New CYC Community Hub

San Francisco has a long and proud history of community-serving nonprofits playing an integral role in our City. For more than 50 years, the Community Youth Center of San Francisco (CYC) has been part of that tradition, empowering our City’s youth through services that lead them on the path to success. That includes academic and college advising, job training, substance abuse counseling and leadership development. More than 8,000 people participate in CYC programs each year.

The organization has had a presence in the Richmond District for three decades, with an office that has acted as a navigation center for populations beyond the neighborhood’s youth. This location provides culturally and linguistically competent services to low-income residents and monolingual non-English-speaking adults and seniors, such as employment and housing assistance, childcare support and financial literacy training. More recently, with the rise of hate incidents against Asian American and Pacific Islander residents since COVID-19 began, CYC added services for victims. It’s time for a space large enough to support the community’s growing needs. 

In 2017, CYC acquired a building at 952 Clement St. The plan, at the time, was to have the building renovated and opened as the new Richmond Community Hub in the winter of 2020. However, the pandemic and other factors led to delays and cost increases. CYC came to me requesting assistance from the state, and I was happy, as both the member of the Assembly representing the site and as chair of the Assembly Budget Committee, to help.

I am proud to have secured $2.5 million in state funding for the project, and on Nov. 10, we celebrated the groundbreaking for the building’s renovation. I was joined by Mayor London Breed, Supervisor Connie Chan, representatives from San Francisco’s Housing and Community Development and local residents to celebrate. Only through collaborative efforts with the City and other partners was it possible for us to get to this day.

Scheduled to be completed in the first quarter of 2023, the new space will house CYC’s workforce development programs and a computer clubhouse with technology training and support for homework and research. The two-floor facility will include conference and counseling rooms, a tutoring center, a college and career center and a roof deck. Other community partners will also be able to make use of the Richmond Community Hub for workshops and training.

As we come out of the pandemic, we must continue to lower barriers to make it easy for people to get social service assistance. The Community Hub will be a one-stop shop for services provided by CYC, as well as those provided by the City and state, such as Cal-Fresh, MediCal and CalWORKs. It will also serve as an integral part of a public safety plan to address violence against members of our community. As part of a district-based community safety network, the hub will have victim support services, case management, court advocacy and connection to mental health and domestic violence counseling.

The ultimate goal is to build connection and belonging within the Richmond community, opening up opportunities to employment, housing, education and financial stability in order to improve public safety and reduce tension and conflict, race-based and otherwise. I look forward to the grand opening in about 18 months.

Phil Ting represents the 19th Assembly District, which includes the west side of San Francisco along with the communities of Broadmoor, Colma and Daly City.