Alliance for Biking and Walking

Alliance for Biking and Walking 2013 - $8,000 Open Streets 2011 - $5,000 General Support The Alliance for Biking & Walking creates, strengthens, and unites state and local bicycle and pedestrian advocacy organizations in every state, province, and major city in North America. These sustainable organizations are highly respected by the public, media, and policy makers. Their efforts in communities and their united strength at the national level have transformed cities into places where it is easy, safe, desirable and common for citizens to bike and walk. Open Streets Open Streets develops a curriculum for a comprehensive three-day open streets training for cities interested in starting or growing initiatives. Open streets (commonly called Ciclovías, Saturday Parkways, Sunday Streets, etc.) differentiate themselves from block parties and street fairs by promoting active living, healthy lifestyle choices and connecting neighborhoods. They are typically part of a broader effort to encourage sustained physical activity, redefine public spaces and increase healthy transportation options. By opening the streets to people, residents view and connect with the community in a whole new way. An exercise in community building and social engagement, open streets also provide free recreational opportunities and public space where people can meet, socialize and make new friends. peoplepoweredmovement.org

Build Public Inc.

Build Public Inc. 2017 - $15,000 Green Benefit Districts Build Public is a mission-driven nonprofit that leverages creative public-private partnerships to create, finance and maintain high quality urban public space in San Francisco and beyond. theoneplus.org/np_profile/2912

City Parks Alliance

City Parks Alliance

2015 - $8,000 International Urban Parks Conference

Established in fall 2000, City Parks Alliance is the only national membership organization devoted to urban parks. The Alliance unites hundreds of community leaders, parks and recreation authorities, government agencies and others committed to the sustainability, creation and revitalization of parks and green spaces in urban communities. City Parks Alliance believes urban parks are an under-utilized tool in combatting climate change and seeks to educate its members on the public park’s role in the the social, economic and physical well-being of urban residents.

International Urban Parks Conference
City Parks Alliance presented the Greater & Greener International Urban Parks Conference in San Francisco during April 2015. The conference works to strengthen the park and open space communities by educating international participants from over 200 cities on systems and models that advance the connection between urban parks and climate change resiliency planning. Throughout the conference there will be over 75 workshops, presentations and tours pertaining to innovative spaces and “green proofing” strategies increasingly used in city parks around the world.

cityparksalliance.org

Darrin Nordahl

Darrin Nordahl 2010 Fellow Darrin Nordahl is speaker and writer on issues of food and city design.  He has taught in the City and Regional Planning Department at UC Berkeley and in the Landscape Architecture program at UC Berkeley Extension.Nordhal currently resides in Davenport, Iowa, a once Agricultural Rust Belt city now poised to redefine urbanism in the Midwest.  His book Public Produce (Island Press, 2009) showcases how innovative urban food concepts can add vitality to city spaces. He believes that good city design can change behavior for the betterment of the individual and society.Other books by Nordahl include: My Kind of Transit: Rethinking Public Transportation (Island Press, 2009) and Making Transit Fun!: How to Entice Motorists from their Cars (Island Press, 2012). darrinnordahl.com

David Gissen

David Gissen 2011 Fellow David Gissen is an historian and theorist of architecture and urbanism. His recent work focuses on developing a novel concept of nature in architectural thought and developing experimental forms of architectural historical practice. Gissen is the author of the book Subnature: Architecture's Other Environments (Princeton Architectural Press, 2009), editor of the “Territory” issue of AD Journal (2010), and editor of the book Big and Green (Princeton Architectural Press, 2003). He recently completed the manuscript "Manhattmospheres" an environmental and architectural history of New York City in the 1970s. htcexperiments.org

Dolores Park Playground

Dolores Park Playground
2011 - $3,000 General Support

In 2011 the renovated Hellen Diller Dolores Park Playground opened to the public. Crucial to the redesign and fundraising efforts was the Friends of Dolores Park Playground, a group of almost a dozen organizers and more than 1,500 supporters who are committed to a safe and clean playground at Dolores Park.

The Friends of Dolores Park Playground sponsors social events at the playground for the enjoyment of parents and children and to bring greater vitality to Dolores Park and the wider community. The long-term mission of the Friends of Dolores Park is to remain stewards of the playground for years to come.

sfrecpark.org

Dr. Timothy Beatley

Dr. Timothy Beatley
2013 Fellow

Dr. Timothy Beatley is an internationally recognized author, sustainable city researcher and Professor at the University of Virginia’s School of Architecture. The author of more than fifteen books including Biophilic Cities: Integrating Nature into Urban Design and Planning, Native to nowhere: sustaining home and community in a global age and Green urbanism: learning from European cities, Beatley's primary subject is that of sustainable communities.

Beatley believes that sustainable and resilient cities represent our best hope for addressing today’s environmental challenges, and he focuses on strategies for reducing the ecological footprints of towns and cities, while simultaneously becoming more livable and equitable places.

One of Beatley’s main concepts is that of Green Urbanism. Cities that exemplify green urbanism strive to live within its ecological limits. They are designed to function in ways analogous to nature and attempt to be locally and regionally self-sufficient. An additional benefit of Green Urbanism is the facilitation of more sustainable lifestyles and its emphasis on a high quality of neighborhood and community life.

tim.greenurbanvision.com

Friends of the Gateway

Friends of the Gateway 2011 - $7,500 General Support Friends of The Gateway (FOG) is a community of artists and innovators championing the creation of a unique public space at the foot of the new Bay Bridge. Using the arts as the organizing principle, the Gateway Park envisioned will integrate engineering, infrastructure, landscape, economic and community development, creating a vibrant regional asset and an international destination.Gateway Park will be located at the touchdown point of eastern span of the Bay Bridge, on the Oakland side, and will encompass at least between 35 and 150 acres. FOG envisions a public space akin to Millennium Park in Chicago or Landschaftspark in Germany, with a comparable economic and social impact, using the arts and the industrial arts movement as the central themes. The East Bay is the international epicenter for a major industrial arts movement, and our hope is that the Gateway will both celebrate this and capitalize upon it. FOG’s vision will seek to integrate human-scaled, social and economic activities into this context using the arts as an engaging vehicle, while creating a vital, vibrant Bay Area arts destination that attracts a local and international audience; explores the relationships between place, structure and creative innovation; and celebrates the remarkable new span of the Bay Bridge.

