SEEDing Stronger Together for 3,500 Tenderloin Youth

“I feel like I manifested this 10 years ago!”

That’s what one long time nonprofit Tenderloin leader said when we sat down for coffee in January to talk about the vision for SEEDing Stronger Together Tenderloin...

Born out of the inaugural cohort, the Tenderloin project asks what is possible when youth serving organizations in this dense and complex neighborhood of San Francisco build a new model for collaboration? Leaders from local youth-serving organizations are asking ourselves what can we achieve together that we cannot achieve working siloed?   

Could all 3,500 youth be connected to vital cradle to career services?

Could we better understand and influence the trajectories of individual youth?

Could we identify and engage disconnected youth?

Could we attract more resources for greater impact?

Youth serving organizations in the Tenderloin have a long history of collaboration: coordinating programs, providing cross-referrals, and sharing resources.  But what if they could do more?  What would formal, collective action look like? 

We posed these questions to the Tenderloin After School Network at the beginning of the year, sparking many conversations about the possibilities for Stronger Together.   

We were thrilled to learn what was already in motion among City and community leaders. 

Here is what we are learning so far:

City Investment

By way of background, following the 2021 declared 90-Day State of Emergency in the Tenderloin, the Mayor’s office dedicated $4 million in 2022 to fund community sponsored projects to improve living conditions in the Tenderloin.  Four strategic priorities were identified:

• Enhance public spaces

• Promote cultural events

• Support youth

• Enhance wellness and access to essential needs 

Throughout 2023 and 2024 community selected projects were funded by the Tenderloin Community Action Plan (TCAP).   Youth priorities were informed by the Tenderloin Youth Services Gap Analysis, including:

• Additional staff support for safe navigation of children to after school programs

• Increase resources for low-barrier and low-structure programming for teens

• Enhance workforce development and career exposure for disconnected teens

• Culturally responsive programs for immigrant youth

• More outreach and programming targeted towards Tenderloin youth involved in the justice system

• Dedicated staffing and resources for a Youth Services Collaboration and Coordination Program Focusing on the Tenderloin

Out of these recommendations, the Tenderloin Investment Blueprint has been proposed to extend funding for these community based projects.  This is a groundbreaking, first-of-its-kind participatory budget process, setting new models for how San Francisco engages communities around complex social issues. 

Recently, SEED Impact’s Chief Impact Officer offered public comment at City Hall in favor of supporting this funding initiative.  

The Opportunities Ahead

So what does all of this mean for SEEDing Stronger Together in the Tenderloin?

1. We can build on already identified strategies for engaging disconnected youth

2. There is consensus that to engage more youth, formally supporting collaboration is key

3. The City is considering partially funding these opportunities

SEED Impact is actively facilitating coordinated action among local youth-serving agencies who have expressed interest (real passion) to expand and deepen their existing collaboration.

Multiple personal conversations with youth leaders about the specific SEEDing Stronger Together project have said, “we need to share data.”  We love data at SEED Impact, but still this surprised us as a top need.  Here's why it's so important:

Many youth are connected to multiple programs in the Tenderloin.  Having this many layers of support is one of the strengths of the community.  Unfortunately, what's missing are formal ways to share comprehensive progress or case notes on a particular youth.  Each layer of support is very much siloed within individual organizations.  Leaders are looking for better ways to communicate vital information regarding youth, as well as ways to measure progress across agencies.  Not only will this benefit youth support. It will also reveal the greater story of transformation that transcends any one program--stories with potential to attract crucial resources to the community. 

Towards this end, there is an opportunity to collect and evaluate collective social impact. Right now, data collection within an organization hinges on requirements for DCYF and their own internal reporting structures.  While some aspects of socio-emotional learning (SEL) data are collected, individual youth development in the domains of being, doing and relating are not measured.  Without this data, it's very hard to quantify how a single program, much less a network of programs, are affecting social change in a community.  Here we have an opportunity to not only evaluate individual growth but also to assess the transformation of entire generations of youth in the Tenderloin.  This is the SEED Impact way.  We are confident that this demonstration of collective impact will help attract essential resources.

Lastly, there are gaps in last year’s gaps analysis.  While the collaborative efforts so far have outlined a clear youth engagement strategy, the approach is not comprehensive.  More engagement is needed among the Asian demographic.  Also, since our vision for a comprehensive network starts at the “cradle” there is an opportunity to engage early childhood agencies in the collaborative model (rather than focus solely on school-age youth).  As SEEDing Stronger Together Tenderloin is formalized, there is an opportunity to engage more of the community by targeting different ethnic and age demographics.

So, What’s Next?

SEED Impact has secured funding for the 2025 exploration to formalize the Tenderloin Cohort.  Our primary goals for the year have been to:

1. Listen and learn from youth providers

2. Pilot a cohort with 5-7 organizations with an emphasis on building a shared data model

3. Attract sustainable resources for 2026 and beyond to fund a) the support role that SEED Impact provides, b) micro grants to participating organizations, and c) project implementation (database and evaluation)

Conversations with community leaders, city officials, and funders continue.  

We hope you'll join us. The time is now to see what we can do Stronger Together in the Tenderloin. 

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Sonja Schappert Howden has been a SEED Impact evaluation client for six years and now leads SEEDing Stronger Together in the Tenderloin of San Francisco, as SEED Impact's Chief Impact Officer.