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

Jamestown Persists Amidst School Closures and City Lockdowns

Familia, we hope you are staying safe and healthy during these difficult times. Jamestown, along with our community partners, have done our best to remain adaptable to the circumstances and continue working to ensure our communities are safe and informed on COVID-19.

Due to the closure of all SFUSD schools, our site-specific programming remains on hold during this lockdown. Still, despite the circumstances, Jamestown remains resilient and is taking an innovative approach to continue serving our youth and families.

Currently, Jamestown program staff are working daily at our Buena Vista Horace Mann Beacon stayover shelter to handle the added capacity and support youth and families during this time of crisis. The stayover program has been greatly expanded during this shelter-in-place order and Jamestown staff have stepped up to do their part. Chavez Elementary, one of our other Beacon sites, is providing a community food bank so our families and other vulnerable community members have access to the nutrition they need to stay healthy.

Despite the social distancing order, we have still been able to offer some of our community programs through online platforms. Our Strengthening Families class continues to host regularly scheduled meetings through video chat, so families can continue to build healthy relationships and communication practices. The Loco Bloco performance ensemble, despite not being able to meet physically, continue to rehearse via Zoom meetings, keeping them active and engaged with their community and art form.

Along with hosting program meetings online, we continue to share relevant resources on our social media from the Department of Children, Youth and Their Families (DCYF) as well as other community organizations working with similar populations. We want to ensure the families we serve are properly informed and connected to all the services available to them.

As Jamestown continues navigating through these uncertain times, we are doing our best to provide the services we can to our youth and families. In these tough times, it is imperative we continue to serve vulnerable populations to ensure the security of our community.

Thank you for supporting our work and being valuable members of our community.  We continue to send lots of love and light to all of our gente. Stay safe and strong everyone.

Girls Got Goals Kicks Back Into Action

It’s that time of year again, Girls Got Goals is back in action!

Now in its 16th season, our Girls Got Goals league continues to provide an outlet for middle school girls to learn a new sport in a safe and supportive environment. This year, five teams will compete in league play for a chance at the coveted title. 

Last year’s champion, Everett Middle School, saw a huge surge in interest after taking home the big trophy, so much so, that this year they are fielding two teams to keep up with the demand! Girls Got Goals has a rich history as a nurturing safe space for young women to build community and develop as athletes and human beings. With 127 players enrolled, including expansion into the high school and elementary age groups, this year is shaping up to be one of the biggest yet!

Grateful for our amazing GGG Coaching staff!

Outside of the weekly games and practices, Jamestown Sports Director Ariel Esqueda, will host personal development workshops focusing on the specific needs of each team. Past workshops have included college prep courses, healthy living seminars and restorative justice classes rooted in developing positive cultural identity for Black and Latinx youth. 

The workshops build off the program’s youth development framework and are tailored to address the direct needs of the participants. Jamestown understands that not every youth receives the same type of intentional and focused instruction in their everyday academic lives. By creating and cultivating programs like Girls Got Goals, we are able to engage students in a more intimate space, allowing us to build interpersonal relationships that strengthen our families and communities. 

Presenting Loco Bloco's Carnaval 2020 Theme: From Roots to Reincarnation

Through our artistic expression, we will create:

An embodiment of the ancestral traditions & wisdom living in the land & carried in our spirit

An act of community healing from our ancestral trauma as our scars evolve into adornments of empowerment
A reclaiming of our strength, power & voice as we transform our vision for our collective future

Join us March 7th at Buena Vista Horace Mann K-8 School for our Spring Resource and Carnaval Registration Fair 11am - 2pm. If you want to get involved before this, join us every Monday at Brava Theater for our Free Community Drum and Dance Classes 5 - 6:15pm. Stay updated on all things Loco Bloco by following on Facebook and Instagram.

Executive Director Myrna Melgar to Pursue New Leadership Role

After six powerful years as Jamestown's Executive Director, Myrna Melgar will be transitioning out of her position to run for the City of San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors' open seat in District 7 in November of this year.

