as the After School Program Director at Reading Partners, the national literacy non-profit, and managed curriculum, instruction and evaluation for Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County.

Nelly holds a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education from Northern Illinois University and a Masters of Education from Harvard University.

While Nelly is stepping into the executive director role during turbulent times, the Board of Directors is more than confident that Nelly has the right community relationships and professional and educational background to help Jamestown continue to thrive. I hope you will join me in welcoming Nelly to her new role.

Warmly,
Betty Pazmiño
Chairperson
Jamestown Board of Directors