Lights On Afterschool draws attention to the many ways afterschool programs support students and working families, and sends a powerful message that millions more children and youth across the country need quality afterschool programs.
Afterschool and out-of-school time (OST) programs offer children and youth from low-income and working families the chance to engage in meaningful learning that enhances their curiosity, builds social-emotional skills, and reinforces school-day lessons. These programs provide safe, structured environments where youth can be physically active, enjoy healthy foods, and develop relationships with peers and caring adults, all while their parents or caregivers work. High-quality OST programs promote academic achievement, help prevent risky behaviors during afterschool hours, and support healthy lifestyles through physical activity and nutrition education.
For the third year in a row, DCYF, our grantees, and our City Department partners celebrated Lights On Afterschool by participating in the Lights On Afterschool Lightbulb Challenge. We’ve compiled Lightbulb Challenge photos from more than 50 San Francisco agencies, and included all of them below.
Our Grantee Participants
San Francisco’s youth service workforce will be the first to tell you how important afterschool programs are in the lives of our City’s children, youth, and their families. Here’s a (fun!) bit of proof: after asking our grantees to join us to celebrate afterschool programs by participating in the Lightbulb Challenge, we received photos from agencies representing all six of our Service Areas: Educational Supports, Enrichment and Skill Building, Justice Services, Out of School Time, Youth Empowerment, and Youth Workforce Development!
We are so grateful for and proud of all of the work our grantee agencies do in San Francisco, and it warms our hearts to see them band together in support of afterschool programs!
Want to learn more about these wonderful agencies? Click their names to visit their websites.
3rd Street Youth Center & Clinic was founded as a community effort to ensure that the 6,000 young residents of Bayview Hunters Point had access to the same opportunities for healthcare, employment, and education as other youth in San Francisco. When it first opened in 2005, 3rd Street was run by a dedicated group of volunteers made up of neighborhood parents and upstanders who offered health education and arts programming over the summer months. Today, 3rd Street reaches more than 1,500 young people each year through a wide range of holistic services.
826 Valencia is dedicated to supporting under-resourced students ages six to eighteen with their creative and expository writing skills and to helping teachers inspire their students to write. Their services are structured around the understanding that great leaps in learning can happen with individualized attention, and that strong writing skills are fundamental to future success.
America SCORES inspires youth to lead healthy lives, be engaged students, and have the confidence and character to shape change in their communities. Their core offerings include soccer, poetry and service-learning projects.
A.C.T.’s mission is to engage the spirit of the San Francisco Bay Area, activate stories that resonate, promote a diversity of voices and points of view, and empower theater makers and audiences to celebrate liveness. A.C.T. values inclusion, transformational learning, participation and rigorous fun. A.C.T. is a Tony Award-winning nonprofit theater serving almost 200,000 people in the San Francisco Bay Area annually through theater, training, education and community programs.
APACC’s mission is to help strengthen Asian Pacific American families living in Visitacion Valley by providing linguistically and culturally appropriate programs and services to clients who are mostly low and moderate income immigrant families with limited or no English proficiency. The goal of their programs is to ensure that clients receive support in the form of education, resources, and referrals needed to adapt and become self sufficient.
BACR’s mission is to promote the healthy development of individuals and families, encourage service and volunteerism, and help build community. They provide direct school- and community-based services, connect volunteers with opportunities to best serve their communities, and build and strengthen all of the communities they serve so that community members and institutions can effect change.
The YMCA of San Francisco’s mission is to build healthy, sustainable, and equitable communities for all generations. With a focus on youth development, healthy living and social responsibility, the Y nurtures the potential of every youth and teen, improves the San Francisco Bay Area’s health and well-being, and provides opportunities to engage with and support each other.
Booker T. is one of the oldest Black-led and serving organizations in SF, with 105 years of service in the Fillmore/Western Addition. The center creates opportunities for individuals and families to become self-sufficient with dignity. Booker T. is a one-door community hub and anchor institution that provides affordable housing, family stabilization, education, childcare, culturally relevant groceries, after-school and summer programs, older adult programming, job training, and community building all through intergenerational and intersectional lenses.
Breakthrough believes all young people should have access to an excellent education, a clear pathway to college, and highly effective teachers committed to their success. In pursuit of this vision, they provide intensive, year-round academic enrichment and support to motivated fifth — twelfth graders with limited educational opportunities, as well as persistence support for our college students.
Buchanan YMCA — Cobb Elementary School Beacon Center
The YMCA of San Francisco’s mission is to build healthy, sustainable, and equitable communities for all generations. With a focus on youth development, healthy living and social responsibility, the Y nurtures the potential of every youth and teen, improves the San Francisco Bay Area’s health and well-being, and provides opportunities to engage with and support each other.
Buena Vista Child Care’s mission is to provide a safe and nurturing place where children can learn and grow. They believe each child is unique, and strives to help them develop and maintain a positive self-image. They offer strong academic structures, diverse enrichment, and opportunities for emotional and personal growth to prepare all of their students for successful futures.
