For Immediate Release
Contact: Ling Woo Liu, lliu[at]sff.org, 415-733-8565
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Since 1963, The San Francisco Foundation’s Community Leadership Awards have recognized the Bay Area’s most creative, innovative, and community-driven leaders who address the region’s most pressing challenges. Today, we announce the winners of the 2017 awards:
· Arts Award: Dr. Ayodele Nzinga, founder, The Lower Bottom Playaz, a theater troupe in West Oakland which has become a gateway to employment in the performing arts for actors of color in Oakland.
· Impact Award: Pogo Park, a community-based nonprofit organization which serves over 13,000 low-income residents who live in Richmond’s Iron Triangle neighborhood.
· Innovation Award: Bayview Hunters Point Center for Arts and Technology (BAYCAT), a nonprofit social enterprise in San Francisco that educates, empowers, and employs youth and young adults to produce digital media that tells their unique stories and engages them to positively transform themselves, their communities, and the world.
· Leadership Award: Tamisha Torres-Walker, founding member, Safe Return Project, a initiative led by formerly incarcerated Richmond residents to carry out research, community organizing, and policy advocacy to improve reintegration after incarceration
“The San Francisco Foundation has had a longstanding commitment to cultivating and recognizing local leadership,” said Fred Blackwell, CEO of The San Francisco Foundation. “We are inspired by this year’s winners and their dedication to advancing equity in our region.”
Award winners will be honored in a ceremony on December 6.
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About The San Francisco Foundation:
With more than $1.3 billion in assets, The San Francisco Foundation is one of the largest community foundations in the country. The foundation is committed to expanding opportunity and ensuring a more equitable future for all in the Bay Area, and working with its donors, it distributed nearly $100 million to nonprofit organizations last year. The San Francisco Foundation serves Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, and San Mateo Counties.
