Updates

PODER’s Youth Program is a youth leadership program focused on social and environmental justice through hands-on activities and workshops.   This summer we will be intentionally focused on team building and connecting to our roots in our community through: gardening, cultural exchanges, political education, making art, eating together and having fun! We will also be learning bike riding skills as a form of environmental justice, expanding our transportation by decreasing our carbon footprint, and community building.      Youth program will run from June 15th- July 29th 2022 Our program will be in person both outdoors and indoors (practicing covid safe protocols) in Excelsior and Mission District locations (all bus/bart accessible!). Our summer will culminate with a showcase of our work on July 22nd and then we take off for a fun, week long bike camping trip from SF-Santa Cruz on July 24th-July 29th. Wednesdays: Fun, political education workshops with Chinese Progressive Association (most will happen at Hummingbird Farm in the Excelsior). Thursday/Fridays: Environmental Justice Education and bike skills training (will mostly happen in Mission District.) This is intended for youth who: 🖐want to connect to other youth 🍃want to learn about environmental justice and be active in their communities 🍃💚🎨 Want to get connected to a network of youth organizing, artists, farmers and bike riders! want to build their bike riding skills in the city and are looking to go on a week long bike camping adventure! The week long camping trip at the end of summer from July 24-July 19th in collaboration with California Field School and Food Wise Teens is a free trip and will be available only to youth who complete the summer program.  If youth have a busy summer, and can only participate on Wednesdays, this is an option! However, you will not be eligible for bike camping trip.  CLICK HERE TO APPLY!

We are seeking a strategic and experienced storyteller to lead our narrative and communications work, amplify the voices of our community, and drive transformative narrative and communications efforts for environmental and climate justice.

Full announcement is here: PODER Communications Organizer

“I saw public banking as a ray of hope – our public money shouldn’t go towards terrorizing families and preventing them from having a home” – Reina Tello, Community Organizer with PODER. Check out the latest podcast in the Stories from Home series of the Climate Justice Alliance, profiling PODER and the community’s fight to win a San Francisco Public Bank.

November 3, 2020 is election day. We need our community to exercise your right vote to go to the polls or send in your ballot. Your vote is your voice!

For a Voter Guide in English, click here.

For information on voting safely in 2020, click here.

El 3 de noviembre 2020 es el día de las elecciones. Necesitamos que nuestra comunidad ejerza su derecho al voto y salga a las urnas o mande su boleta electoral. ¡Su voto es su voz!

Para una guía para votantes, clique aquí.

Para obtener información como votar con seguridad en 2020, clique aquí.

Thanks to San Francisco Rising and the California Environmental Justice Alliance for the important resources.

Gracias a San Francisco Rising y California Environmental Justice Alliance por los importantes recursos.

***PRESS RELEASE***

San Francisco Budget and Legislative Analyst Urges City to Develop Plan for a Public Bank 

City report highlights need for public bank to open the door to rapid, sustainable, and equitable recovery during the COVID-19 crisis and to invest in long-standing needs such as affordable housing, small business, and green infrastructure

SAN FRANCISCO — A report released by the City of San Francisco’s Budget and Legislative Analyst (BLA) Office on public banking recommends that the City immediately set up a Working Group to develop a business plan for a San Francisco public bank, which will address capitalization, funding, lending operations, and governance to be submitted to the Board. This report was first requested by District 1 Supervisor Sandra Lee Fewer, who has been a champion of public banking since entering office in 2017.

“The Budget and Legislative Analyst report demonstrates clear and compelling reasons for moving forward with a plan to create a public bank in San Francisco,” said Supervisor Fewer. “Such an institution could invest in the rebuilding of our local economy to benefit San Franciscans. A public bank for the public good? Absolutely.”

The medium-term impact of the current economic recession could be addressed with the creation of a public bank by investing in affordable housing, public infrastructure, and small businesses. As the Budget and Legislative Analyst office writes, “our present circumstances highlight ever more clearly the need for such an institution, which could provide the City and its residents with an additional set of powerful tools to promote economic regeneration, and to address long-standing problems such as the multi-decade crisis of affordable housing and the need for a large-scale publicly financed energy transition.”

The BLA report’s public banking model outlines the following:

• A San Francisco Public Bank would be profitable immediately due to the nature of the funding arrangements with the City, and public bank operating costs would be similar to industry standards.
• A San Francisco Public Bank would cultivate lending agreements to support a network of affiliated community institutions, including local and regional credit unions, banks, loan funds, and Community Development Financial Institutions.
• A San Francisco Public Bank will have “strong risk buffers,” considering the public bank’s capital-to-asset ratio will far exceed the level at which the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation defines a bank as “well capitalized.”
• The City’s investment pool can be tapped safely for establishing a public bank without impacting current spending and can be enlarged by utilizing its interest earnings.

“The COVID-19 crisis has plunged communities that were already struggling into further poverty and homelessness,” said Reina Tello, community organizer at PODER. “This report reveals what we already knew to be true: A public bank in San Francisco will provide an economic lifeline to San Franciscans for years to come. We can invest in what our people need, such as financing affordable housing, investing in small businesses, and building an economy that meets peoples’ needs.”

The report can be viewed in full here.

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The San Francisco Public Bank Coalition unites diverse community and labor organizations to advocate for a public bank, including Bill Sorro Housing Project (BiSHoP), People Organizing to Demand Environmental and Economic Rights (PODER), Council of Community Housing Organizations (CCHO), Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights, Democratic Socialists of America – SF Chapter, and United Educators of San Francisco (UESF).