Meet the Fall 2023 Small Grants Program Grantees!
The Hope SF Initiative is honored to spotlight recipients of the Fall 2022 Hope SF Small Grants Program, funding resident-centered projects across Alice Griffith, Hunters View, Potrero Hill, and Sunnydale. The Small Grants Program recognizes that Hope SF residents have the solutions to uplift Hope SF voices through community-generated ideas.
Please be sure to scroll through each series of photos to see this amazing work in action!
The Loyal Butterflies Women Wellness Empowerment Program
“When you believe in community, you believe in magic!” -La’Jeana Thompson
The Loyal Butterflies Women Wellness Empowerment Program is a resident-led, community-based organization dedicated to strengthening the capacity of women, youth, and families living within the four Hope SF communities. Loyal Butterflies was founded in February 2013 by Executive Director La`Jeana S. Thompson, who was born and raised in the Sunnydale Public Housing Development. She has served her community for over 15 years as an advocate, mentor, and community leader, providing counseling and education services to the Hope SF community. Loyal Butterflies received a mini-grant for the Self Care Sundays project, a weekly group serving women from four Hope SF sites offering wellness activities, self-care training, and field trips around San Francisco, providing space for Butterflies and their children to share joy, develop community, and access mental health support through holistic peer to peer healing circles. Follow Loyal Butterflies on Instagram at @loyalbutterflies
Doo Da Activities
“We are engaging our youth, supporting our parents, and uniting our community.” -Vannoy McCree
Doo Da Activities is a youth-based program encouraging Hope SF youth to develop community engagement and access spaces dedicated to health and wellness. The Doo Da Team coordinates with Hope SF families to offer events that provide space for both indoor and outdoor sports, arts classes, financial literacy classes, employment training courses, as well as opportunities to give back to the Alice Griffith community with food drives and hot meal giveaways. Vannoy McCree founded Doo Da Activities in 2021 after a terrible accident in which her two-year-old son fell out of a four-story window. After doing community engagement around window awareness, Vannoy saw the need for Alice Griffith youth to access spaces to be active outside and created Doo Da Activities to bring this platform to the community. Doo Da Activities received a mini-grant for their weekly youth-centered events, bringing Hope SF youth and families together to celebrate movement, community, and giving back. This grantee centers collaboration with local community-based organizations, holding events with A. Phillip Randolph Institute, Requity SF, and the San Francisco Rebels, with many more partnerships to come. Follow Doo Da Activities on Instagram at @doo_da_activities
The Only Loud Squad Printing Program
“We use our voices that we were blessed with to speak up for ourselves and others around us, together we are strong, together we are bigger, and together we are Only Loud.” –Reyann Alcala
The Only Loud Squad Printing Program is a series of entrepreneurship classes sharing skills in printing, design creation, and small business management, focusing on motivating local artists and budding entrepreneurs to create sustainability for themselves and their loved ones. Founded by Hope SF resident Reyann Alcala in 2014, the Only Loud Squad focuses on creating economic opportunities for the community. The Printing Program received a mini-grant for monthly entrepreneurship classes, highlighted by once-a-month pop-ups where participants can showcase their skills, offer sales, and network with local small business owners. Follow the Only Loud Squad on Instagram at @onlyloudsquad
The Small Grants Program is supported by the Partnership for Hope SF and administered by the San Francisco Foundation. For more information, visit Hope SF – Small Grants Program.