Cameron House empowers the San Francisco Chinese community to build strength and resilience through family-centered programs. Their vision is a safe and healthy community where people learn, heal, and thrive.
The Chinatown Community Development Center builds community and enhances the quality of life for San Francisco residents. They We believe in a comprehensive vision of community, a quality environment, a healthy neighborhood economy, and active voluntary associations. They are committed to the empowerment of low-income residents, diversity and coalition building, and social and economic justice.
The YMCA of San Francisco’s mission is to build healthy, sustainable, and equitable communities for all generations. With a focus on youth development, healthy living and social responsibility, the Y nurtures the potential of every youth and teen, improves the San Francisco Bay Area’s health and well-being, and provides opportunities to engage with and support each other.
City Youth Now provides programs and services that promote personal growth, academic success, and stable employment for youth experiencing the San Francisco Foster Care and Juvenile Justice Systems.
The mission of The Cross Cultural Family Center is to provide child development services in cross-cultural settings with a commitment to high quality, community based, and developmentally appropriate early care and education programs.
Community Youth Center of San Francisco provides the culturally diverse youth of the community a shared sense of belonging, fuel for their curiosities, and a voice in their futures. Their mission is to encourage a diverse population of high-need young people to explore their full potential through academic, career, family, and community life.
FACESSF envisions a future where all families have what they need to live, grow, and thrive in San Francisco. To achieve their broader vision, FACES SF’s mission is for every child to reach their unique potential within a safe and joyful learning environment and every family to access a network of support that promotes well-being, opportunity, and community.
Since 2001, the FEC Galing Bata Bilingual Program has provided quality guidance, care, and protection (gabay, lingap, bantay) to students from transitional kindergarten to the eighth grade at Bessie Carmichael Filipino Education Center Pre K — 8. FEC Galing Bata programming harmonizes children’s culturally and linguistically sensitive development by promoting biliteracy in English and Filipino (Tagalog) through enrichment activities, academic support and engagement in thelarger multicultural community.
Girls on the Run provides fun, evidence-based programs that inspire participants to recognize their inner strength, increase their level of physical activity, imagine their possibilities, and confidently stand up for themselves and others.
GLIDE is a nationally recognized center for social justice, dedicated to fighting systemic injustices, creating pathways out of poverty and crisis, and transforming lives. Through their integrated comprehensive services, advocacy initiatives, and inclusive community, they empower individuals, families, and children to achieve stability and thrive.
Good Sam supports vulnerable children, youth, parents, and families who face the most challenges related to poverty, income inequality, immigration status, mental health challenges, and intergenerational trauma. They are committed to empowering families and enabling every child to achieve their full potential.
Ingleside Community Center
Ingleside Community Center’s mission is to create equal opportunities academically, athletically, socially, and emotionally for youth ages 6–24 who may be considered low-income, high-risk, foster, adopted, or homeless youth. Under ICC tutors’ and coaches’ supervision, youth receive the support and tools needed to improve academically, athletically, socially, and in life skills.
Jamestown Community Center — Buena Vista Horace Mann, Cesar Chavez, James Lick, and Longfellow Elementary School Beacon Centers
Through transformative youth development services rooted in the cultural traditions of their communities, Jamestown Community Center accompanies youth and their families on their path to realize their full potential as powerful and healthy members of society. Their programs include tutoring, before and after school academic enrichment, summer programs, social/emotional support, sports, youth workforce, parent leadership development and organizing, and arts education.
Juma is a nonprofit social enterprise that operates businesses with the purpose of employing young people. They make sure they EARN a paycheck, LEARN to manage their money and gain essential skills like responsibility, teamwork and how to communicate in the workplace. Ultimately, they CONNECT them to their next job or educational opportunity.
Legal Services for Children is a non-profit legal services and social work provider offering free legal advocacy, social-emotional support, information, advice, and referrals to low-income children and youth in the San Francisco Bay Area.
LYRIC’s mission is to build community and inspire positive social change through education enhancement, career trainings, health promotion, and leadership development with LGBTQQ youth, their families, and allies of all races, classes, genders, and abilities.
Mission Education Projects, Inc.
The primary mission of Mission Education Projects Inc. is to improve the quality of life of the youth and parents of extremely low and very low-income of San Francisco, particularly in the Mission district. MEPI provides a high quality structured After School Tutorial-Homework Program and a Summer Program focused on education, social awareness and recreation.
MSW operates 3 bilingual community science centers that provide hands-on science enrichment activities to underserved youth and families. They partner with public schools and local community organizations to provide field trips, after-school and summer programs, mobile programs, and free community drop-in days. Through experiments, tinkering and construction projects, our programs engage our students’ sense of curiosity and wonder to create authentic learning experiences.
The YMCA of San Francisco’s mission is to build healthy, sustainable, and equitable communities for all generations. With a focus on youth development, healthy living and social responsibility, the Y nurtures the potential of every youth and teen, improves the San Francisco Bay Area’s health and well-being, and provides opportunities to engage with and support each other.
