SOMCAN - Programs - Leadership

SOMCAN works with the San Francisco Foundation’s Koshland Program and our community partners, Sixth Street Agenda, Tenderloin Housing Clinic, New Bessie Carmichael Committee, Parents for Public Schools, Neighborhood Safety Program, San Francisco Land Trust Collaborative, Mission Anti-Displacement Planning and the Center for Third World Organizing, to provide our Resident Leadership and Organizing Program.

Through this program, SOMCAN offers an 8-week series of classes that cover Education and Parent Rights, SRO Tenant Issues and Rights, Community Planning, and Affordable Housing and Housing Rights, and Safety Issues. The classes are available for up to 30 community members per workshop. Ten of those who graduate from the 10-week class are selected from an application process to do an internship with local community organizations over a 3-4 month period. Interns receive a certification of completion and work with SOMCAN to develop a plan to continue to use their gained skills and knowledge for community mentoring and organizing. Our goal through this program is to develop resident leadership through education on important issues that affect them and organizing training to provide them with the tools and resources to create positive social change in the community.

In addition, the program is designed to be inclusive and accessible; this includes:

Following SOMCAN’s first Resident Leadership and Organizing Internship Program, Interns accomplished the following as a result of their participation in the program:

Marie Gomez, an SRO tenant and intern, now works as a desk clerk for SRO Hotels and helped establish weekly AA meetings at the Rose Hotel;
Jerry Longoria, a security guard in the Financial District, union member, and SRO tenant, is now being filmed for a documentary on former victims of homelessness and continues to lead USRO meetings on Thursday evenings;
Jerry Collins, former Plaza Hotel tenant, is now a lead tenant organizer for Sixth Street Agenda and now sits on the Rent Board; and
Idalia Medina and Guillermina Rodriguez - both immigrant Latina parents from Bessie Carmichael School are continuing their education at City College Downtown Campus.

Since the start of SOMCAN’s second Resident Leadership and Organizing Internship Program, Interns have accomplished the following as a result of their participation in the program:

Gloria Esteva, a formerly homeless mother of two, volunteers with numerous organizations to help non-English speaking immigrants on issues of worker’s rights and homeless rights;
Robert Williams is an SRO Hotel tenant who has been outreaching to SRO hotel tenants on issues of community planning and has just finished a senior’s training course in cooking;
Sean Williams (no relation to Robert), is an SRO tenant, who advocates for affordable housing and volunteers at the local food pantry;
Alexis David is furthering her education at San Francisco State in Criminal Justice while volunteering to find affordable housing for WWII Pilipino Veterans; and
Joann Sanders is volunteering to fight for employment rights for low and no income workers.



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	Developing Community and Resident Leadership SOMCAN works with the San Francisco Foundation’s Koshland Program and our community partners, Sixth Street Agenda, Tenderloin Housing Clinic, New Bessie Carmichael Committee, Parents for Public Schools, Neighborhood Safety Program, San Francisco Land Trust Collaborative, Mission Anti-Displacement Planning and the Center for Third World Organizing, to provide our Resident Leadership and Organizing Program. Through this program, SOMCAN offers an 8-week series of classes that cover Education and Parent Rights, SRO Tenant Issues and Rights, Community Planning, and Affordable Housing and Housing Rights, and Safety Issues. The classes are available for up to 30 community members per workshop. Ten of those who graduate from the 10-week class are selected from an application process to do an internship with local community organizations over a 3-4 month period. Interns receive a certification of completion and work with SOMCAN to develop a plan to continue to use their gained skills and knowledge for community mentoring and organizing. Our goal through this program is to develop resident leadership through education on important issues that affect them and organizing training to provide them with the tools and resources to create positive social change in the community. SOMCAN’s Leadership and Organizing Program is based on a community building approach to neighborhood development, which is defined by continuous, self-renewing efforts by residents and professionals to engage in collective action of problem solving and enrichment that results in improved lives, greater equity, strengthened relationships, networks, institutions and assets, and new standards and expectations for life in community. In addition, the program is designed to be inclusive and accessible; this includes: Working within the community, including the selection of a program coordinator from the neighborhood; Using language that is geared towards community members and not heavily academic; Providing enough technical assistance at the workshops to insure that community members are given the attention needed to fully grasp and understand the material being presented; Providing for translation; and Providing for childcare. Following SOMCAN’s first Resident Leadership and Organizing Internship Program, Interns accomplished the following as a result of their participation in the program: Marie Gomez, an SRO tenant and intern, now works as a desk clerk for SRO Hotels and helped establish weekly AA meetings at the Rose Hotel; Jerry Longoria, a security guard in the Financial District, union member, and SRO tenant, is now being filmed for a documentary on former victims of homelessness and continues to lead USRO meetings on Thursday evenings; Jerry Collins, former Plaza Hotel tenant, is now a lead tenant organizer for Sixth Street Agenda and now sits on the Rent Board; and Idalia Medina and Guillermina Rodriguez - both immigrant Latina parents from Bessie Carmichael School are continuing their education at City College Downtown Campus. Since the start of SOMCAN’s second Resident Leadership and Organizing Internship Program, Interns have accomplished the following as a result of their participation in the program: Gloria Esteva, a formerly homeless mother of two, volunteers with numerous organizations to help non-English speaking immigrants on issues of worker’s rights and homeless rights; Robert Williams is an SRO Hotel tenant who has been outreaching to SRO hotel tenants on issues of community planning and has just finished a senior’s training course in cooking; Sean Williams (no relation to Robert), is an SRO tenant, who advocates for affordable housing and volunteers at the local food pantry; Alexis David is furthering her education at San Francisco State in Criminal Justice while volunteering to find affordable housing for WWII Pilipino Veterans; and Joann Sanders is volunteering to fight for employment rights for low and no income workers.