The Village, a six-story project near 16th and Mission that will offer transitional housing and other resources for American Indians, will break ground in September, according to the project’s director, Peter Bratt.
The building at 80 Julian Ave. near 15th Street will sit just a few feet away from an 80-bed substance recovery and prevention program at 56 Julian Ave. that is run by the Village’s developer, the Friendship House Association of American Indians.
The Village has raised approximately 90 percent of the capital campaign target, said Bratt. The construction period is estimated to last between 18 to 20 months.
In an application and a letter submitted to the Planning Department on March 26, the developers announced a few modifications at the request of the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community development, like increasing the number of group housing units from 21 to 36.
“This is years, years and years of visioning, workshopping, community engagement and building partnerships with local government and philanthropy,” said Bratt, who, along with his brother, actor Benjamin Bratt, have a long history with the project.
“We’re now coming to this really critical moment where we break ground and it starts to manifest opening doors. It’ll be six stories of a really unique combination of programming, really to help the community thrive.”
The group has raised some $74 million for the project, and Bratt said he has no doubt the organization will raise the remaining $10 million needed. The funding has been cobbled together from city, state, and private dollars.
The Village’s housing and program space will be spread out over six floors. The first two floors will offer culinary and tech training, and small business mentorship, including an incubator for Native businesses. The third floor will house a behavioral health clinic in partnership with the Native American Health Center (now at 160 Capp St. between 17th and 16th streets). Transitional housing for women who graduate from Friendship House’s recovery programs will be located on the fourth and fifth floors and a women’s addiction recovery lodge will be housed on the sixth floor.
The building will also have a garden and a children’s play area on the rooftop, and a redwood grove and traditional sweat lodge in the courtyard.
The Village, Peter Bratt said, is nothing short of a dream come true for Friendship House’s founder, Helen Waukazoo, who died in 2021. Born in 1941, Waukazoo was taken from her family on the Navajo reservation in Crownpoint, New Mexico at a young age, and sent to a boarding school in Utah that in turn sent her to San Francisco to work as a house cleaner as part of the Indian Relocation Act. Waukazoo instead became a community activist, founding Friendship House in the 1960s.
“Natives live in urban centers but remain largely invisible, underserved,” said Bratt. “She always had this idea of bringing the village way of life to where Indian people were living in urban centers.” Bratt’s mother, an Indigenous woman from Peru, participated and lived with her sons during the Alcatraz occupation, said Bratt, and was friends with Waukazoo.
“It’ll be a great moment and a testament to her [Helen’s] vision and dream. She always inspired everyone around her,” said Bratt.
“Personally, it’ll probably be a very emotional day for me. I can tell there’s already excitement within the community that this is happening.”
Developers expect to announce a formal date for a ground breaking ceremony sometime this summer.