Fritz Haeg

Fritz Haeg 2010 Fellow Artist Fritz Haeg's work has included edible gardens, public dances, educational environments, animal archtecture, domestic gatherings, urban parades, temporary encampments, documentary videos, publications, exhibitions, websites and buildings. His work includes the urban ecology initiatives of Edible Estates and Animal Estates; the domestic social activities of Sundown Salon and Sundown Schoolhouse; and the designs and scores of Fritz Haeg Studio. Edible Estates is an ongoing initiative to create a series of regional prototype gardens that replace domestic front lawns and other unused spaces in front of homes with places for families to grow their own food. The eight gardens have been established in cities across the United States and England. Adventurous residents in each town have offered their front lawns as working prototypes for their regions. Each of these highly productive gardens is very different, designed to respond to the unique characteristics of the site, the needs and desires of the owner, the community and its history, and, especially, the local climate and geography. With the modest gesture of reconsidering the use of our small, individual, private front yards, the Edible Estates project invites us to reconsider our relationships with our neighbors, the sources of our food, and our connections to the natural environment immediately outside our front doors. fritzhaeg.com

Gehl Studio

Gehl Studio
2015 - $15,000 Market Street Prototyping Festival Data Analysis

Gehl Studio is an international architecture firm that focuses on creating cities for people. Through extensive research and analysis of current city conditions, Gehl creates built environments that benefit residents and their desired quality of life.

During and after the Market Street Prototyping Festival, Gehl Studios was tasked with creating a system of analysis for the festival. Gehl created social interaction surveys and social capital generation metrics, and summarized their analysis in a report presented to the City of San Francisco that documented the Festival’s reception and impact on citizens. This report and additional findings will be combined with research initiatives already conducted by Gehl studios to produce other people-focused public realm projects.

gehlpeople.com

Gray Brechin

Gray Brechin 2009 Fellow Dr. Gray Brechin is an historical geographer and author whose chief interests are the state of California, the environmental impact of cities upon their hinterlands, and the invisible landscape of New Deal public works. He is currently a visiting scholar in the U.C. Berkeley Department of Geography and founder and project scholar of California’s Living New Deal Project. California’s Living New Deal Project is an unprecedented collective effort to inventory and interpret the impact of New Deal public works projects on the Golden State. They invite informants to contribute information and photographs to map the vast matrix of public buildings, parks, and infrastructure Californians have come to take for granted. Through this archaeological dig into California’s lost history, they reveal an indispensable but invisible landscape while laying the groundwork for a national inventory. graybrechin.net

Guerrero Park

Kevin Conger

Kevin Conger 2013 Fellow Kevin Conger is the President and CEO of CMG Landscape Architecture, as well as a founding partner of this San Francisco-based studio. He has developed many projects to benefit the Bay Area’s design community, including Better Market Street, the Yerba Buena Street Life Plan, redevelopment plans for Hunters Point and Treasure Island. These projects seek to create sustainable accessibility, natural vistas and green design elements to benefit the Bay Area community as a whole.

Linden Living Alley

Linden Living Alley
2010 - $10,000 General Support

Linden Living Alley is a neighborhood initiative that transformed a section of Linden Street in Hayes Valley into San Francisco’s first modern ‘shared space’ street. Shared spaces soften the segregation of roadway and sidewalk to create safe, low-speed environments where walking, cycling, and automobile access coexist with greenery and space for socializing and play.

The project tabled the street to the level of the sidewalk, added trees and planted areas, along with seating and traffic calming.Linden Living Alley’s team, which included architect David Winslow, Loring Sagan and his colleagues from Build, Inc, and Meredith Thomas and her colleagues from the San Francisco Parks Alliance, spent many years working with City staff and disability advocates to develop the design to preserve accessibility while staying true to the shared space vision. Linden Living Alley opened October 2010. It serves as a model for shared spaces in San Francisco and opens the door for future alleyway beautification and greening.

photo credit: Lucy Goodhart

lindenlivingalley.wordpress.com

Livable City

Livable City
2013 - $10,000 Play Streets for All
2012 - $5,000 Permanent Sunday Streets Route in the Mission
2011 - $5,000 Permanent Sunday Streets Route in the Mission

Livable City is a sustainable transportation and land use advocacy non-profit in San Francisco that works to create a city of great streets and complete neighborhoods, where walking, bicycling, and transit are the best choices for most trips, and where public spaces are beautiful, well designed and maintained. They use an integrated approach to define livability that includes transportation and land use advocacy, development of policies for public space and best practices with a goal of creating a safer, healthier and more livable San Francisco.In 2008, Livable City partnered with the Mayor’s office and the Department of Public Health to produce San Francisco’s first two Sunday Streets events, which created several miles of car-free space for walking, cycling, jogging and organized recreational activities. Sunday Streets proved to be a huge success, and the program grew to six events in 2009 and nine events in both 2010 and 2011. Sunday Streets has provided recreational opportunities to tens of thousands of San Franciscans and visitors, focusing on neighborhoods that lack these opportunities. Benefits include local economic development, neighborhood commercial vitality, community building and neighborhood engagement, and a catalyst for neighborhood conversations about reclaiming streets on a temporary or permanent basis.Play Streets for All
Play Streets for All (PSFA) trains and supports local organizers to produce smaller open streets events - called Play Streets - in their communities. The idea behind this effort is to build local leadership and increase the number, location and frequency of car-free events in San Francisco.  PSFA program objectives are to (1) simplify the permit application process, (2) identify, contact and train PSFA organizers, (3) provide technical assistance to PSFA organizers during the event organizing process and (4) create a replicable PSFA organizing model that can be shared throughout the Bay Area.