Under her leadership, Jamestown grew tremendously to now serve nearly 4,000 youth and families annually. During Myrna’s tenure, the organization also doubled its funding, merged with Loco Bloco (another youth-serving Mission District organization), expanded programs and purchased office space in the Mission District. Jamestown is strong, stable and poised to continue providing low income youth with high quality educational opportunities that build inter-generational leadership within the community. 

While she will be stepping down in June from her official leadership role at Jamestown, Myrna plans to stay involved and continue supporting this community with the same passion she has always carried. The Board of Directors will conduct an open recruitment for the new Executive Director, and during the transition, Jamestown's Deputy Director, Nelly Sapinski, will assume Interim Director duties. 

Nelly has served as Deputy Director for five years, and previously led the out-of-school division for Reading Partners and Santa Clara County Catholic Charities. Nelly grew up in Tijuana, Mexico and holds a Master's Degree in Education from Harvard University. She is a certified bilingual teacher and reading recovery specialist, who has built Jamestown’s program design and evaluation systems throughout her time with the organization. 

Jamestown appreciates all the support from our extended familia of youth, families, partners and funders as we continue to serve our community during this transitional phase. Our focus remains on our work and mission of helping young people and their families realize their full potential to become powerful and healthy members of society.

Join The Mission and Support Jamestown

This past year has been groundbreaking for Jamestown, we hope you have enjoyed following the journey and growth on our Futuros Sin Fronteras blog. We have completed the merger with Loco Bloco, expanded our programming to serve nearly 4,000 youth and their families, and purchased space in the building we occupy at the Historic Centro Social Obrero. Our organization is stronger and more sustainable, poised to continue providing opportunity to kids, and helping them succeed.

At Jamestown, long-term engagement and deep relationships based on trust are the secret to our magic. This magic is the underpinning of the success of our youth, and what makes our programming special. We strive to serve youth and their families for as long as they need us -- providing crucial programs and supports to accompany them into adulthood. 

Martín Herrera Pazmino embodies the core values and mission of Jamestown. Currently a World History Teacher at John O’Connell High School in the Mission, Martín grew up in the community, attending public schools in the neighborhood, supported by the enrichment programs at Jamestown and Loco Bloco. A budding artist, he picked up his first drum at age 3 in a Loco Bloco class. Martín also attended Cesar Chavez Elementary School, where he participated in Jamestown’s afterschool program. 

Through his participation in Loco Bloco, Martín was able to hone his artistic skills and was accepted to the San Francisco School of the Arts for High School. While at SOTA, Martín worked as a youth apprentice at Jamestown, which taught him valuable workforce skills, opening the doors to a career in education. Working as a youth apprentice also provided Martín with income – a crucial component for our youth who are often overlooked by traditional college and career support programs. 

Every summer while he attended Sonoma State University, Martín came back to San Francisco and taught valuable skills to younger neighborhood kids in Jamestown’s summer programs. Martín credits his participation in Jamestown and Loco Bloco and his parents, Betty and Francisco, for his deep commitment to social justice and the Latino community in the Mission. It is where he grew as a leader, an artist and an educator.  

Jamestown’s comprehensive educational supports include academics, arts, sports, leadership development, and social emotional skill building delivered with cultural competence by our highly trained staff. Our work embodies education justice for low income youth: opening the doors to high quality educational opportunities regardless of their family’s ability to pay for it.

We consider all of our readers part of the Jamestown familia, and invite you all to donate and help us continue growing in our work during this holiday season. This will be our final blog post for the year, we hope you have enjoyed reading about all of our accomplishments and will continue following our progress into the new decade and beyond! Thank you for believing in our Mission, see you in 2020.

Jamestown: Reclaiming Space and Culture in The Mission

After months of planning and working behind the scenes, The Jamestown Community Center is excited to announce that along with a consortium of other community organizations, we have purchased part of the equity in the building that houses our administrative offices on the corner of Alabama and 19th Street. Thanks to a generous contribution from Mayor London Breed’s Nonprofit Sustainability Initiative, Jamestown is officially a homeowner in The Mission! 

