In this episode we feature the voices of Emily Maksymiuk the Managing Director along with Board Members Risa Schwartz and Maureen McCarthy of the Children’s Book Project. Over the last 28 years The Children's Book Project has given away free books for children who need them. Additionally, all those who serve children and need books such as teachers, public-health workers, childcare providers, homeless shelter staff, and parents from all over the Bay Area can select an unlimited number of free books. Some of the books are donated by publishers, authors, and booksellers. However almost all of the books that are in high demand such as picture books, early readers, books in Spanish must be bought new.

Delve deeper into Voices of the Community Series on Arts & Culture, Making the Invisible-Visible, Covid-19's impact on nonprofits, small businesses and local government, City of Stockton's rise from the ashes of bankruptcy and our archives: You can explore episodes, speakers, organizations, and resources through each series web page. Watch and learn from all five series now!

In this episode we feature the voice of Sammie Rayner, Chief Programming Officer with Community Forward SF. Over the past 40 plus years Community Forward SF has been helping our unhoused community members to move off the street, find comprehensive services and stabilize their lives.

Community Forward SF serves over 6,000 unhoused community members annually. Some of the most vulnerable community members are cis-gendered and trans women. Community Forward SF is the leading agency addressing the unique needs of these fellow community members.  As part of providing comprehensive services Community Forward SF provides housing, a sobering center, and medical services.

Delve deeper into Voices of the Community Series on Arts & Culture, Making the Invisible-Visible, Covid-19's impact on nonprofits, small businesses and local government, City of Stockton's rise from the ashes of bankruptcy and our archives: You can explore episodes, speakers, organizations, and resources through each series web page. Watch and learn from all five series now!

In this episode we feature the voices of Doniece Sandoval founder and Kris Kepler Chief Program & Strategy Officer of LavaMaeX. I first met Doniece back in 2014 when she was launching lava mae through her innovative idea of converting old Muni Buses into Mobile Showers. To find out more about the origins of lava mae please listen to Episode Two in my three part series titled Homeless in San Francisco

LavaMaeX is the latest iteration of Doniece’s original vision of providing radical hospitality to unhoused people through mobile showers, toilets and its pop-up care villages, which provided access to wrap around support services and resources for people experiencing homelessness. LavaMaeX is a nonprofit accelerator bringing their open source toolkits, in-depth training and strategic partnerships to communities around the world to empower them to take these critical services to their unhoused community members. 

Delve deeper into Voices of the Community Series on Arts & Culture, Making the Invisible-Visible, Covid-19's impact on nonprofits, small businesses and local government, City of Stockton's rise from the ashes of bankruptcy and our archives: You can explore episodes, speakers, organizations, and resources through each series web page. Watch and learn from all five series now!

In this episode we feature the voice of Katy McKnight, the Director of Community Engagement with the San Francisco Marin Food Bank. The San Francisco Marin Food Bank’s mission is to end hunger in San Francisco and Marin where one in four neighbors is at risk of hunger. The Food Bank was providing food for Thirty Thousand households per week.

This was all before the Covid 19 pandemic hit and tens of thousands of people in San Francisco and Marin lost their jobs. The need is estimated to have doubled over the past Ninety Days. Over 100 of the food bank's 250 plus food pantries had to close because of the Covid 19 pandemic. The food bank is operating 20 plus pop up pantries at schools and community centers to address the massive the food in-security facing our neighbors

To help feed home bound seniors who used to visit San Francisco Marin Food Bank pantries for groceries they have created the Pantry at Home program to deliver food directly to 7 thousand plus seniors.

Delve deeper into Voices of the Community Series on Arts & Culture, Making the Invisible-Visible, Covid-19's impact on nonprofits, small businesses and local government, City of Stockton's rise from the ashes of bankruptcy and our archives: You can explore episodes, speakers, organizations, and resources through each series web page. Watch and learn from all five series now!

