CORRECTION and editor’s note: Bay Area Women’s and Children’s Center

Mission Local has taken down two articles: “45-year-old S.F. nonprofit closes. Former board wonders where the money went,” published on June 4, and “S.F. nonprofit boss seeks to shift $2.3M from dissolving Tenderloin org to her own nonprofit,” published on June 5.

The articles failed to meet our editorial standards, both in reporting and in editing.   

Since the founding of Mission Local in 2008, we have aspired to publish accounts that are thoroughly reported and fair to individuals. When we do make mistakes, we correct them as expeditiously and thoroughly as possible.

We apologize for the way in which we approached this story. Specifically, we apologize to Erica Burrell, the current board members of the Bay Area Women’s and Children’s Resource Center, as well as to those associated with the Empathy Library. 

Finally, we apologize to our readers and supporters. We are reviewing our reporting and editing practices to ensure that this does not happen again.  

‘45-year-old S.F. nonprofit closes. Former board wonders where the money went,‘ June 4, 2026

The article created a narrative of an executive director who suddenly shuttered a beloved 45-year-old institution, the Bay Area Women’s and Children’s Center, and spent more on programs while fundraising declined.

While longstanding issues were mentioned, the overall story created a sense of malfeasance, that the shutdown was surprising, that rumors had been swirling and that one of its main services closed overnight. 

That created an inaccurate picture of the situation. 

It began with the headline of “Former board wonders where the money went.” No former or current board member is quoted in the story wondering where the money went. 

Most of the same board members who hired the executive director, Erica Burrell, also approved the budgets and her performance review. We should have conducted thorough interviews with each former and current board member about issues during the time of their service. 

Before our article was published on June 4, 2026, Burrell had offered a detailed picture of the nonprofit’s demise. She provided a video statement in response to the reporter’s questions. In a memo posted on the nonprofit’s website, she described troubles that began well before Burrell’s arrival in April 2023. 

Burrell, in her and the board’s telling, was hired in 2023 to stabilize an organization with ongoing issues.

The San Francisco Unified School District had closed a dental program that had been in existence for 20-plus years and its Resource Center was experiencing problems. At the outset, Burrell explained in the video statement, she and the board decided to focus on stabilizing the organization, rather than fundraising.

Steadying the organization proved difficult. In addition to the termination of the dental program, which Burrell attempted to revive, there were ongoing safety issues at the nonprofit’s other flagship program, the Resource Center.

Many of these issues also predated Burrell’s arrival, as she explained in her memo and as others confirmed. While many efforts were made to improve and maintain the Resource Center, the board closed the latter after safety, insurance, and other issues became unmanageable.

We also indicated that the nonprofit’s website was shut down prior to our reporting and subsequently resuscitated, but we did not include Burrell’s explanation and documentation that the site sometimes crashed and that it had never been purposely taken down.  

Our account of the rise in the nonprofit’s expenses as services appeared to be scaled back did not fully use Burrell’s explanation that up until the wind-down period, there were substantial services, according to Burrell. Expenses also increased, she said, because some services had to be offered off campus, increasing costs. 

“Those programs included our Angel child program, our Tenderloin’s connections program, our beautification day program both in the neighborhood as well as the school, tutoring and support services and so on and so forth,” she said in a video statement.

“Those did continue to run. Most of those programs were older, but there were some new ones. And all of those programs were voted in and approved and financially approved by the board of directors.”

Board members who approved budgets and financial statements between April 2023 and July 2025 also could have offered a fuller explanation. 

The nonprofit continued its work at the Tenderloin Community School, a school the Bay Area Women’s and Children’s Center co-founded in 1998 and, in partnership with the University of California, San Francisco, ran a dental clinic there until 2023 when the SFUSD shut the clinic down.  

In 2024, after multiple problems, it moved the Resource Center at 318 Leavenworth into a room at the school.  At this time, the nonprofit was also seeking a new MOU with the school district to run its ongoing programs at the school.

That proved difficult and insurance rates increased. For a time, the nonprofit could not run full programming without an MOU. 

Statements regarding not seeing Burrell in the neighborhood and seeing little sign of her at work should have been more fully reported. Burrell attached documentation to her memo certifying her presence.

Also, an executive director would not necessarily be working on site and, since some of its programming was happening off-site, she would not have been consistently at the Tenderloin Community School, the place where its last services were being offered. 

The editor erred in characterizing Burrell’s statements as her admitting the nonprofit was “beyond her ability to save.” The editor assumed that to be the case because of the multiple challenges Burrell faced, but Burrell did not say or imply this. 

In response to where the remaining funds would go, we quoted Burrell as saying “I don’t have an answer yet,” but the full explanation Burrell offered was: “The reason I don’t have an answer yet is because it has to go through multiple approvals before money can be distributed.” 

The reporter misused a quote, “As my grandmother used to say, there are three sides to every story: your side, their side, and the truth, the shiny part that divides the two.” Burrell wrote this in response to the way in which the reporter was trying to contact her — not in response to any allegations. 

Our interview with Esan Looper, a former board member, was inadequate. He said he does not know what Burrell has done in recent times, but as a board member in 2023 and 2024, he may have had more context about those years.

