People Organizing to Demand Environmental & Economic Rights

This Sunday join us on the streets of the Mission. All of Valencia St. will be free from cars and smog so that we can safely play, dance and occupy the streets.

LIVE! Cumbia-Dub w/ CANDELARIA
FREE! Bike repairs [Bicis del Pueblo]

**join us for a group ride leaving at 11:20am

PODER’s 2012 Accomplishments

In 2012, PODER celebrated 21 Years of People Powered Solutions where everyday people continued to do extraordinary things to shape decisions and steward healthy development in our neighborhoods, foster local economies, and protect our Mother Earth, beginning with our Mission and Excelsior Districts, and extending beyond.

Among a few of our successes that we celebrate as the year comes to an end are below.

• In April, with our friends at Communities United for Health & Justice, we published the report of the Consulta Popular, Putting the Pieces Together, with the results from our workforce assessment for District 11. The report and our continued organizing helped secure city funding for 4 neighborhood-based projects, including our co-op projects.

• We launched a successful Urban Action Institute attended by over 40 members to learn about urban planning, environmental justice, and cooperatively owned & run housing and gardens.

• We organized to make sure that the garden at the new environmental justice park on 17th & Folsom is to be run by community members.

• In July, with PODER’s powerful youth in the lead, a rally was held in front of the MTA to pressure the head of the agency to agree to turn over the Balboa Park Upper Yard to the city for affordable housing. In November, the Board of the MTA agreed to turn over the Upper Yard to the city!

• Three students from a program for immigrant youth at City College created a video, 21 Years of People Powered Solutions with PODER!, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyYJ_ZZzfi8) that tells the story of PODER’s 21 years of organizing for environmental and economic justice.

• As part of the San Francisco Immigrant Legal & Education Network, PODER has supported countless of eligible undocumented youth to solicit the work permit available through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. We have referred over 50 eligible youth to the legal services offered by the network. Of those 50 youth, 5 have been granted their work permit, including three PODER youth leaders, and the remaining are in the process of completing their DACA applications.

• These are just a few examples of our successes this year. We can point to the convivios (skillshare gatherings) held throughout the year by the Mutual Aid Co-op; the youth exchange in New Mexico; the Solar for All legislation we worked on - traveling to Sacramento with over 150 members of the California Environmental Justice Alliance (CEJA); the electoral work with San Francisco Rising and CEJA - helping win a local affordable housing measure, Prop C, and statewide propositions, Props 30, 32, & 39; and many more...

Join us to make 2013 an even more powerful year for our communities!

Los Éxitos de PODER del año 2012

En el 2012, PODER celebró 21 años de soluciones basadas en la comunidad donde la gente común hace cosas extraordinarias para influenciar las decisiones y el desarrollo saludable en nuestros vecindarios, fomentar las economías locales y proteger a nuestra Madre Tierra, comenzando con los distritos de la Mission y Excelsior, y que se extiende más allá.

Entre algunos de los logros que celebramos al terminar el año, incluyen los siguientes.

• En Abril con nuestros amigos en Comunidades Unidas por la Salud y la Justicia publicamos los resultados de la Consulta Popular, Armando las Piezas, con los resultados de la evaluación que indican las necesidades de trabajadores del distrito 11. Este informe y nuestros esfuerzos en organizar la comunidad ayudo en asegurar fondos de la cuidad para 4 proyectos incluyendo nuestros proyectos de cooperativas.

• Lanzamos el Instituto de Acción Urbano con la participación de más de 40 miembros para aprender más sobre la planificación comunitaria, justicie ambiental, y cooperativas de viviendas y jardines.

• Nos organizamos para asegurar que el jardín en el nuevo parque de justicia ambiental de la calle 17 y Folsom pueda ser administrado por miembors de la comunidad.

• En el mes de julio, con el liderzgo de los jóvenes PODER@s, organizamos una manifestación en frente de la agencia municipal que ocupa la yarda de Balboa Park para convencer al director de la agencia que entrege el sitio a la cuidada para viviendas económicas. En el mes de noviembre, la mesa de directores de la MTA acordaron a entregar el Upper Yard a la cuidad.

• Tres estudiantes de un programa en City College para jóvenes inmigrantes crearón un video, 21 Years of People Powered Solutions with PODER!, que cuenta la historia de los 21 años organizando por la justicia ambiental y ecómica.

• Como miembros de la Red de servicios legales y educativos para las comunidades inmigrantes en San Francisco, PODER ha apoyado a un sinnúmero de jóvenes indocumentados elegibles para solicitar un permiso de trabajo disponible con el programa de Acción Diferida para jóvenes que llegaron en su infancia (DACA por sus siglas en inglés). Hemos referido más de 50 jóvenes elegibles a los servicios legales que la red ofrece. De los 50 jóvenes, a 5 les han otorgado su permiso de trabajo, incluyendo tres jóvenes líderes de PODER, y el resto de los solicitantes todavia siguen en processo de completar su solicitud de DACA.

• Estos son ejemplos de nuestro logros en este año. Tenemos muchos más que podemos mencionar … como los convivios organizados por la Cooperativa Comunitaria de Ayuda Mutua, el intercambio de jóvenes en Nuevo México, la legislación de Energía Solar para Todos que apoyamos – por la cual viajamos a Sacramento con más de 150 miembros de la Alianza de Justicia Ambiental de California (CEJA), el trabajo electoral con San Francisco Rising y CEJA – ayudamos a ganar la medida local para viviendas económicas, Prop C, y medidas estatales, Prop 30, 32 y 39, y mucho más …

¡Acompañanos para asegurar que el año 2013 pueda ser hasta más poderoso para nuestras comunidades!

When members of PODER, the Filipino Community Center, and Coleman Advocates took to the streets to engage in community based planning, we looked around us, and although we knew our neighborhood was still considered one of the most affordable in San Francisco, we sensed it was becoming increasingly unaffordable to our own families and to future generations.  Skyrocketing rents, mass evictions, tripling up of households, and foreclosures are pushing more and more families out of our City.

Every neighborhood has a soul, and the Excelsior is not sitting by and waiting for the City to plan our neighborhood.  Throughout our community there are hundreds of young people, granmas, everyday working people, and other grassroots community planners developing a neighborhood vision that has taken root in our neighborhood.

PODER, the Filipino Community Center, and Coleman Advocates are excited to release our Home is Where the Heart Is:  A People Powered Community Vision for the Balboa Station Upper Yard.  This new report documents the community vision that has emerged from hundreds of residents in the Excelsior that have come together to transform the Upper Yard into a community asset rich with affordable housing, public spaces, neighborhood storefronts, and community programs.

"We don't have the luxury to sit by as families as pushed out of our city, or forced to live in unjust conditions when all this time there is publicly owned land just sitting idly in the heart of our own neighborhood," said Jackie Cruz, member of PODER.

People Powered Community Vision_FINAL.pdf