In this episode we feature the voice of Kevin Adler, the Founder and CEO of Miracle Messages. Kevin started Miracle Messages in honor of his uncle Mark, who lived on-and-off the streets for 30 years. Miracle Messages helps reunite families through helping community members who are unhoused to record short video messages to a family member. Volunteers, referring nonprofit and government partners or formerly homeless ambassadors help record the message. Then a network of volunteer digital detectives attempt to locate the unhoused person’s family to deliver the message. The digital detectives also work with the family and the unhoused person to facilitate a reunion. As of the recording of this episode Miracle Messages has facilitated over 325 family reunifications. 

Delve deeper into Voices of the Community Series on Arts & Culture, Making the Invisible-Visible, Covid-19's impact on nonprofits, small businesses and local government, City of Stockton's rise from the ashes of bankruptcy and our archives: You can explore episodes, speakers, organizations, and resources through each series web page. Watch and learn from all five series now!

Title: “Support all of the performers, artists, designers, directors, writers, and technicians, whenever you can”

In this episode we feature the voice of Michael Gene Sullivan, a Board Member, writer, director and performer of The San Francisco Mime Troupe. Over the past Sixty Plus Years The San Francisco Mime Troupe Collective has created and produced theater through the lens of the working class by exposing social and economic injustice with a call to action to make the necessary changes on behalf of working people. The collective’s mission is to present their work to the broadest possible audience with both artistry and humor and thus, their performances are free and performed in public parks throughout California and the nation.

This episode is part of a series of interviews we conducted through our participation in  the Bay Area Video Coalition’s TV Show titled "San Francisco Nonprofits Spotlight". The interviews were conducted via Zoom from April to June 2020 during the height of the first phase of the Covid 19 pandemic and the Shelter In Place requirements. The goal of the series is to shine a spotlight on the nonprofits and their staff who are struggling to deal with the impact of the COVID 19 pandemic on their operations, services and sustainability. The series of interviews we conducted features voices from a cross section of organizations that make up the fabric of our community.  Each of them brings a unique perspective on how they and we are dealing with the issues facing our community during the pandemic. 

Delve deeper into Voices of the Community Series on Arts & Culture, Making the Invisible-Visible, Covid-19's impact on nonprofits, small businesses and local government, City of Stockton's rise from the ashes of bankruptcy and our archives: You can explore episodes, speakers, organizations, and resources through each series web page. Watch and learn from all five series now!

This is a special episode of Voices of the Community featuring the voices of Meghan Freebeck, and Carla Praglin of Project Homeless Connect. 

Since my mom died back in the fall of 2016 I have used some of the monies I inherited from her to support the work of Project Homeless Connect through an annual holiday crowdfunding campaign. Over the past two years together with friends, family, and listeners like you, we have raised over Ten Thousand Dollars to provide dental, vision, hearing and housing support services to hundreds of our fellow community members who are experiencing homelessness. 

Every two years the City of San Francisco conducts a Point in Time Count of every homeless person both sheltered and unsheltered. The 2017 count was 7,499 persons experiencing homelessness. The 2019 count was 9,784 persons experiencing homelessness, a 30 percent increase with 1,145 of them being unaccompanied children and transitional age youth.  According to Bay Area Community Services, for every one person housed, three people fall into homelessness. Additionally, the San Francisco Foundation has found that 20% of unhoused bay area residents were housed just two years ago. 

I hope that you will join us in supporting the Project Homeless Connect holiday crowdfunding campaign by visiting https://handup.org/campaigns/cdos to make your donation. You can also find out more about Meghan, Carla, Project Homeless Connect services, their team, and of course how to volunteer for the next Community Day of Service 

Please listen to my three-part Homeless in San Francisco episodes https://georgekoster.com/vocstories-homelessness These episodes provide more information on other wonderful nonprofit organizations providing support services to our fellow unhoused community members.