We also did not characterize Esan Looper’s relationship with Kathy Looper, his mother and the landlord for one of the nonprofit’s properties.

The article asserted that “It is unclear whose salaries the nonprofit has been paying.” Compensation was approved by the board of directors, and the board members could have provided a fuller explanation.

Burrell offered an explanation of her own that we used in part, but not fully. “Some years on our taxes, there were higher salaries than others,” Burrell said in her video interview.

“I would just say that hiring is inconsistent. Trying to keep people long term, of course, has its challenges, but we do the best that we can,” she said. As we reported, she also said that when first hired, salaries were inequitable, she sought to remedy that. 

The article refers to the rise in program costs and scaling back of services as confusing. But more reporting — and using more of Burrell’s explanation — might have cleared up the confusion.

Burrell’s video interview, offered in response to the reporter’s questions, attributes the rise in costs to several developments including tripled insurance premiums. This was not fully noted. 

The article also quoted someone describing the Resource Center’s closure as “overnight.” The record shows that it was a long time coming. Perhaps the actual move surprised some observers, but that is not unusual. 

The article also stated that Burrell left the premises “without giving notice.” As reported, Burrell confirmed with the property manager that the space had been vacated and offered a $10,000 donation in lieu of any legal action for breaking the lease. The decision to close the center was approved by the board. Burrell abstained from voting. 

The article mischaracterized the way in which Mimi Hoang, a recess coach, was told that she was being let go. We wrote that Hoang got a call from Burrell and was told that she was terminated.

In fact, Burrell called Hoang and asked to meet her at the school, where she told Hoang that her employment would be ending. The attempt to shorten the explanation inadvertently conveyed a harsh impression that was incorrect.

We mentioned throughout that board members felt “pushed out.” Burrell denied those allegations. Board relations can be complicated and it is not surprising that some old board members would have felt unduly dismissed. We should have explained this more fully. 

The biggest shift in board membership began officially on July 30, 2025 when the old board approved a new slate of members, according to a letter dated Aug. 1 and sent to the old board members. It is signed by Jonathan R. Panossian, a lawyer representing the nonprofit. 

In the letter, Panossian explains that state code requires a one-year term for board members unless otherwise stipulated in the nonprofit’s bylaws. That meant that the old board members could not legally serve unless re-elected, he explained.  

The letter concludes, “If you are interested in remaining involved in an advisory or honorary capacity, or being considered for future nomination, we encourage you to stay in contact with Ms. Burrell.”  

‘S.F. nonprofit boss seeks to shift $2.3M from dissolving Tenderloin org to her own nonprofit,‘ June 5, 2026

This article’s tone suggested that Burrell and four board members were intentionally — and possibly extralegally — attempting to transfer assets from the Bay Area Women’s and Children’s Center to a nonprofit created by Burrell. 

Mission Local reported that dissolution documents filed with the California attorney general’s office show the nonprofit’s efforts to transfer the bulk of its assets to the Empathy Library, an unregistered charity organization where Burrell was listed as CEO.

An internal transfer like that would violate regulations, which state, “No part of the assets shall inure to the benefit of any director, officer, or private individual.”

Those documents were filed in September 2025. The nonprofit filed new papers following a board meeting on May 29, 2026. In the new filing, it sought to transfer assets to 14 other nonprofits; Empathy Library is not on that list. 

The new filing was not publicly available at the time of publication. Before we posted our story, we made attempts to get an explanation from Burrell, but did not sufficiently let her know what we were writing.

We also could have spoken to or emailed the board members who signed the 2025 dissolution papers for more timely information or to seek alternative explanations for the filing. Our reporting did not allow for alternative explanations. 

Moreover, we mentioned multiple approvals required and the attorney general’s involvement in dissolution, but we did not draw from Burrell’s memo indicating her full knowledge of the constraints and the process. In her memo, Burrell had underscored this:

“BAWCC is currently working with the California Attorney General’s Office and all required state agencies to properly dissolve the organization in accordance with California nonprofit law. All outstanding debts and financial obligations accumulated over the course of the organization’s history must be settled in full before any remaining funds can be distributed.

Once approved, assets will be directed to nonprofit organizations whose missions closely align with BAWCC’s original charitable purpose. This process is governed entirely by state oversight, and final determinations about distribution have not yet been made.”

We also wrote that Burrell “misrepresented when she was on the board.” This was our impression based on the dissolution document. Though listed under the board of directors in that document, Burrell has since stated that she was not a board member and did not vote on the dissolution.

Further reporting indicates that it would not be unusual for her to sign the dissolution document along with the board. Moreover, she is not listed in federal tax documents as a board member.

By reporting more fully and testing assumptions, we may have discovered this. Suggesting Burrell was a board member fed into the notion that something untoward took place. 

Critical quotes from Jeanne Comaskey, who last sat on the board in 2021 added to that narrative, as did references to Tenderloin leaders being puzzled by the nonprofit’s closure.

A quote from a former board chair regarding Burrell’s website, the “Teacher Lady,” also implied Burrell would personally benefit from the transfer of funds. While they shared a website, “Teacher Lady” and the Empathy Library are separate entities. We did not make this distinction. 

We aspire to publish accounts that are thoroughly reported and fair. We apologize for the way in which we approached this story.