When violent crime happens in San Francisco, police reports show it usually occurs in the Tenderloin, Bayview-Hunters Point or the Mission. But while the latter two neighborhoods get government funding to prevent violence before it happens, the Tenderloin does not.
District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, who oversees the Tenderloin, hopes to change that.
On Tuesday, he will introduce a resolution calling on city leaders to fund violence-prevention programs for the neighborhood’s youth, who he says are getting caught up in the area’s drug and crime troubles.
Across the city, programs like these are credited with reducing violence by helping young people who might otherwise be recruited by criminal enterprises with after-school programs, job-training opportunities, or just a space to hang out. These programs receive millions of dollars in funding, but none are based in the Tenderloin.
“Over the last month or so, we’ve seen an escalating level of violence within the community, and specifically amongst transitional-aged youth,” said Mahmood, referring to young adults 18 to 24 who were raised in the neighborhood.
The Tenderloin is home to the highest concentration of youths in the city, and studies show guns are the leading cause of death for children and teens across the country.
Last month, a 17-year-old died after being found shot near McAllister and Jones streets on Sept. 3, according to city officials. On Sept. 14 a 22-year-old was shot near Golden Gate Avenue and Turk Street, and died a few days later.
“Kids that were raised in the neighborhood are now at this age where they no longer have a support network,” Mahmood said. “These teenagers and transitional-aged youth … they go outside, and all they see is an open-air drug market, and that’s what they’re being exposed to.”
Mahmood added that a transitional-aged youth also died of a drug overdose that month, and that a gun was discovered in a children’s park.
Mahmood’s resolution calls for the mayor’s office to prioritize funding for a “Tenderloin Youth Violence Prevention Program” specifically for the neighborhood, and treat violence prevention as a “public-health investment.”
The resolution cites increasing levels of under-18 crime victims, and that at least 57 youth aged 13-17 have been arrested in San Francisco for drug dealing since August 2023, often in the Tenderloin.
Several neighborhood-based organizations do violence-prevention work in San Francisco with funding from the Department of Children, Youth and Their Families.
DCYF spokesperson Emily Davis said the programs are available to anyone in the city, and Tenderloin students can access some programs at their schools, but none of these programs are based within the Tenderloin neighborhood.
Placing youth programs in close proximity to at-risk youth is a critical factor for effectively keeping them from getting caught up in the criminal justice system, according to a Tenderloin Youth Services gap analysis conducted in collaboration with the planning department in 2024.
The analysis noted a lack of weekend activities and spaces for transitional-aged youth in the neighborhood as a particular problem. It suggested that a drop-in location specifically for teens to socialize, play sports, or participate in different outreach programs could “act as a preventive measure against their potential involvement in the drug scene.”
Rudy Corpuz founded SoMa-based United Playaz in 1994, in an effort to replicate a community center he remembered from his childhood growing up in that neighborhood.
Today, United Playaz serves 125 to 150 children primarily from SoMa at its headquarters on a daily basis, and has expanded operations to different states, and even the Philippines, but there hasn’t been a concerted effort to extend the few blocks to the Tenderloin.
United Playaz received more than $1 million from DCYF for its academic and “identity formation” programs for the 2024-2029 funding period.
Corpuz said he’s seen kids and young adults “on the path of destruction” — struggling in school, in conflict with family — who were able to turn things around after entering his program.
“They’re happy. Instead of death or in jail, now they’re alive, thriving, got family … just living their life.” Corpuz said. He estimates about seven of every 10 people coming through those programs end up changing their circumstances.
The numbers confirm the success of programs like these. A University of Pennsylvania analysis of a police-run violence prevention program in District 10, which includes Bayview-Hunters Point, Ingleside and Potrero Hill, found that the initiative was “successful in reducing serious violence” and that it was correlated with a 50 percent reduction in homicides and nonfatal shootings compared to the rest of the city.
According to the report, the city’s highest concentration of shootings and homicides, which initially were found in District 10, decreased over time. During the same time frame, they appeared to increase in the Tenderloin.
The report said that the city should “consider expansion to other areas suffering from serious violence.”
The police department has received $7.5 million since 2020 for the “Violence Reduction Initiative,” which is ongoing. Police spokesperson Evan Sernoffsky said the department has applied for another state grant and is considering expanding the program to the Mission District, which is already receiving nearly $13 million for a “Roadmap to Peace Initiative” through Instituto Familiar de la Raza.
Former District 5 Supervisor Dean Preston said that Mayor London Breed blocked his effort to fund a violence prevention program in the Tenderloin while he was in office. Breed instead focused on funding police and other programs like street ambassadors.
Mahmood called violence in the Tenderloin a “health epidemic.”
“That’s why we’re raising awareness for a model that has been proven to be effective,” he said. “We just need to bring it here.”
I don’t know anything about United Playaz and I don’t doubt that the people running it are committed to supporting youth.
That said, I would expect any nonprofit staffer presenting information on the success of their programs to cite a formal evaluation document rather than just “estimating” “7 of 10” out of thin air.
Don’t know if it’s practical for a reporter to press this type of point, but I think that as a city we need nonprofits to provide evaluation results. Like, every nonprofit employee should have the latest evaluation info on their person any time they speak to the media, the government, their funders, or a member of the public.
My 2 cents. Thanks for the story. Sounds like violence prevention in the Tenderloin is a good idea.
If only they would focus on the number one problem which is related to this
The drug sales and usage continue on their merry way in the Tenderloin and Lower Polk Area.
The only business that prospers in this area .
Gangs of black youth running around selling drugs acting like idiots who at present and for years have operated without abatement .
The childrens parks are a no go.
Corner of Larkin and Myrtle next to an alleyway called myrtle that is a nidus for drug dens and death .
Get it cleaned up
Send a serious message and let all know that engaging in selling distributing or using drugs there will put you away for years .
And do it .
Quit the babysitting .
A new supervisor who thinks they will save the world .
Get real.
Get this area addressed and quit the enabling.
By now any supervisor who really cared would have an all hands on deck
approach .
Mahmood is no better then Preston .
They all want to warm their chairs .
The situation is a disaster .
Im sure the troubled youth there are going to happily and quickly change their ways and run and sign up for cookies and milk .
Billiond down the drain and it only gets worse .
Very sad .
Wait! I thought that was what the Urban Alycemy people were doing, with their presence?
Data-supported results are not required for non-profits.
Regarding the Tenderloin issue….Oakland PD has had success with the “Cease Fire Program.” Retired Oakland PD Captain was involved in the program from the very beginning and has served as a consultant throughout the US regarding the Cease Fire Program. He may be a valid resource in instituting a similar program for S.F.
Jennifer Friedenbach, the Executive Director of the Coalition on Homelessness and other non-profit homeless leaders prioritizing harm reduction policies instead of sober living, are enabling drug use to flourish while abusing weak and sick mentally ill drug addicts in exchange for taxpayer dollars. They have single-handedly devastated and destroyed the poor communities of Tenderloin and Soma. None of the nonprofits care about what happens to drug addicts or the poor families and their children living in those communities, as long as they get their taxpayer dollars!
In the 60’s we called it the: Miltary Industry, now it’s the poverty industry, that suck all the resources, out of the city. Case in point is the now defunct-Felton/SCEP program, which was suppose to provide, job training for: Senoirs and the disabled, and give them a small stipened,{It was minium wage.} on top of the other benefits, they were getting. Even though they got 30 million in funding earlier in the year, they went belly up on June 30.