To honor this triumphant reclamation of space, we want to invite all community members to celebrate and take a tour at our open house, Planting Roots: Reclaiming Community (Sembrando Raices: Reclamando Communidad) on November 20th (event details to come!).

While this relocation to a bigger and better space is certainly a win for the organization, we also see it as a victory for the community as a whole. The struggle to keep the spirit of the Mission District alive has been an uphill one. Between the rapid gentrification and displacement of community members, as well as the closing of many longtime businesses, often times we can feel like strangers in our own neighborhood. Despite the obstacles, Jamestown remains steadfast and committed to holding space and celebrating longtime community traditions with our gente.

Photo by Carla Hernandez Ramirez

One of these traditions, the Loco Bloco Blocura gala, will be making a triumphant return this year! After taking a brief hiatus, we are proud to bring back Blocura on October 18th at Patio Español. The event will include live performances from the Loco Bloco Ensemble and an art auction featuring work from some of the Mission District’s premier visual artists.

All of the funds raised will go directly to support Loco Bloco arts programming, which includes teaching artists’ salaries, music and art supplies and development for young adults involved in the Teaching Artists in Training program. You can support the work of our amazing artivists, by purchasing a ticket or becoming a sponsor today. 

“It was really important for us to make sure we made Blocura happen this year,” said Annie Jupiter-Jones, Deputy Director of Arts and Community. “This event is all about celebrating with our community; we’re looking forward to dancing the night away with our supporters both old and new.”

On the heels of Blocura, Jamestown along with other community partners will host the third edition of ReclaMisión in honor of Dia de Los Muertos. As in years past, this event will feature local artists, musicians and community organizations collaborating on a creative exposition of this timeless cultural tradition. The celebration of ReclaMisión allows us the opportunity to celebrate our culture alongside our people in a grand display for all to see, hear and feel. 

We work with artists of all disciplines and bring them together for a one-of-a-kind experience of cultural expression that keeps us connected with our heritage, while instilling in our young people a sense of pride and tradition that at times can feel far off given the current political landscape. ReclaMisión holds sacred space for us to remember our history and be active participants in creating it.

Events like Blocura and ReclaMision are critical to continue fostering community and creating a safe space to celebrate our cultural traditions together as a Mission familia. We will not lose touch, we will not lose hope, and we will continue working on behalf of our people for a better tomorrow.

Free the Children! And Resources for Immigrant Families in Public Schools

On Monday, Sept. 16th, over 1,000 students helped to lead a mass protest with partner organizations who rallied and marched along Mission Street from 24th St. to San Francisco City Hall. 

BVHM students created colorful signs, banners, and butterflies, which were held in the air, as their voices called to close the camps of ICE Detention Facilities and give justice for immigrant kids and families. Jamestown Community Center partners, Mission Economic Development Agency (MEDA), Mission Neighborhood Centers, and Instituto Familiar de la Raza, joined the students to protest along with many other San Francisco community organizations. At City Hall, community leaders, including Mayor London Breed, and Supervisor Shamann Walton, spoke about the harmful conditions and negative effects ICE has on our communities and provided support reaffirming San Francisco’s status as a Sanctuary City for immigrants. Check out video coverage of our students and the protest march here.

There has been recent talk about the State of California shutting down for-profit prisons, some of which are currently ICE camps. San Francisco and the Jamestown community will continue to make our voices heard in this injustice and fight as long as it takes until the confinement ends.

Earlier this February, Jamestown began an affiliate partnership with UnisdosUS, the largest Latino advocacy organization in the country. UnidosUS focuses on at least seven major issues that affect the Latino community: civil rights & criminal justice, economy, education, health, immigration, voting, and youth. Our partners at UnidosUS have provided a few resources to inform us on these important issues for a successful school year.

