2008 Koshland Connect - The San Francisco Foundation

Neighborhoods on the Move
2007–2012
West Berkeley
berkeley
The West Berkeley Fellows group spent their first year demonstrating
true collective leadership. In the first six months,
they dug deep into the leadership training curriculum from
the Interaction Institute for Social Change (IISC). The curriculum
covered facilitative leadership, asset mapping, stakeholder
analysis, exploring personal growing edges as a leader, conflict
resolution, listening skill-building, and facilitating agreement.
At the request of the Fellows, one full-day training on race,
class, and power was also part of the curriculum with a focus
on collaborating across cultural differences, sharing personal
stories as it relates to race and class, and discussing these
issues in the context of Berkeley. The group has also shown
collective leadership as they have grown as a team, shared
personal challenges, attended each other’s events and
celebrations, and established a true space of trust and respect
for each other.
Now in their second year, they are in the midst of visioning
and planning for a project that will improve the quality
of life for their neighbors. The group has created two
working teams: communication and design. These teams
have helped to narrow the focus of the Fellows’ project
to serve youth of color from low- and mixed-income families.
A public website and an internal site have also been
created to help communicate with the larger Berkeley
community, as well as to facilitate group work, share
resources, and host archival documents. The hope for the website
is that it will expand to be a tool accessible for all Koshland
Fellows, past and present, to share resources and connect with
each other.
2006–2011
Bayview
san francisco
Now in their third year, the Bayview Fellows group has been
actively refining their community vision and project, and grown
as a team.
In practicing their leadership training principles, they have come
to understand the underlying problem in their community: connecting
disparate communities to form one large community in
the Bayview. The neighborhood is in a state of transformation,
and there are many new people coming into the community,
some of whom are conflicting with established residents. These
changes are creating a lack of trust, a lack of unity, and many
neglected spaces.
Research and community input culminated in the following
vision statment for their work:
The Koshland Bayview Fellows envision a rich, diverse community
where all residents deepen their connections across
generations and work with one another to build supportive
community relationships; where beautiful and welcoming open
spaces exist. We imagine a vital community where creativity
is celebrated, and art is an integral component to education.
Working together in unity, we will create a healthy neighborhood
where children can grow into fully active community members
for generations to come.
To realize this vision, the Bayview Fellows are partnering with the
Bayview Opera House as a hub for community building activities
and events for all residents. They have also partnered with the
YMCA to host weekly dance classes and well-attended monthly
community dance events with a live band, food, along with
Salsa and Lindy Hop lessons. In collaboration with the Mayor’s
initiative, Communities of Opportunity (COO), the group is also
supporting a mural project led by local artists to cover windows
of abandoned buildings in the Alice Griffith housing project. The
group has also been busy researching opportunities to create
more open green space, and planning for a legends walkway to
beautify and celebrate the history of the neighborhood. The walkway
will be incorporated into the design plans for the upcoming
renovated library, scheduled to open its brand new state-of-theart
building in 2011.
12