Established in 1994, Bayview Hunters Point Community Advocates is a grassroots organization founded, governed, and operated by long-term members of the vulnerable Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood in San Francisco. Our programs combine community organizing with education, advocacy, and direct services. We take an active role in mobilizing the Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood on issues of environmental and economic justice.
In 2000, the Advocates received a grant from the San Francisco Foundation to connect hazardous waste training programs and employers, as well as a small grant from Pacific Gas & Electric Company to support the first Bayview Hunters Point Wellness Expo.
In the 2000s, the Advocates created the ACE Project. The program worked with Bayview residents considered at the time to be unemployable (no high-school diploma, felony convictions) and trained them in the building trades, with placements into the Carpenters’ and Electricians’ unions, and permanent placement with solar-panel installation firms. This $1.3 million project successfully installed and maintained dozens of photovoltaic panel arrays, and inspired the creation of the Jobs Now and Environment Now programs for the unemployed. The Advocates participated in multiple neighborhood collaborations as part of executive and research committees, co-authoring policy papers, and testifying at official hearings., including:
- Bayview Hunters Point Asthma Task Force
- Ditching Dirty Diesel Collaborative
- Windows on the Environment Project
- A State of California study of Yosemite Slough
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