Born and raised in the Tenderloin, Will and his two older brothers grew up playing basketball at the YMCA, which opened its doors to the whole community, regardless of age.
But as those kinds of safe spaces closed — in 2009, the Y closed and, despite promising to reopen in the Tenderloin, it never did — and Will aged out of other youth programs, he increasingly sought refuge at home from the difficulties presented by the neighborhood.
“If I wasn’t with my friends, I wouldn’t be outside,” said Will, now 19. (He did not feel comfortable sharing his last name for publication.) “There’s all drugs over here … I didn’t want to walk through that. I wouldn’t feel comfortable.”
But these days, Will spends most afternoons at the Tenderloin’s new, first-of-its-kind violence prevention center at 518 Ellis St. Having served as an intern at the center, he now holds down a full-time job in security — the center’s staff helped him prepare for the interview — and works to bring in more of the neighborhood’s youth.
His is one success story of many, say leaders of the center, which is six months into a one-year pilot program run and funded by the Tenderloin Community Benefit District and local nonprofit United Playaz.
Since February, nearly 100 young people between the ages of 15 to 24 — about 5 percent of the neighborhood’s more than 1,900 residents in that age range — have walked through the center’s doors on Ellis Street, seeking guidance and/or a safe harbor when school lets out.
The center is housed in a small space next door to the Tenderloin Recreation Center, one of the neighborhood’s only public parks.
On the afternoon on Aug. 2, 2026, teens crowded on a leather couch in the center’s living room and shared dozens of chicken wings for their own “Wing Wednesday” tradition. They took turns playing on a game console. Down the hall were two smaller rooms where teens could access a quiet space to do homework or prepare for job interviews.
Leaders of the center say data from the first six months of operations proves they are filling the gaps for Tenderloin teens by offering a holistic approach to violence prevention: Building community within their center, and tailoring services to individual youths.
“From high school or when they’re done with middle school, it’s like they got nowhere to go. They don’t feel like they’re wanted anymore,” said David Mark, the center’s program manager. “It’s a blessing though when I see them here and not on the street.”
Mark also grew up in the neighborhood and has known Will and his family for decades. He understands how young people can be overwhelmed by the challenges of the Tenderloin. Some lack positive role models, he said, while others, like Will, simply may not know how to access resources, especially when they are from immigrant families.
Will’s parents immigrated from Mexico to San Francisco, “not knowing what to do, trying to survive,” Will said.
It’s a shared experience for many Tenderloin residents, where 44 percent of the community identifies as immigrants, according to Census data.
“In the Tenderloin, they’re all immigrants. It’s like, how can I teach (my children) if I don’t speak English?” Mark said. “The biggest goals for us — for them — are jobs and education.”
Mark helped Will apply for his job with mock interviews, helped him open a bank account and provided guidance in money management.
Violence prevention doesn’t look like one thing, Mark stressed: It’s not always about taking weapons or drugs out of the hands of Tenderloin teens.
In fact, he said, many of these teens are not engaging in the violence that surrounds them. But they are struggling — with isolation, with planning their future, with meeting their graduation requirements or with finding jobs.
At the same time, he acknowledged, the Tenderloin’s violence and crime can engulf young people.
In the last six months, the center has worked with ten young adults who are on probation. Of those ten, seven have gotten off probation, and two more are slated to be released.
Two deaths of Tenderloin teens in the past year helped drive home the need for the center, leaders say. Last September a 19-year-old died from a gunshot wound; a year before that, a 17-year-old was fatally shot at Hallidie Plaza.
“Goal number one was, we just need to get bullets out of kids,” said Mike Vuong, a deputy director for the Tenderloin Community Benefit District, which raised $200,000 in private funding alongside local non-profit United Playaz to get the program off the ground.
It is yet unclear whether the funding will be renewed when the one-year pilot ends early next year, but Vuong said both organizations are looking for alternative funding sources.
The teens and staff who spoke with Mission Local say the program has done much more than keep them safe; it’s created a community of like-minded peers who grew up in the same place, have the same experiences and can encourage each other to meet personal goals.
Sam Grigoryants, 18, who grew up in the Tenderloin, can remember waking up in the middle of the night to gunshots and walking past drug users to get to school.
Since the center opened, Grigoryants spends most of his after-school time there. He’s found his communication skills have improved, and that he feels more confident and mature, he said.
His first internship was through another Tenderloin Community Benefit District program that provides work experience for the community’s youth. He helped repaint areas of the neighborhood that needed a refresh and put up fliers around town for resources.
“People might see some violence [here] but it’s not from us,” Grigoryants said. “We’re the ones trying to make it calm again.”
Grigoryants also enrolled in the CityBuild program at City College of San Francisco, where he hopes to get a plumbing certification. It was always a career goal for Grigoryants, but the center helped put him on the right path.
“I started, but kind of drifted away for a second,” Grigoryants said, of his desire to pursue the trade. “They for sure got me right back into that.”
Welcome Adriana! Great positive story, thank you.