SFCDMA COMMUNITY FUND
LATEST FUND RECIPIENTS
A $1.7M GRANT DESIGNED TO ASSIST OUR 34 MEMBER ASSOCIATIONS
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected every community, especially those most vulnerable or historically underserved, and exacerbated long standing challenges faced by the neighborhood commercial corridors that anchor San Francisco. Small businesses have shut their doors, nonprofits are being asked to do more with less, local government is facing deficits.
Each neighborhood in San Francisco is unique, faces different challenges and has a different set of needs. The SFCDMA Community Fund is a revitalization micro-grant program and is designed to rapidly deploy resources to our 34 Member associations to support new impactful projects for their members and their local community.
This fund has been crafted with a clear set of criteria for eligible / viable community projects that will be vetted by the fund administrator and then greenlighted for resource allocation.
Merchants associations are asked to devise and submit plans detailing how they will utilize their funds for the benefit of their local community. SFCDMA will assist with matching those plans with available partnering opportunities, as well as providing guidance for those associations who are in need of assistance with regard to becoming 501(c)3 compliant.
Every month, starting in March 2021, SFCDMA will announce 4 associations who, having submitted their plans and having met the established criteria, will be recipients of the SFCDMA Community Fund.
As we continue to roll out these funds throughout 2022, we will update our membership and the wider public with news of the various neighborhood projects as they begin to take shape all across the city.
A WORD
FROM OUR
ASSOCIATION
PRESIDENTS
The generous grant from Avenue Greenlight to the Potrero Dogpatch Merchants Association enabled us to create community events that helped bring our community together for 6 months in 2021, as well as to support our local merchants and businesses. We used a portion of the grant to fund the closure of the commercial strip of 18th Street on weekends. This became a real gathering spot for the community, culminating in a Halloween bash, attended by 2,000 people! The grant also allowed us to give financial support to performing arts groups that have been so significantly impacted by the pandemic. We are most grateful to Avenue Greenlight for making such a positive impact through their grants.
Keith Goldstein, President
Potrero Dogpatch Association
SFCDMA COMMUNITY FUND PROGRAMS
COMMUNITY PROGRAMS DESIGNED FOR OUR
34 MEMBER ASSOCIATIONS
COMMUNITY CONNECTOR PROGRAM
Bring the award winning program to your neighborhood building networks of neighbors and friends who coordinate a range of local activities and outreach, including for seniors and people with disabilities.
BIGBELLY SMART WASTE & REYCLING SYSTEM
Innovative waste and recycling receptacles that compact with more sustainability, provide a canvass for public art, the potential for WiFi hotspots, and deter litter.
COMMUNITY GREENING
Map out areas in need of / or with the potential for new City approved sidewalk trees, medium or frontage planter boxes, and open space for shared community gardens.
STREETSCAPE BEAUTIFICTION
Initiate a cleanliness survey to get at the root of issue areas within your neighborhood and develop a plan for new projects around new lighting, public artwork, and community greening.
PUBLIC ART INSTALLATIONS
Identify opportunities to work with local artists, navigate the City permit processes, work with neighbors, and activate dead space with new public art installations.
PEDESTRIAN SAFETY MEASURES
Working alongside reputable advocacy organizations, work to implement Vision Zero safety treatment measures to meet our city's goal of zero injuries or fatalities that result from traffic collisions in your area. Advocate together as a community to bring the City's Slow Streets program to the neighborhood.
COMMUNITY SECURITY CAMERAS
Bring the SafeCity community-driven camera program to your neighborhood as a proven, innovative technology tool to help deter and prevent crime, while empowering the local public to take ownership over their own community's safety improvements.
ADDITIONAL FUND USE OPTIONS
MAINTENANCE OF EXISTING STRUCTURES
Examples include public parklets, planter baskets, and lighting.
SFCDMA COMMUNITY FUND SEQUENCE
OUR PARTNERS
ABOUT AVENUE GREENLIGHT
Avenue Greenlight is a new philanthropically funded community-driven initiative to promote the economic recovery and community revitalization of our commercial corridors throughout San Francisco’s diverse neighborhoods. Avenue Greenlight will rapidly deploy privately resourced dollars to all 34 of the city’s individual merchant associations to support hyper-local, community improvement projects, leveraging the thought partnership of a variety of local public realm nonprofits for sustainability moving forward. Each merchant association will receive an initial $50,000 grant allocated by Avenue Greenlight working alongside the San Francisco Council of District Merchants Associations Community Fund as the 501(c)3 administrative partner.