Student & Family Resources

• Know your rights: Students or parents who are immigrants or undocumented by UnidosUS

• What Families and Educators Need to Know About ICE Raids by UnidosUS

• Video Games About Immigration by CommonSense Media

• How To Talk With Your Kids About The Border Situation by CommonSense Media

• Resources for Undocumented High School Students by My Documented Life

• Unaccompanied Children in Schools: What You Need to Know by Colorin Colorado

• How to Recognize Fake News by CommonSense Media

  • Video

Jamestown Goes Back to School

Q. Do you know how bees get to school?

On the school buzz!

No joke, the 2019-20 school year is here! After a summer of play, resting, eating healthy, and getting lots of outdoor time, our students are ready for an awesome year ahead. We’re buzzing with excitement looking ahead at three new programs, celebrating new staff at our sites and a must-go-to Loco Bloco event!

Thanks to funding from our affiliation with UnidosUS, we are rolling out three new programs for middle and high school students: CASA Code, CASA, and Escalera. Jamestown is one out of three organizations in San Francisco affiliated with UnisdosUS, the biggest organization in the country working hard to address Latinx issues.

CASA Code is designed to introduce middle schoolers to computer science and coding as a means of helping to bridge the diversity gap that exists in the tech sector. Latinxs in the United States represent nearly 20% of workers, yet only hold 7% of growing STEM jobs and only 6% of science and engineering jobs. CASA Code will provide middle school youth with hands-on computer science and coding experience in Spanish while including parents in the process of learning about academic and career trajectories in the computer science field. The program will develop students' leadership skills, cultivate a culture of service to the community and encourage students to apply what they learn to the challenges they see in their surroundings.

CASA by UnidosUS, also for middle school, increases self-confidence and cultural awareness. The program is designed to increase academic engagement while expanding global and community awareness. Practical skills in civic engagement and college and career-ready skills are other core elements of the curriculum.

Escalera by UnidosUS, is for high school students between the ages of 16 and 18. Students cultivate economic mobility readiness, college and career readiness, and technology leadership. This program also pushes life skills, financial capability, leadership, and workforce skills. Instructors work with other UnidosUS affiliates (for more affiliate info click here), community-based organizations and nonprofits to create opportunities for the youth.

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Liliana Santos, Beacon Director at Chavez

Selene Coss, Extended Learning Manager at Chavez

Gibran Gonzalez, Youth Workforce Manager,

This year we welcome new leadership staff at our Cesar Chavez Beacon! Liliana Santos, our new Beacon Director, has coordinated family supports and resources in previous roles. and has been teaching with Jamestown for the past seven years. She’s excited about continuing to build relationships and community with students and families.

Jamestown also welcomes new Youth Workforce Manager, Gibran Gonzalez, who will be working with the youth workforce team. Gibran has been involved with Jamestown since he was nine, and previously worked as a YAPster and Program Assistant at Chavez Elementary.

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Loco Bloco is throwing its annual Blocura gala! This (Fun)draiser will take place on October 18th at El Patio Español, featuring live performances from the Loco Bloco Ensemble, an art auction featuring work from some of San Francisco’s premier artists, and Spanish cuisine. All of the funds raised will go directly to Loco Bloco arts programming, paying teaching artists, buying music and art supplies, and providing development for young adults involved in the Teaching Artists in Training Program.

For more information, visit Jamestownsf.org/blocura or contact christianmb@jamestownsf.org to discuss branding and sponsorship opportunities.

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We look forward to an awesome school year and sharing our programming with you in upcoming newsletters ahead.

See the video below for a quick summer recap if you haven’t seen it already!

Summer of Moving to the Rhythm of San Francisco

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This summer, our Jamestown programs spent their days “Moving to the Rhythm of San Francisco!” Students experienced a summer of adventure, diving into new territory every day with enriching, hands-on and collaborative activities. 

To highlight our work to combat summer learning loss, each site celebrated Summer Learning Week at the beginning of July. Our staff focused on fostering STEM, literacy and creative cooperation. At our BVHM Beacon, students focused on financial literacy through different money-related activities. Our Longfellow program adventured near the Golden Gate Bridge to visit Crissy Field for a day of fun at the park. They hosted Karaoke Fridays and also designed their own t-shirts. Check out the video below for their summer recap video! 

