Jamestown Stories
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!
Futuros Sin Fronteras - Our School Year Recap
Join us in taking a look back at some of our greatest achievements and highlights across the Jamestown programs in the year of 2018-19!
Jamestown Hosts “Keeping The Promise” Event with MEDA
Early in the school year, Jamestown held a community event with Mission Promise Neighborhood’s (MPN) celebrating their two-year $6 million extension grant from the U.S. Department of Education. Hosted at our Buena Vista Horace Mann site, this event featured speeches from House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, San Francisco Mayor London Breed, Supervisor Hillary Ronen and School Board Commissioner Mark Sanchez. These civic leaders discussed how our collective of agencies are impacting the lives of students and families in the Mission. The extension grant allows MPN to expand from five to nine schools in total, including our Beacon Sites at Cesar Chavez Elementary, James Lick Middle School and Buena Vista Horace Mann K-8. MPN is a collaboration effort led by MEDA to provide and coordinate supports to low-income Latino families in the Mission, and Jamestown is proud to be part of this collaborative since its inception.
Girls Got Goals Kicks Off Their 15th Season
The Girls Got Goals league celebrated its 15th season with 85 girls from across the city. This year, Willie Brown MS joined 5 other middle schools in league play as both a participant and host site for games along with Everett MS, who eventually took home the championship. With 70% of team leadership as women, Girls Got Goals keeps its work as a nurturing space for young women to learn a new sport and develop fitness and life skills.
A New Home and A New Beginning For Jamestown
On March 1st, 2019, Jamestown officially relocated offices to 2929 19th Street, between Alabama St and Florida St. Jamestown joins our partners from the Mission Language and Vocational School and Instituto Familiar de la Raza at this longstanding Mission District facility. Five Keys and Chalk also share the facility with us. Come by sometime and visit us at our new home.
Jamestown Launches Beacon Centers
The Jamestown Community Center and its partnering schools were proud to join the San Francisco Beacon Initiative this year. Beacon Centers focus on bridging the gap between students, parents and their communities by bringing additional enrichment programs directly to school sites. This year, Cesar Chavez Elementary, Buena Vista Horace Mann K-8 and James Lick Middle School opened their doors to provide support services that go beyond the traditional school environment. Jamestown was also grateful to be a host at the National Beacon Conference in San Francisco. Our Beacon leadership even put together a bateria performance under the instruction of our Loco Bloco artivists.
Loco Bloco Presents - Back of The Bus: A 14-Mission Love Story
After taking home the First Place Overall prize in 2018’s Carnaval San Francisco -- Loco Bloco and Jamestown had a very popular performance this year with the theme, BACK OF THE BUS: A 14-Mission Love Story. So thankful for our committed families who help make our contingent flourish.
Youth In Charge Teens Meet With Mayor London Breed
The teens in our Youth In Charge Program were busy at City Hall this year. Youth participated in Youth Advocacy Day, an afternoon when high school students have the opportunity to meet with city leaders and public officials to share their thoughts, concerns, and questions about issues they care about as young people. Our team of youth organizers later that day met with Mayor London Breed, where they discussed their motivations behind joining the program. We are incredibly grateful to the Mayor for taking the time to listen to our youth and acknowledge their stories and perspectives!
Growing in Treehouse
Our Treehouse program had a big year. We expanded to include more instructors and had our first ever Treehouse Fiesta with groups from every school! Treehouse peer support groups provide youth a safe place to learn social/emotional skills, explore their feelings and make lifelong friends.
Jamestown Partners with UnidosUS
Jamestown was honored this year to become an affiliate of UnidosUS (formerly NCLR) the largest Latino advocacy organization in the country. We were one of just six organizations nationwide selected to join the affiliate network this year. As a Latino-led agency, we are proud to partner with UnidosUS and connect with leaders from across the country working to solve the issues that matter most to our community. Jamestown joins Mission Asset Fund and MEDA as one of just 3 local organizations part of the UnidosUs affiliate network. This year we launched Phoenix Familia, our monthly giving program. Join online today!
Celebrating Latino Heritage Month with the Cast of ON YOUR FEET!
This year, Jamestown brought in Latino Heritage Month in epic fashion with SHN Golden Gate Theater and the cast of the ON YOUR FEET! the Broadway musical inspired by the life and music of Gloria Estefan. The cast made a special appearance at our Chavez Elementary School Beacon Site, taking questions from the students and leading them in a conga dance lesson with help from Loco Bloco student performers.
Annual Spring Council Events
Jamestown was lucky enough to have two events hosted by our generous Council this year. Council member Sarah Witt and her husband Andy Charmatz opened up their lovely Mission District home to a warm group of Jamestown supporters. Supervisor Mandelman served as keynote speaker; he shared an inspiring story about overcoming a difficult childhood and the importance of having adults who believed in him and his potential.
Guests were also able to hear from Jeanine “Nini” Villela, a current member of our Youth Apprenticeship Program who grew up with Jamestown. She is a shining example of our youth development model, moving from participant to her current role as a YAPster supporting skateboarding at James Lick MS.
Nini shared her inspiring story again, at the home of Council member Amy Carr and her husband Brian, during our second Council event. Mele Lau Smith, the SF School District’s Executive Director for Community Schools & Family Partnerships gave the keynote for the evening. Jamestown is lucky to have such a strong network of individuals who believe and support our mission.