Delve deeper into Voices of the Community Series on Arts & Culture, Making the Invisible-Visible, Covid-19's impact on nonprofits, small businesses and local government, City of Stockton's rise from the ashes of bankruptcy and our archives: You can explore episodes, speakers, organizations, and resources through each series web page. Watch and learn from all five series now!

In the process of producing the documentary series, "From Bankruptcy to Reinvention The City of Stockton California", I wanted to provide our listeners with an update on the work of the community members featured in the documentary series. I decided to host a Townhall Meeting and bring together as many of the voices featured in the radio documentary series to update the community and listeners on their work as well as engage with the community on issues and solutions.

Nicholas Hatten, founder of San Joaquin Pride Center and Michael Tubbs campaign manager for City of Stockton Council person seat who is featured in episode two of the documentary series and I also wanted to bring together the Nonprofit Social Justice All-Star Collaborative and the Collaborative's San Joaquin County Youth Council to develop the Townhall meeting into the State of Our Youth: A Stockton Townhall Meeting.

The Townhall Meeting provides both our voices of youth and adult community leaders an opportunity to share their work in the community, issues they want to see addressed and actions that community members can engage in to reinvent the City of Stockton.

The Nonprofit Social Justice All-Star Collaborative and the San Joaquin County Youth Council proudly announced their Youth Manifesto, a collective groundbreaking pledge towards equity and resilience for Stockton area youth.

Longtime Stockton Record newspaper columnist Michael Fitzgerald emceed the three-hour event, which featured, two-panel discussions and spoken word performances at Franklin High School’s auditorium in the City of Stockton.

Stockton native spoken word artist Brandon Leake performed the opening and closing of the Townhall event. Michael Fitzgerald delivered remarks on Stockton, present, and future. Fitzgerald then moderated a panel of Youth Council members. The young leaders related what they are doing to better the city and further efforts needed.

The second panel features the activists who appear in the radio documentary “From Bankruptcy to Reinvention – The City of Stockton California:” Included are Lange Luntao, president of Stockton Unified Board of Trustees, Jasmine Dellafosse, senior regional organizer for The Gathering for Justice,founding member of RSSC and the Stockton School Initiative, Sammy Nunez, executive director of Fathers and Families of San Joaquin, Fred Sheil, administrator of STAND, Dillon Delvo of Little Manila Rising and others.

Stockton poet laureate Tamma Brisbane, Rhodesia Ransom and Sammy Nunez with Youth Council members presented the youth manifesto.

The goal of producing the Townhall event was to identify the issues facing Stockton, the solutions that people have been working on, as well as new solutions that people can come together with -- and most importantly for people in the community to step up and participate.

Delve deeper into Voices of the Community Series on Arts & Culture, Making the Invisible-Visible, Covid-19's impact on nonprofits, small businesses and local government, City of Stockton's rise from the ashes of bankruptcy and our archives: You can explore episodes, speakers, organizations, and resources through each series web page. Watch and learn from all five series now!

In this episode, we feature the voice of Michael Tubbs. We have broken the episode down into two parts.

Part one takes place back in the summer of 2016 when I caught up with Michael Tubbs who was at that time the youngest City Council member in Stockton history and one of the youngest elected officials in the United States. Michael was as you heard in Episode 11 from Tama Brisbane working to change Stockton’s history by making history. Michael was making a run to become the youngest and first African American Mayor of his hometown.

In Part two of our episode, we wanted to sit down with now Mayor Michael Tubbs and revisit all of the work he was doing in 2016, his campaign promises, his vision for the City of Stockton, and find out what have been the outcomes of these efforts.

Delve deeper into Voices of the Community Series on Arts & Culture, Making the Invisible-Visible, Covid-19's impact on nonprofits, small businesses and local government, City of Stockton's rise from the ashes of bankruptcy and our archives: You can explore episodes, speakers, organizations, and resources through each series web page. Watch and learn from all five series now!