livablecity.org
sundaystreetssf.com

Mission Community Market – Mercado Plaza

Mission Community Market 2011 - $10,000 Mercado Plaza Rebar and the Mission Community Market (MCM) have formed a partnership to create a new car-free plaza and public space on Bartlett Street in the Mission. Building on the place-making efforts of the MCM, the new plaza will provide a beautiful, safe and much needed public space for activities that support family health, promote small businesses and bring diverse communities together.Building on the MCM’s place-making activities, the Mercado Plaza will bring diverse communities together through the civic design process, entrepreneurial opportunity and public space design. The goal for the car-free plaza is to create a true public marketplace and flexible urban space. It will accommodate large gatherings, like MCM, as well as smaller neighborhood activities and play. The concept is a programmable plaza surface with temporary infrastructure such as market stall supports, shading, seating and a stage. Flexible street furniture, vendor stalls and utility hookups can reduce the barriers for diverse entrepreneurs to enter the marketplace as well as an upgrade to the ecological infrastructure of the street by implementing stormwater best management practices - permeable pavers, rain gardens and potentially subsurface infiltration. Unique paving, safer lighting, and a Mission mural arts gallery that has already begun on Bartlett will attract local shoppers, tourists and neighborhood families. missioncommunitymarket.org

Mission Creek Conservancy

Mission Creek Conservancy 2014 - $5,000 Interpretive Signage Mission Creek Conservancy (MCC) preserves and enhances the tidal community at Mission Creek, a 24 acre area of land and tidal water within historic Mission Bay. It is home to a rich ecology of mudflats, rock, piling and float marine invertebrate forests, fish, bird and marine mammal populations. MCC will create and install two signs. One for the Mission Creek Tidal Wetlands, showing interdependent groups of wildlife nurtured by tidal waters, mudflats and invertebrate habitats. A second for the bird and butterfly habitat in Huffaker Park showing crucial relationships with larval food plants, nectar and food source plants.

Nicholas de Monchaux

Nicholas de Monchaux 2011 Fellow Nicholas de Monchaux is an architect and urbanist, whose work examines the intersections between nature, technology and the city.  Currently assistant professor of Architecture and Urban Design at UC Berkeley, he has recently authored Spacesuit: Fashioning Apollo (published by the MIT press). His project Local Code: Real Estates used geospatial analysis to identify thousands of publicly owned abandoned sites in major US cities - imagining this distributed, vacant landscape as a new urban system. Using parametric design, a landscape proposal for each site is tailored to local conditions, optimizing thermal and hydrological performance to enhance the whole city’s ecology—and relieving burdens on existing infrastructure. Local Code’s quantifiable effects on energy usage and stormwater remediation eradicate the need for more expensive, yet invisible, sewer and electrical upgrades. In addition, the project uses citizen participation to conceive a new, more public infrastructure as well —a robust network of urban greenways with tangible benefits to the health and safety of every citizen. Local Code was recently exhibited at SPUR and was a finalist in the WPA 2.0 competition sponsored by UCLA Citylab and appeared at the 2010 Biennial of the Americas. nicholas.demonchaux.com

Plant SF

Plant SF
2010 - $5,000 Naples Green, Pavement to Parks Project
2007 - $5,000 General Support

Plant SF exists to promote permeable landscaping as sustainable urban infrastructural practice and as a beautification effort; by providing information to the public and by partnering with city and neighborhood organizations.  This mission is accomplished through encouraging and enabling individuals to use an existing permit process to convert areas of the public right-of-way (sidewalks) to exposed-earth gardens, advocating the use of native and drought tolerant plant species, and coordinating with local organizations to facilitate plantings.  Plant SF also works with city agencies to encourage permeable landscaping strategies as urban infrastructure and advocates for sustainable water practices, such as ground water recharge, roof drain diversion and water reclamation.

Naples Green was designed to provide neighborhood beautification, new green space, traffic calming improvements and a safe and enjoyable environment for residents to host and accommodate neighborhood events and activities. The work scope included the transformation of approximately 7,500 square feet of concrete and asphalt into new green public open space. At Naples green, landscaped areas with hundreds of new plants and 18 new trees, raised planter beds and pathways all come together to provide an inviting new open space. By removing concrete and asphalt, the Naples Green also provides storm water benefits by allowing rainwater to permeate into the ground instead of flowing into the sewer system.  It is located in the Crocker Amazon neighborhood of San Francisco, on Naples Street between Rolph Street and Geneva Avenue.

plantsf.org

Prelinger Library

Prelinger Library
2018 - $5,000 General Support
2017 - $5,000 General Support
2016 - $5,000 General Support

The Prelinger Library is an urban oasis of research, community, art and collaboration in San Francisco. Co-founded by Rick and Megan Prelinger in 2004, it is a freely publicly accessible workshop where artists, writers and activists from around the Bay Area and across the Nation meet to pursue research-based works of all kinds. The Library offers a collection of over 30,000 books and an equal number of pieces of printed ephemera, including maps, zines and pamphlets. It is an appropriation friendly resource for all visitors.

Within its social function as a public workshop, the Library offers ongoing experiments in the future of reading, research and collaboration. No less important than what is in the collection is how it’s used: through social reading, through appropriation and through collaborations that arise from both careful planning and accidental meetings alike.

prelingerlibrary.org

Public Architecture

Public Architecture
2007 - $5,000 General Support

Sidewalk Plaza design campaignPublic Architecture’s public interest design campaigns are multidisciplinary initiatives that utilize design and advocacy to address issues of broad social relevance on which design could profoundly impact.The Sidewalk Plaza design campaign, focused in San Francisco’s South of Market area, took an innovative approach to developing new open space.  Through permanent sidewalk bump-outs programmed with amenities keyed to the neighborhood’s diverse uses, the Plazas provide a responsive, replicable model for generating neighborhood-supporting open spaces, improved street life, and more closely-knit communities.  Combined with a companion advocacy effort, the campaign initiated a process through which people can engage in reflecting on and working for positive change in their neighborhoods. The first Plaza is sited in front of Brainwash Café/Laundromat on Folsom Street and was completed in 2008.

publicarchitecture.org

Rebar

photo credit: Lucy Goodhart 

Rebar
2013 - $5,000 Adaptive Metropolis Symposium
2009 - $10,000 Hayes Valley Farm

REBAR's work encompasses visual and conceptual public art, landscape design, urban intervention, temporary performance installation, digital media and print design. Together with UC Berkeley Department of Landscape Architecture, The Adaptive Metropolis symposium convenes a global community of thinkers and doers to discuss the future of user-generated urbanism. The participation of leading scholars and critics allows authoritative and thorough analysis. The symposium also provides practitioners and theorists with a platform to discuss and share ideas, experiences, knowledge, and skills, creating an up-to-date battlefield map. Lastly, the symposium explores new ways to look at the subject matter, setting the stage for the next phase of its development. http://laep.ced.berkeley.edu/adaptivemetropolis/site/

Hayes Valley Farm (HVF) is a temporary urban permaculture demonstration site in San Francisco. It is a 2.2-acre non-profit community-run farm, urban agriculture education and research project located in the heart of the city of San Francisco.  After the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989, San Francisco's Central Freeway was compromised and in the years to come the ramps bordered by Laguna, Oak, Fell, and Octavia Streets were closed, and the lot locked up. In January 2010, the City activated the site for temporary green space use, allowing for Hayes Valley Farm to create the space for education and reflection.

