A Richmond nonprofit served neighbors for 46 years. SFUSD almost took away its land.

For decades, the busy courtyard at the Richmond Neighborhood Center has been filled with seniors doing Tai Chi, toddlers playing in the preschool playground and volunteers sorting through fresh produce to hand out to neighbors. 

But directors at the nonprofit learned in August that the San Francisco Unified School District, which owns the land at 741 30th Ave., planned to start soliciting developers in September to gauge redevelopment costs, said Cliff Yee, the nonprofit’s chief strategy officer. 

The district quietly dropped that plan Friday, after the nonprofit and its supporters organized days of emails, calls and letters to the school district, school board members and elected officials. It was a win, at least for the moment.

The school district, in a statement on Tuesday, said that there are no current plans to redevelop the 741 30th Ave. property. “We can confirm that the property that Richmond District Neighborhood Center is leasing is not on the upcoming [request for proposals],” the district’s spokesperson wrote. 

It was a fight familiar to the nonprofit and its supporters. Richmond residents, 46 years ago, organized and fought against developers who wanted to turn the site into a condo complex, and managed to keep it as a community space. 

“They organized. They fought. And they won,” the nonprofit’s executive director Michelle Cusano said to some 30 supporters who rallied in front of SFUSD headquarters before the school board meeting Tuesday. “Our community protected this place before. Now it’s our turn.”  

The next step, Cusano said, is to demand that the district pull the Richmond site from its redevelopment portfolio entirely, sign a five-year lease, and set up a meeting so that the nonprofit can weigh in on any future plans. 

Short notice for a big change

The nonprofit’s home of over 40 years, near 30th Avenue and Balboa Street, was one of five SFUSD-owned sites deemed most appropriate for redevelopment by an outside analyst, Century | Urban, hired by the district to evaluate at least 14 holdings.

The district presented its findings to the school board in April. But Yee said the Richmond Neighborhood Center was not notified about the possibility that its site could be redeveloped until mid-August. 

Yee said the district told him they were going to “test the waters,” by putting out a request for proposals in September, less than a month after it told the nonprofit about the plan.

“It really blindsided us. What would that mean for our services?” said Yee. “How can you just say you’re gonna put up the building for a bid and not talk to us about coming up with a plan?” 

The nonprofit, founded in 1980, operates food pantries at its space four days a week, delivers groceries for homebound seniors and runs multi-cultural programs at 12 SFUSD schools. It also subleases space to other community programs.

Heather Cassandra Morado, executive director at Cross Culture Family Center, has subleased at the site for 33 years.

“Not one person from SFUSD reached out to us,” Morado said during public comment at the Tuesday Board of Education meeting. “We need transparency on what happened, and why no one considered the 60 families that we serve at the site.” 

The district’s effort to evaluate and redevelop its land comes at a time when rents are at an all-time high in San Francisco, and there’s a severe shortage of affordable housing for families and educators. But there’s also little affordable space for community groups.

Cusano said she worries that if others now renting from SFUSD have their sites redeveloped, they will no longer be able to provide adequate services for youth, seniors and students in their communities.

“They need to think about their future,” Cusano said. “We want to be able to help and do this in solidarity, together, because displacing nonprofits is not the answer to the housing crisis.”