Ingleside's Homegrown Nonprofits Hit By Budget Cuts: 'It's Very Scary'

City Hall’s budget crunch is hitting the neighborhood's few homegrown service providers.

Inner City Youth (ICY) has relied on city funding for its workforce readiness programs for years. Its staff took to social media in February to call out the San Francisco Department of Children, Youth & Their Families for canceling its 2024-2025 community grants cycle. They asked where the money for District 11 went.

ICY has since laid off four staff members and placed its Beauty Academy on hiatus. While they have lost critical staff and services, its Security Guard Card program and its locations at 200 Broad St. and 101 Lakeview Ave.

“The fact that we have to outsource to other organizations outside of our district when we should have them live within our district,” ICY Associate Director Avei St. Pierre said. “It would be nice to have access to those resources within our district.”

While the loss of funding stings, it's also a sharp reminder of District 11's reputation as a "forgotten" part of San Francisco. The notion came up repeatedly on the campaign trail during the District 11 supervisor race in November.

DCYF announced that it could not fund this year’s program due to the city’s current budget challenges but plans to release other funding opportunities throughout its five-year cycle.

“Since the amount of available funds varies annually and allocation is at the discretion of the supervisors, there is no guarantee that future Community Grants will be available,” DCYF spokesperson Emily Davis said.

Davis added that community grants are entirely separate from its Children and Youth Fund, which is the department’s primary function.

ICY, under its fiscal sponsor SF Black Wall Street Foundation, applied for three grants for its OMI Rites Safety and Security Academy, Beauty Academy and Studio 96 Media Arts Academy programs and received zero funding. The DCYF note section said that the programs were not highly rated in DCYF’s deliberation process.

Two of four District 11-based nonprofits that applied for DCYF’s 2024-2029 RFP cycle received funding, according to the department website.

The Ingleside Community Center applied for two grants for its year-round and summer program and its Ingleside S.F. Lions Youth Basketball program. Only their year-round and summer program applications received partial funding of $175,000. Youth 1st, a comprehensive year-round academic enrichment program, also received partial funding for its year-round and summer program of $400,000.

Hummingbird Farms applied for their Urban Agriculture Apprenticeship Program and despite the DCYF note section stating that it was rated highly during their deliberation process, they did not receive funding since DCYF opted to fund other youth workforce development programs. 

Though other nonprofits like Youth 1st did receive partial funding, it didn’t start that way last year. Executive Director Renard Monroe said they were able to restore some of their lost funds and help other nonprofits stay open.

Monroe also said that another District 11 nonprofit, STEM Frenzy, who Monroe normally collaborates with, had to cancel its annual festival this year due to budget cuts.

“When you cut services in our district, that means the program shuts completely down and that's not a good thing,” Monroe said. “DCYF is just another city department that has to meet the need. It was because of the budget cuts and I understand why they had to do it and it's unfortunate.”

During the 2024 election season, District 11 was referred to as one of the city’s forgotten districts due to its lack of attention and funding from City Hall. For St. Pierre and Monroe, that notion is still true and they hope the tides will turn. 

“We hit budget cuts already,” Monroe said. “We're going to hit some more budget cuts and it's very scary to see where we're headed. If we're being intentional on resources, we have to make sure that not just one side of the city is prospering but all sides.”