Rebar was part of the original team that conceived of, planned, and fundraised to create Hayes Valley Farm. They worked closely with the Mayor’s Office of San Francisco, The Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association, the Public Utilities Commission, and the Department of Public Works to open the gates to the formerly vacant lot and bring in essential infrastructure. Rebar partnered with S12 Architects in the design and construction of the farm’s greenhouse, and worked closely with the HVF team to develop the farm’s current logo.

Rebar is a cross-disciplinary practice for solving the design problems of the commons.

rebargroup.org
hayesvalleyfarm.com

Rosten Woo

Rosten Woo 2011 Fellow Rosten Woo is an artist, designer and writer living in Los Angeles. He makes work that helps people understand complex systems and participate in group decision-making. His work has been exhibited at the Cooper-Hewitt Design Triennial, the New Museum, the Venice Architecture Biennale, Netherlands Architectural Institute, the Lower East Side Tenement Museum; and in various public housing developments, tugboats, shopping malls and parks in New York City and Los Angeles. His first book, Street Valuewas published by Princeton Architectural Press in 2010. He is co-founder and former executive director of the Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP), a nonprofit organization that uses design and art to improve civic engagement. CUP projects demystify the urban policy and planning issues that impact communities so that more individuals can better participate in shaping them. wehavenoart.net

San Francisco Bicycle Coalition Education Fund

A recipient of the SF Bicycle Coalition’s Bike Match program.

Car-free space in Golden Gate Park.

People biking and enjoying a car-free Great Highway during the pandemic.

Students during a socially-distant bike education class.

Bay area residents enjoying biking on San Francisco streets.

San Francisco Bicycle Coalition Education Fund
2019 - $10,000 General Support
2017 - $10,000 Transportation Equity Network
2013 - $5,000 "Kit of Parts" Manual
2012 - $25,000 2nd Street Project
2011 - $10,000 Family Biking Guide and Programs
2010 - $10,000 Connecting the City
2009 - $5,000 Great Streets Program

The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition is one of the oldest bicycle advocacy organizations in the country and was founded in 1971 by a group of activists representing a coalition of environmental and neighborhood groups. The organization quickly evolved into a powerful alliance of individuals working for a more bicycle-friendly city. The SF Bicycle Coalition has been dominated by a grassroots volunteer ethic ever since, growing into one of the strongest bicycle advocacy organizations in the country. For over 45 years, the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition has been transforming San Francisco streets and neighborhoods by promoting the bicycle for everyday transportation. Through their day-to-day advocacy, education and working partnerships with city and community agencies, the organization continues to create safe, just, and livable streets for all San Franciscans.

The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition embodies their core principles: transportation justice, sustainability, people power, and joy in all areas of their work. In their 2018-2022 strategic plan, the SF Francisco Bicycle Coalition incorporated these values to construct and execute a plan that prioritizes quality bicycle infrastructure and increases safety and invites more people to bike. In an effort to adapt to a world that’s changing the way it gets around, the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition aims to transform the streets of San Francisco through:

1. The demand of high-quality infrastructure and visionary improvements to connect the city;
2. Building public support and political power to win affordable and sustainable transportation for all San Franciscans; 
3. The growth, engagement, and empowerment of membership in order to strengthen the organization and deepen community support for bicycling and; 
4. Introducing San Franciscans of all ages, identities, and backgrounds to the joy of bicycling and encouraging more San Franciscans to bicycle more often.

To fulfill these objectives, the SF Bicycle Coalition employs both their programmatic and advocacy related work to promote, educate, and reimagine transportation in San Francisco. Nationwide, transportation remains to be the second biggest expense in a household’s budget, and families in San Francisco feel that cost acutely. The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition strives to provide affordable transit options to those in need and promote the bicycle for everyday transportation. 

Through the Bike It Forward program, the SF Bicycle Coalition works alongside community groups around the City to organize events structured to provide bikes to neighborhood residents. The organization reclaims unclaimed and abandoned bikes from the SFMTA, BART, and other agencies that are repaired with the help of volunteers. Alternatively, the Bike Match program connects people who have bikes they no longer use with those who need a bike. As a cooperative, community-driven collaborative, neighborhood residents who have expressed a need through partner organizations, complete a bicycle education course, get properly fitted for their new bike, and leave with a new, affordable, fun and healthy way to get around. 

The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition is considered the leading resource for street safety and education in the city. The organization structures its curriculum to cater toward people who bike and those who share the streets with people who bike. Whether a course is dedicated to youth and family biking, navigating safely through San Francisco, learning how to share the streets with all forms of transit, riding at night and in all weather conditions, or just getting acquainted with the basics, the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition is proud to offer free online resources and classes that accommodate all age ranges, levels of comfortability, and experience.

Through their advocacy work, the SF Bicycle Coalition continues to push for more car-free spaces, slow streets, and safe, high-quality biking infrastructure. To keep expanding the number of Slow Streets, the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition continues to push the City to explore more permanent treatments and prioritize the densest San Francisco neighborhoods, including the Tenderloin and SoMa. In 2020, advocacy for better bike infrastructure pushed forward and construction continued on Lefty O’Doul Bridge, 7th Street from Folsom to Townsend, Howard Street from 3rd to Embarcadero, new protected bike lane segments on the Embarcadero, and improvements to 20th Avenue in the Outer Sunset. 

