School supply giveaways
Backpacks and other school supplies will be handed to children free of cost Saturday at La Raza Park/Potrero del Sol at 2827 Cesar Chavez St.
The handout for school-age children will begin at 10 a.m. and finish when supplies run out, or at 2 p.m.
Residents can still donate supplies at Tio Chilo’s Grill at 2872 24th St. as well as The Mission’s Barbershop at 3422 25th St, according to the All in SF, the coalition that organized the event. Supplies can also be dropped off at Potrero del Sol on Saturday.
Attendees who are three or older are required to wear face coverings, and there will be a six-foot social distancing requirement for people outside of one’s group. Those without masks won’t receive a backpack, an organizer said.
DJ MixTek will be handling the music, and the event will memorialize DJ OC NDMIXX, the organization’s former DJ, who died this year, according to a representative of All in SF.
Keep an eye open for 29 other back-to-school giveaways in the next two weeks, as nonprofits and community-based organizations join Mayor London Breed in giving away backpacks and other supplies for children.
Vax to You
San Francisco is now allowing groups of five to 12 people eligible for the Covid-19 vaccine to request that the vaccine be brought to them.
Those eligible include individuals 12 years old or older who live, learn or work in the city.
The three vaccines — Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson — will be available. The service doesn’t require insurance and is free. Nurses will be present to answer questions.
“Our COVID response continues to lead with equity by removing barriers and ensuring everyone has easy access to this life-saving vaccine,” Mayor London Breed said in a statement.
People can call (628) 652-2700, email sfvaxnow@sfdph.org or go to sf.gov/vaxtoyou to request the service, which will be available Tuesday through Saturday.
Quilter’s show opens this weekend
Quilter Amy Ahlstrom is putting her work on display at the Drawing Room at 3260 23rd St. An opening reception is set for Saturday from 4 to 7 p.m., and an artist’s talk will take place next Saturday, Aug. 14, from 4 to 5 p.m.
The show features colorful quilts of cotton and silk. The title, “All or Nothing,” refers to “all-or-nothing” thinking, a thought process common in depression and anxiety, in which people see things mainly in extremes.
“I wanted to create visual representations of my own experience with chronic anxiety and depression, in hopes that viewers with mental health struggles feel seen,” Ahlstrom said in a statement. “I want to create a space in which mental health is discussed openly, free from stigma and judgment.”
Creativity Explored reopens studios
Creativity Explored, a studio-based arts collective with day programming for developmentally disabled adults, is welcoming artists back into its studios for the first time since the Covid pandemic shut down facilities across San Francisco.
The types of art done at the center include traditional two-dimensional art on paper, such as painting, drawing and printmaking, as well as multimedia sculptures with fabric, fiber and embroidery. There’s also digital art and ceramics, and the center is getting into augmented reality and virtual reality.
Enrollment is always open, and the waitlist is currently very short, said Michael Korcek, the center’s director of marketing and brand partnerships. It’s not guaranteed that an applicant would qualify or be able to immediately begin in-person services.
The center welcomes questions from anyone interested in services for developmentally disabled adults, Korcek added.
Click here for eligibility requirements and the center’s contact information.
Blackiful
Creativity Explored is also extending its show Blackiful, an exhibition envisioned and curated by Black developmentally disabled artists, until Aug. 28. Appointments are required.
Featuring the work of 23 Black developmentally disabled artists, the exhibition at 3245 16th St. opened June 19 in response to an existing need for Black sanctuary space, starting as a three-week roundtable series focusing on the experiences of six of the center’s Black artists in August, 2020, according to the show’s press release. But it quickly became a group exhibition for the center’s Black artists to co-create Black aesthetic space, the release states.
“I think something that we need to have is our culture,” said Alissa Bledsoe, one of the exhibition’s curators and featured artists, in a statement. “We need to pull it out so people can learn what we went through as Black people … ’cause we’ve been through a lot.”
A digital zine and video tour featuring voiceovers and excerpts of conversations with the exhibition’s curators will be available online next week, with information to come via the center’s newsletter, said Korcek, the director of marketing and brand partnerships. He added that physical zines are available at the gallery.
Appointments are limited to 25 minutes, with up to two people each. They require a non-refundable $10 deposit, which may be applied to purchases in the center. Visitors must wear face coverings and should arrive a few minutes early to fill out a waiver before entering.
Library branches opening
The final wave of library branch reopenings has begun with all branches, except for the Mission branch, reopening by Aug. 17.