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Longfellow students are all smiles at Crissy Field during a summer field trip day

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Our Summer Voyage program at James Lick ventured out East to the Ponderosa Cove Campground for a weekend exploring the National Forest. The students learned valuable survival skills, like how to pitch a tent, while also relaxing by the lake. Campers helped advisors prepare meals and tend to the campground. They also enjoyed some quality time around the fire pit telling scary stories while snacking on s’ mores.

Our Youth In Charge (YIC) program spearheaded their summer as leaders of Communities Mobilizing Change on Alcohol (CMCA) - learning and taking action on the local alcohol and cannabis industries, addressing their effects on the community. YIC also volunteered at GLIDE, where they served meals to the community and assembled harm reduction kits while learning about risk reduction work in San Francisco. The Co-Founders of GLIDE, Janice Mirikitani, and Reverend Cecil Williams met with the youth and shared their inspiring story of beginning their organization as two volunteers looking to make a change in their community.

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After volunteering, Youth In Charge members were honored to meet the GLIDE Co-Founders, Reverend Cecil Williams and Janice Mirikitani.

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Over the summer, Loco Bloco held a weekly Rhythms of Resistance class, teaching Bloco style protest drumming, led by Arts Education Director Pedro Gomez at Brava Theater. 

Our parent organizing team held a Social-Emotional Intelligence workshop for parents in collaboration with Jasmine Alvarez (from Instituto Familiar de la Raza), Alison Stewart (from Support for Families) and MEDA. The workshop focused on how Social-Emotional Intelligence impacts students’ lives and how they learn and socialize.

To wrap up summer programming, each site held performances for students to show their classmates and families everything they learned. Dancing, skits, videos, artwork, and more were shared. After a summer of, “Moving to the Rhythm of San Francisco,” we look forward to bringing the positive energy from summer into the new school year.

Futuros Sin Fronteras - Our School Year Recap

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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.

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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.

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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. 

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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.

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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.

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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!

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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.

 

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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! 

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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.

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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.

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Jamestown Celebrates Our First Annual Atletas Banquet

On May 21st, 2019, The Jamestown Community Center held our very first Atletas Award Banquet for soccer coaches and families who are a part of Soccer For All. Sports Director, Ariel Esqueda, and Soccer Program Coordinator, Gerardo Hernandez, welcomed everyone with warmth and excitement.

Families arrived with smiles to the Mission Language Vocational School, located right above the new Jamestown office. The historic banquet hall known for holding community dances and activities, was decked out in dazzling black and gold decor, smells of delicious food prepared by MLVS students and festive music floated through the air.

The awards were presented to Jamestown soccer coaches who have gone above and beyond to invest into their teams and players. Jamestown Coach of over 12 years, Cesar Lepe, received the Lepe Golazo Award for promoting Jamestown’s Sports Program Core values of sportsmanship, commitment, leadership and fun. Coaches Jesus Salmeron and Jeff Flores, who have been with Jamestown for over 20 and 10 years respectively, received the Salmeron Corazon Award for their many years of commitment and dedication to the Jamestown sports community. Each coach also received a Certificate of Honor from the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Two youth players from each team won VIP awards for stellar sportsmanship, commitment, leadership, and fun.

Families gathered around and cheered for their coaches, as Ariel and Gerardo presented the awards. Executive Director, Myrna Melgar, made a speech celebrating the coaches’ and Jamestown’s continued spirit of leadership, family, and love. The honored coaches have shown their dedication by sometimes covering fees for families who couldn’t, as well as mentoring players one-on-one to better focus on school and their future. Furthermore, they have also assisted in training other Jamestown coaches to become strong leaders.

The Banquet ended with pink sangria, arroz con leche, warm hugs, and congratulations. We are already looking forward to celebrating our coaches continued commitment and dedication to Jamestown Soccer Programs’ next year.

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