During the pandemic, the organization has seen six times more people biking in Golden Gate Park. Now, after decades of advocacy, San Franciscans can enjoy a fully car-free route from the Panhandle to Ocean Beach; take a car-free ride through the Panhandle, to the eastern segment of JFK Drive, through Overlook and Middle Drive, and onto the car-free western segment of MLK Drive. While more people are looking to spend more time outdoors amidst the lifting of shelter-in-place orders, the Slow Streets program has also expanded car-free space across San Francisco to help people stay healthy and safe. Thanks to this program, people can maintain social distance as they walk, bike, and roll on over 30 corridors that are closed to vehicle through traffic. 

The Seed Fund have been supporters of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition for over a decade and have partnered with the organization to fund certain campaigns centered around transportation justice, sustainability, people power, and joy. Some of these projects include:

• In 2012, the Seed Fund granted the SF Bicycle Coalition $5,000 toward the 2nd Street redesign in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood to push for and prioritize biking and walking infrastructure. 

• In 2013, $5,000 was granted to the SF Bicycle Coalition’s “Kit of Parts” manual that provided city planners with information on how to quickly transform city streets that included separated bikeways, greening initiatives, and sidewalk expansions. The toolkit was intended to be an open and accessible resource that provided inspirational, practical, and feasible designs not only for San Francisco officials but other cities looking to create more sustainable solutions on both a national and global scale. 

• In 2017, The Seed Fund funded the SF Bicycle Coalition’s Transportation Equity Network proposal that identified the need to come together with other local community partners to establish a collective that ensured an equitable distribution of bikes. The Community Bike Build program (now formally known as the Bike It Forward program) needed to extend beyond simply providing low income residents with a bike, lights, lock and helmet. The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition — along with its partners —  determined that additional resources like bicycle safety education, affordable maintenance and culturally competent infrastructure needed to be implemented.

• In 2019, The Seed Fund funded the SF Bicycle Coalition’s Embarcadero campaign which helped hire staff and additional resources to ensure that the vision of a two-way bike lane along the waterfront side of the Embarcadero project advanced toward approvals. The $10,000 grant toward this project gave the SF Bicycle Coalition the flexibility to work with elected officials and City agencies to identify and allocate funding for construction. Additionally, these funds helped ensure that the necessary time and resources to make this project a national and international model for linking climate adaptation and mitigation efforts through the best practices of green infrastructure were met. 

sfbike.org

SF Environment

SF Environment
2014 - $10,000 Biodiversity Program
2013 - $10,000 Biodiversity Program

Under the San Francisco Department of the Environment, a Biodiversity Program, led by biodiversity coordinator Peter Brastow, creates programs, plans and strategies for the management and stewardship of San Francisco wildlands, biodiversity and public biodiversity education.

The Biodiversity Program will create a Strategic Biodiversity Action Plan, with a blueprint for the program and San Francisco. It will also create the infrastructure to act as the hub for biodiversity planning, policy-making, coordination and education city-wide.

sfenvironment.org

SPUR (formerly San Francisco Planning + Urban Research Association)

SPUR’s We Are the Bay exhibition

Farmer’s market in San Francisco; photo credit Sergio Ruiz

Rising tides threatening to flood; photo credit Sergio Ruiz

SPUR’s How We Move exhibition

A transit + design workshop held at SPUR’s Urban Center

SPUR (formerly San Francisco Planning + Urban Research Association)
2023 - $20,000 Transit Oriented Communities
2021 - $15,000 Transit Priority Program
2019 - $10,000 Operational Landscape Units Project
2018 - $20,000 Regional Plan
2017 - $10,000 Operational Landscape Units Project (with SFEI)
2017 - $10,000 Framework for Sea-Level Rise Adaptation
2016 - $15,000 Framework for Sea-Level Rise Adaptation
2014 - $15,000 Fossil Fuel Reduction Report
2010 - 2014 $38,000 Food Systems and Urban Agriculture Program
2007 - $5,000 General Support

Work

Through research, education and advocacy, SPUR works to create an equitable, sustainable and prosperous region. SPUR practices urban policy, developing and advocating for ideas and reforms to bring about systems change. The decisions that shape housing, transportation, land use, economics, food access, sustainability and resilience have significant impacts on people’s lives. SPUR also focuses on governance because it’s how communities organize themselves to achieve collective goals and because SPUR believes in the power of government as a force for good. SPUR works across the nine counties of the Bay Area because the structural systems that shape people’s lives— the housing market, the transportation network, the economy — are regional. SPUR does deep work in San Francisco, San José and Oakland because policies set in the region’s three biggest cities have widespread impact on most Bay Area residents and because local context is critical for effective policy. SPUR believes that community and individual well-being are healthiest when a society achieves equity, sustainability and prosperity. Equity because systemic racism continues to create unjust and unacceptable outcomes for many members of our community. Sustainability because human well-being depends on a healthy and thriving natural environment. And prosperity because meeting individual and collective needs requires resources. SPUR conducts its work through research, education and advocacy because these tools have the power to change minds and shape outcomes. The organization believes that profound systems change requires addressing beliefs, relationships and policies, and SPUR works at all three of these levels. SPUR grounds its work in a spirit of inquiry and a big-tent perspective that engages partners and communities across the region.

Goals

SPUR has many key goals related to each of the organization's major policy areas, including:
Planning: Add new jobs and housing where they will support equity and sustainability, and make neighborhoods safe and welcoming to everyone.
Housing: Make housing affordable for everyone.
Transportation: Make it fast, easy and inexpensive to get around without driving alone.
Sustainability + Resilience: Eliminate carbon emissions and make communities resilient to climate change.
Economic Justice: Enable all people to participate in the region’s thriving economy and attain economic security.
Good Government: Support a high-functioning public sector that serves the collective good.
Food + Agriculture: Create healthy, just and sustainable food systems, and put an end to food insecurity.