The Mission branch is closed for renovation, but library officials have said they are looking for a temporary location. The final libraries to reopen are the Anza, Golden Gate Valley, Ingleside, Marina, Merced, North Beach, Portola, Potrero and Sunset branches.
Following the Labor Day weekend, which ends Sept. 6, the Main Library will resume its pre-pandemic hours and offer evening service three times a week.
Though most library staff have returned to their primary jobs after becoming disaster service workers during the pandemic, staffing is still too low to offer pre-pandemic hours at branch libraries, according to a news release. For the same reason, in-person public programming, including story times and author talks, will be phased in, depending on staffing.
View the reopenings and hours here.
A second season for Radio Teco
The podcast Radio Teco, launched this March by the 51-year-old Mission District bilingual newspaper El Tecolote, begun its second season on Monday with special guest Megan Reyes, communications director at the sports outlet Blue Wire Podcasts. She talks about “More Diverse Voices in Sports,” a campaign she launched that sells hoodies and shirts with proceeds going to three advocacy organizations.
“It’s not only women, but Latinx, Black, Indigenous, Asian, LGBTQ+ communities, to get more diversity within sports within these communities,” said Monti Rossetti, A/V editor of Radio Teco and a longtime sports media professional. “I also work in sports as well, so I also understand where she’s coming from — I’ve seen it happen where there isn’t really any diversity in a lot of aspects in sports.”
Hosted by Rossetti and co-hosted this episode by Mabel Jimenez, Radio Teco will alternate episodes each week between the news segment “Latina, Latino, Latinx News” and the culture segment “Our Cultura.”
Have a listen here.
Back rent and forward rent coverage applications
The city of San Francisco has open applications in Spanish and English for members of the public who are seeking emergency rental assistance.
The program is designed to cover three months of back rent and three months of future rent, according to a Mission Neighborhood Centers meeting in July.
To qualify for back rent coverage, residents must show proof of rent owed, what months they owe for, and information on the landlord or master tenant for verification, said Alejandra Rubio, a housing coordinator with Mission Neighborhood Centers who’s working closely with the project.
While the application requires verification of identity, income, residence, rent owed and utility payments owed, applicants unsure if they have the right documents can submit the application without them and be contacted about it later. Those who applied for local rent assistance before May 2021 must submit a new application.
It’s important that applicants select “Mission Neighborhood Center (MNC)” or “Centros del Vecindario de la Mission” as the nonprofit they are working with, Rubio said.
Apply here.
Update: The article previously stated that the cap for rent coverage is $10,500. That cap has been removed.
BART ramps up service
BART has returned to near-pre-pandemic level services, with more trips and longer hours.
Starting Monday, weekday service was extended from 8 p.m. to 12 a.m. with 15-minute wait times from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. and then 30-minute waits from 8 p.m. to 12 a.m.
Saturday service will go from 6 a.m. to 12 a.m. Sunday service will continue to run from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., but the first trains in the morning will begin earlier and offer trips within the hour after 7 a.m., according to BART.
Direct service to San Francisco International Airport will double, from four to eight trips, during peak hours.
Face coverings are still required through Sept. 13.
Cable cars return, and they’re free through August
San Francisco’s cable cars are back in operation following a 16-month shutdown.
Members of the public can ride for free through August and the cars will run 7 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., seven days a week.
Face masks are required.
View the cable car maps and schedule here.
New Roxie Showings
Two new shows are opening at the Roxie within the next week.
One is Sabaya, which won the directing award at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival as a World Cinema Documentary. Opening with three in-theater shows and virtual showings, the observational film is about the efforts of volunteers to rescue thousands of Yazidi women and girls held captive and sold as sex slaves by ISIS supporters known as Daesh.
On Aug. 12, the Roxie will show What We Left Unfinished, which observes state-funded Afghan filmmaking during the communist era of Afghanistan. Dozens of filmmakers, writers and actors discuss five unedited, unfinished projects that were produced between 1978 and 1991.
Capacity at the theater is at around 50 percent.
Domestic violence advocate training and volunteering
For those wishing to support victims of domestic violence, applications are due soon for an intensive local opportunity.
The domestic violence services nonprofit La Casa de las Madres is seeking volunteers and providing training. People may apply for the unpaid positions until Wednesday, Aug. 11.
The position requires an interest and passion for supporting victims of domestic violence. Ideal candidates would be bilingual, but monolingual applicants may apply.
You can find more information here.