Achievements

SPUR has accomplished many things over the course of its 100+ year history. The organization shaped some of the most important planning and urban policy issues in the region, including planning for the BART system, establishing the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and the Bay Conservation and Development Commission, proposing San Francisco’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund and more. Recent achievements of the organization in 2020, include:

• Crafting more than 70 policy recommendations on housing, transportation, planning, sustainability and resilience and more
• Welcoming more than 13,000 individuals to public forums covering pressing issues in the Bay Area, such as the housing affordability crisis, economic inequality, how COVID-19 affects small businesses and more
• Co-sponsoring three pieces of legislation passed by California lawmakers, including SB288, which expands CEQA exemptions to speed up the delivery of sustainable transportation projects in the state
• Hosting the organization's first Ideas + Action symposium, which brought together public space experts and more than 1,500 attendees from across North America
• Released numerous reports and white papers, on topics such as the future of transportation, transit project delivery, climate hazards and modeling future places, which envisions a Bay Area that can welcome everyone
• Hosting a forum with Mayors Breed, Liccardo and Schaaf of San Francisco, San José and Oakland to learn how cities of the Bay Area can collectively work toward a more equitable, sustainable and prosperous region
• Leading convening efforts for the new California Home Builders Alliance, an informal advocacy coalition focusing on state legislation and regulatory reforms to build more housing

Impact Report attached; our most recent annual report was online only--it is available here: https://www.spur.org/about/annual-reports/2020

spur.org

Streetsblog

Streetsblog
2023 - $12,000 General Support
2021 - $12,000 General Support
2019 - $10,000 General Support
2018 - $8,000 General Support
2017 - $8,000 General Support
2017 - $8,000 General Support
2016 - $8,000 General Support
2011 - $8,000 General Support

Streetsblog is a non-profit daily news source, online community and political mobilizer for the Bay Area’s Livable Streets movement. Streetsblog frames the public debate on transportation and planning issues, creating momentum for more sustainable streets. A team of local writers collaborates with writers throughout California and Nationally to provide full coverage of transportation reform, urban planning and the Livable Streets movement locally and nationwide.

Streetsblog began in 2006 as a single local blog covering transportation and land use issues in New York City. The experiment proved a dramatic success, and it showcased the potential for focused advocacy journalism to empower overlooked constituencies and to usher in a reform-minded transportation policy agenda - SF.Streetsblog was launched in January 2009. The blog quickly became an influential voice and a mobilizer for the local transportation reform movement. Today, it reaches nearly 70,000 direct monthly readers, and plays a key role in the Bay Area’s Livable Streets movement. Their work is published on SF Gate and Bay Citizen. Streetsblog’s drumbeat of pedestrian, bicycle and transit stories have helped keep these important issues on the radar of supervisors and policy makers at City Hall and the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency.

sf.streetsblog.org

Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation

Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation
2013 - $8,000 Tenderloin Vertical Garden

Tenderloin Vertical Garden
The Tenderloin Vertical Garden is a project of the TNDC (Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation) People’s Garden. The garden was established after a 2009 TNDC residents’ summit yielded survey data demonstrating that access to fresh, healthy food was the top concern of Tenderloin residents. On just 2,500 sq ft, our gardeners produced and distributed over 3,000 pounds of produce for the community last year, all given away for free.  The Vertical Garden structure includes a wood structure supporting Woolly Pocket planters for edible plants, a long wood planter with plants to attract pollinators, and an automated drip irrigation system. Community members, horticulturalists, and designers gave input to the structure during two open community design meetings. Signage added will provide information and showcase the gardens.

tndc.org

The High Line

The High Line
2014 - $5,000 Thriving Cities Lecture Series
2013 - $5,000 Beyond the High Line
2010 - $1,000 General Support

Friends of the High Line works to build and maintain the extraordinary public park on the High Line in New York City.  They seek to preserve the entire historic structure, transforming an essential piece of New York’s industrial past and providing over 70 percent of the High Line’s annual operating budget.  Friends of the High Line is responsible for maintenance of the park, pursuant to a license agreement with the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. Through stewardship, innovative design and programming, and excellence in operations they cultivate a vibrant community around the High Line.

Beyond the High Line

Beyond the High Line showcases exceptional adaptive urban reuse projects from around the country, featuring projects that have a strong likelihood of being completed, but are still in formative phases. This series will foster discussion about what moves these kinds of projects forward and to raise the profile of other projects that have the potential to transform neighborhoods, cities, or regions—expanding the visibility of the entire field of adaptive reuse. 

Thriving Cities

A forum where participants can explore new ways to make their blocks, neighborhoods and cities better, more livable places.  The day-long program will feature public talks, book presentations, civic participation workshops and children's activities - all exploring recent trends and ideas around contemporary urban design and planning that foster sustainability, equity and creativity.

thehighline.org

Transportation Alternatives

Transportation Alternatives
2023 - $20,000 20x20 Project
2022 - $10,000 General Support
2011 - $5,000 General Support

Transportation Alternatives (TA) works to reclaim New York City’s streets from the automobile and to advocate for better walking, biking, and public transit for all New Yorkers. Through grassroots organizing and strategic communication campaigns, TA advances infrastructure and policy improvements that prioritize people, create safer streets, and ultimately realize a more accessible, sustainable, and equitable city. TA engages thousands of stakeholders each year through its advocacy work, including community residents, peer nonprofit organizations, civic coalitions, business leaders, elected local and state officials, and government agencies. Their campaigns reshape streetscapes into safe places where people can walk, bike, meet, play, and participate in the variety of activities that make urban living healthy, vibrant, and dynamic.

In the past five decades, TA has made remarkable progress. Today, bike lanes ribbon up and down Manhattan avenues. Hundreds of thousands more ride a bike to work every day. The city is equipped with dedicated bus lanes, public bike share, and car-free park spaces that did not exist five decades ago. In just the last two decades, TA advocacy was responsible for the introduction of America’s first protected bike lanes and the world’s largest speed camera program.  TA lowered the citywide speed limit for the first time in 50 years, and introduced Vision Zero to New York City, an idea which then spread across the U.S. The same story is true of the federal Safe Routes to Schools and Safe Routes for Seniors programs.

The few who founded Transportation Alternatives recruited and multiplied, and now TA’s tent of supporters is packed with New Yorkers who regularly take action, make the case to public officials, and testify to the importance of TA’s mission. Each week, TA organizes local meetings, protests, rallies, petition drives, community gatherings and on-street actions to amplify voices. By the power of these people and a track record of transformative change, TA demands New York City’s most influential decision makers pay attention.

In that time, a remarkable subset of the organization was also born. Families for Safe Streets (FSS) is a coalition of people injured in traffic crashes, and the children, spouses, siblings, and parents whose loved ones have been killed. What began in 2014 as a small group of families in mourning has grown to a citywide force for change, and a national inspiration, with chapter organizations in 14 cities. Together, this powerful group of survivors tell their stories as an unignorable testament to the need for safe streets and refuse to give an inch in defense of the status quo.

From the creation of grand public spaces, like the pedestrianization of Times Square, to the construction of protected bike lanes and pedestrian plazas in all five boroughs, TA and FSS have paved the way for remarkable changes in New York City’s transportation infrastructure and transformed New Yorkers’ understanding of bicycling, walking and public transit.

transalt.org

Van Alen Institute

Van Alen Institute
2018 - $10,000 Climate Council
2011 - $5,000 Life at the Speed of Rail Publication
2009 - $10,000 Manhattan 2409
2008 - $5,000 David Benjamin and Soo-in Yang, Living City

Van Alen Institute is an independent nonprofit architectural organization that promotes inquiry into the processes that shape the design of the public realm.

For over a century, the Van Alen Institute has cultivated a fellowship of design practitioners and scholars, awarded excellence in design, and fostered dialogue about the evolving role of architecture in the public realm. The Institute’s community of fellows, members, participants and public audiences is an integral part of that dialogue, shaping and expanding our definition of ‘public architecture’ and its impact on contemporary civic life.

Living City: A Public Interface to Air Quality in New York
Living City is a full-scale prototype building skin designed to breathe in response to air quality. During their fellowship term, David Benjamin and Soo-in Yang developed one of the first architecture prototypes to link local responses in a building to a distributed network of sensors throughout the city.  With Living City, Benjamin and Yang confront the air as the most public and politicized of spaces in the city—shared by all but invisible, often divisible, and intensely debated and controlled. Using New York City as a research lab, they propose an architecture that functions as a public interface to air quality, creating a platform for an ecology of building skins where individual buildings receive, share and respond to data as part of a collective network. For more information about Living City, visit www.thelivingcity.net.

Eric W. Sanderson, Manhattan 2409
Eric W. Sanderson’s Mannahatta project envisions the long-term future of Manhattan as an ecosystem in the context of its rich ecological and social history. Sanderson uses his extensive research and documentation of the diverse ecological landscapes of Mannahatta to reflect on where New York has come from and speculates on how sustainability can be built into the structure and practice of New York over the next 400 years. During his fellowship term at Van Alen Institute, Sanderson pursued the research and writing of a brief for a design competition on the future sustainability in New York City in stages approximately 50, 150 and 400 years from now, prompted by sustainable characteristics of Mannahatta. As part of this work, Sanderson shared the data resources and ecological concepts of the Mannahatta Project with the design community at large, and he organized  a public roundtable with leading thinkers in urban sustainability and ecology to discuss and debate the ecological themes that Mannahatta raises in contrast to the city today.

Life at the Speed of Rail
How will high-speed rail change American life in the coming decades? This multimedia competition seeks the visions of the architectural design community, planners, graphic designers, artists—anyone who wants to contribute to the discussion surrounding high-speed rail. In this Call for Design Ideas, entrants are asked to produce projects and narratives picturing the wide-ranging impacts that a new transportation network will have on the nation’s communities, whether urban or rural, rail-riding or car-centric, heartland or borderland. By collecting these ideas and images of a transformed America—be they specific, pragmatic, or speculative—we’ll better understand the hopes and fears of our current moment and be better equipped to decide whether and how we build this new infrastructure.

vanalen.org

Vision Zero

Hank, Schulte Memorial, April 2013

Photo credit: Denver Street Partnership

Photo credit: Denver Street Partnership

Photo credit: NACTO, Urban Street Design Guide

Vision Zero
2017 - $10,000 General Support

Vision Zero Network is a nonprofit project working to advance Vision Zero – the goal of zero traffic deaths or severe injuries. Since its inception in 2015, it has helped grow the number of US communities committing to Vision Zero from 3 to more than 45. In addition, mainstream awareness of and support for the goal of safe mobility for all has grown significantly amongst elected leaders and policymakers, advocates, community members, and the private sector.

Traffic crashes cause 40,000 preventable deaths each year in the US and millions more serious injuries. And amongst youth, traffic crashes are the leading cause of death. This translates to 100 people losing their lives every day simply while walking, biking, riding transit, or driving. This equates to a mid-sized plane crashing every day, killing all passengers on board, which would certainly garner attention. But, most people are complacent about the tragedy of our daily death traffic toll.

Some communities are disproportionately harmed by traffic crashes in the US, including: children and seniors, people walking and bicycling, people of color, and low-income community members. When we factor in the health impacts of lack of physical activity due to overreliance on cars and auto-focused land use, as well as the pollution-related health impacts of motor vehicles, the already-staggering death toll of our car culture increases exponentially.

Vision Zero Network advances the goal of safe, healthy, equitable mobility for all people nationwide, whether walking, bicycling, riding transit or driving. As a learning network, they develop and share best practices, research and strategic communications. And, as an action-based campaign, they set milestones for success, help ensure accountability, elevate champions and raise public awareness. Their work includes facilitating peer exchange amongst community leaders and public sector staff leading traffic safety work on the ground, including public health and transportation professionals, policymakers, and community-based advocates. And by developing and sharing resources and setting up learning opportunities amongst peers, they help communities share promising strategies and lessons learned to advance Vision Zero. 

The Vision Zero framework treats traffic safety as a public health issue deserving of greater attention, support, and resources. Vision Zero is predicated on the understanding that these tragedies are not inevitable, but rather that we can make progress in safety by focusing on the upstream factors that influence people’s actions, particularly road design that accommodates all users and policies that prioritize safety over speed, including how speed limits are set. 

Vision Zero Network supports US communities in taking a systemic approach to reduce traffic deaths & severe injuries among all road users. Vision Zero is a new way of thinking about - and acting on - the need for safe mobility. It is both a goal and a strategy and represents a shift in three ways: First, it acknowledges that traffic deaths are preventable. Second, it is an interdisciplinary approach, coalescing diverse and necessary stakeholders to address a complex social problem. Lastly, Vision Zero is a data-based approach.

With Vision Zero, people across the nation are stepping up to declare that “Enough is enough” of the preventable loss and tragedy on our streets, sidewalks, and bikeways. Community members, mayors, transportation and public health professionals, police officers, and others are declaring that zero is the only morally responsible goal to set for safety.  They are acknowledging that we can prioritize safety while still ensuring mobility in our communities: This is a political choice. Slowly, but surely, we are seeing Vision Zero communities challenge the old paradigm that speed (or perception of speed) trumps safety.

The only acceptable goal for deaths on our streets, sidewalks, and bikeways is ZERO.

Seed Fund generously supported Vision Zero Network efforts to improve prioritization of racial and economic equity in traffic safety work. Staff focused on building knowledge, partnerships, and a long-term strategy toward centering equity in Vision Zero work. This included participation in national convenings on equity and policy implications.  In addition, they served as a resource to Vision Zero cities on this critical topic of how to ensure both effective and equitable strategies and outcomes in Vision Zero work growing around the nation. Examples of work in this area include development and sharing of resources such as “Equity Strategies for Vision Zero Practitioners” and educational webinars bringing together traffic safety leaders with racial and equity justice leaders. This has led to development of relationships and partnerships with leaders in the racial justice/transportation field and greater racial diversity on the VZ Network’s Advisory Committee. Longer-term, Seed Fund’s investment has supported the development of Vision Zero Network’s equity series, bringing together Vision Zero peers from around the country to discuss and develop traffic safety alternatives to promote both effectiveness and equity.

visionzeronetwork.org

Walk San Francisco

Mayor London Breed, State Senator Scott Wiener, Walk SF executive director Jodie Medeiros, and children from El Dorado Elementary School get ready for the 2019 Walk & Roll to School Day. Photo: Greg Zeppa

Walk SF was part of an action on Market Street pushing for permanent removal of private vehicles. 500,000 people walk on Market Street every day, and five of the city’s top ten most dangerous intersections are on Market. Photo by Walk SF.

Walk SF was part of an action on Market Street pushing for permanent removal of private vehicles. 500,000 people walk on Market Street every day, and five of the city’s top ten most dangerous intersections are on Market. Photo by Walk SF.

Walk SF was part of an action on Market Street pushing for permanent removal of private vehicles. 500,000 people walk on Market Street every day, and five of the city’s top ten most dangerous intersections are on Market. Photo by Walk SF.

At a March 2019 action on the steps of City Hall to shine a light on recent traffic fatalities. Photo by Walk SF.

A memorial to the lives lost in traffic crashes in San Francisco since January 2014. From the 2020 World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims. Photo by William McLeod with permission from Walk SF.

Walk San Francisco
2023 - $15,000 Climate Justice in the Bayview
2022 - $10,000 General Support
2021 - $10,000 20mph Speed Limit in the Tenderloin: Data Study
2016 - $10,000 Green Connections
2014 - $10,000 Vision Zero
2013 - $10,000 General Support
2012 - $6,000 General Support

San Francisco can and should be the safest, most walkable city in the United States. Yet every day, at least 3 people on average are hit by cars while walking in our city.

Walk San Francisco exists to change this. Walk San Francisco (Walk SF) was founded in 1998 by a small group of volunteers united by the belief that the city’s streets and sidewalks should be safe and welcoming for all.

Today, Walk SF is known as a tireless advocate in pushing for – and winning – life-saving changes across the city. Some defining wins include: 15 MPH speed zones around 181 schools; San Francisco’s second-in-the-nation commitment to Vision Zero; the removal of private vehicles from Market Street; the tax on Uber and Lyft; and groundbreaking changes to some of the city’s most dangerous streets.

Walk SF also founded and supports San Francisco Bay Area Families for Safe Streets, a group of traffic crash survivors and the loved ones of people who have been killed or injured in traffic crashes. Members offer emotional support and work together to win changes to prevent more lives from being destroyed by traffic violence. Each November, Families for Safe Streets and Walk SF hold World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims

In addition, Walk SF works to increase the number of children safely getting to school on foot, bicycle, scooter, and transit as part of the San Francisco Safe Routes to School Partnership. Walk SF also brings together the voices of the 30+ community-based organizations, nonprofits, and civic groups that make up the Vision Zero Coalition, plus leads the Senior and Disability Work Group. And throughout the year, Walk SF offers a variety of walks to both explore the pure joys of exploring the city on foot and the challenges faced due to unsafe streets.

In 2019, Walk SF launched its first-ever three-year strategic plan. The long-term goals outlined in it are to: 1) end pedestrian traffic deaths and severe injuries, and 2) increase the number of trips people take on foot.

As part of the strategic plan, Walk SF prioritized both what it works on and how it will work. Crash data shows that San Francisco’s residents living in communities of concern suffer the most from traffic violence. These are communities with the most low-income people, immigrants, communities of color, seniors, children, and people with disabilities. That is why while Walk SF works in the interest of all pedestrians in San Francisco, Walk SF prioritizes its efforts on communities and/or geographies where issues of equity are most at play.

Walk SF also focuses its outreach and education in communities and populations that have disproportionately been impacted by traffic violence and often not engaged in the community process. Walk SF works hard to ensure a community’s voice is authentically brought forward to guide advocacy efforts, and build coalitions across diverse communities. That’s why Walk SF goes much deeper in its community engagement and advocacy work in neighborhoods like the Tenderloin, where traffic violence is a daily reality for the nearly 40,000 people who live there.

Walk SF’s vision is for a San Francisco where everyone – of every age and ability – can get around safely. And the benefits of making this vision a reality ripple far beyond the precious lives that will be saved. When it is safe and inviting for many more people to walk in San Francisco, it also means reducing climate emissions. It means thriving neighborhood businesses and greater health. It means changing the fact that people of color are more likely to live, work, and walk on dangerous streets. It means stronger and more connected communities.

A memorial to the lives lost in traffic crashes in San Francisco since January 2014. From the 2020 World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims. Photo by William McLeod with permission from Walk SF.

At a March 2019 action on the steps of City Hall to shine a light on recent traffic fatalities. Photo by Walk SF.

walksf.org