MyPath fosters pathways for upward economic mobility by connecting BIPOC youth from under-resourced communities with opportunities to bank, save, and build credit and financial confidence as they earn their first income. They help cities, nonprofits and financial institutions integrate banking, saving, and credit-building tools directly into their existing youth-serving programs.
OTTP’s mission is to provide youth increased opportunities for personal, educational, and vocational success. They provide mental health services to Bay Area youth, ages 3–24, and support them in overcoming the barriers they face as a result of racial and social injustice.
Project Avary helps children heal from the impacts of having a parent in prison. They do this by surrounding youth with a long-term, supportive community of peer and adult mentors and by empowering them with leadership development skills so they can break free from generational cycles of trauma and incarceration.
The mission of R.O.C.K. is to nurture the healthy development of children by listening attentively to their needs and by providing opportunities to those who might not otherwise have access. R.O.C.K. is the largest provider of academic and social support for at-risk youth in Visitacion Valley. Their programs focus on addressing the whole needs of the child through uplifting sports and fitness programs, outdoor adventures, and nurturing school-based support.
The Samoan Community Development Center was founded to address the needs of the Samoan community and Pacific Islanders who migrated to the United States. Originally created to serve these populations, SCDC has expanded its services over time to meet the increasing needs of Pacific Islanders. SCDC has developed a range of programs tailored to various demographics, including youth from kindergarten through college, families, case management, summer cultural initiatives, mental health advocacy, breast cancer education and awareness, and justice-system re-entry support.
Sharp Circle’s mission is to liberate individuals from their internal and external obstacles so they can freely add their unique value to the world. Through innovative mentorship programs, they aim to help people transform self-limiting beliefs into self-actualizing convictions, and to transform constricting economic conditions into broadened horizons of possibility.
The YMCA of San Francisco’s mission is to build healthy, sustainable, and equitable communities for all generations. With a focus on youth development, healthy living and social responsibility, the Y nurtures the potential of every youth and teen, improves the San Francisco Bay Area’s health and well-being, and provides opportunities to engage with and support each other.
Street Soccer USA mobilizes the power of soccer to fight poverty and strengthen communities. SSUSA connects soccer skills to life skills, providing best-in-class, fun, and free soccer programming while helping participants cultivate positive relationships and find the resources needed to succeed. SSUSA’s programs target the hardest-to-reach and least served communities, including people who are unhoused, immigrants and refugees, and other special needs populations. Through community soccer clubs, a sports for development curriculum, and academic and social services support, SSUSA helps players and families discover their strengths, achieve their goals, and improve their future.
Success Stories is an alternative to incarceration that builds safe communities by delivering transformational feminist programs to youth and adults, with an emphasis on people who have caused harm.
The mission of Sunset Youth Services is to foster long-term stability and growth for systems-impacted youth, young adults, and families through caring relationships and supportive services. This goal is based on the simple belief that youth are inherently worthy of dignity and respect, and have the potential to positively contribute to their communities when their real needs are met.
TEL HI’s mission is to enhance the lives of the people in their community. They provide a combination of free and low-cost programs, such as infant and toddler care, preschool, after school activities, summer camp, personal development classes, senior programs, community celebrations, and the list goes on. By focusing on helping people, they make their community stronger.
TEL HI’s mission is to enhance the lives of the people in their community. They provide a combination of free and low-cost programs, such as infant and toddler care, preschool, after school activities, summer camp, personal development classes, senior programs, community celebrations, and the list goes on. By focusing on helping people, they make their community stronger.
The Tenderloin Community Benefit District’s core purpose is to lead the evolution of the Tenderloin into a vibrant community. Their TLCBD Youth Voice Program serves as a convener for centering Tenderloin youth for positive change through collective impact.
TNDC develops community and provides affordable housing and services for people with low incomes in the Tenderloin and throughout San Francisco, to promote equitable access to opportunity and resources. Rooted in the Tenderloin with branches across seven San Francisco neighborhoods and growing, TNDC strives to work alongside communities and meet people where they’re at. They believe that only together we can build a future with economic and racial equity.
The mission of The Yoga Project is to bring mindfulness-based practices to system-involved and other marginalized youth for their healing and empowerment. They understand that youth require a predictable, safe, supportive environment to heal. Their model includes specially trained trauma-informed teachers who bring tools for self-awareness and self-regulation to move youth from vulnerability into resilience.
The Richmond Neighborhood Center’s mission is to nurture a diverse urban community by developing and providing high quality youth, adult, and family programs that address critical community needs and foster respect for all people and their environment.
The YMCA of San Francisco’s mission is to build healthy, sustainable, and equitable communities for all generations. With a focus on youth development, healthy living and social responsibility, the Y nurtures the potential of every youth and teen, improves the San Francisco Bay Area’s health and well-being, and provides opportunities to engage with and support each other.
Ultimate Impact uses the team sport of ultimate Frisbee as the framework for providing youth with increased opportunities, confidence, communication abilities, and conflict-resolution skills. Through weekly training sessions, peer interaction, and consistent adult mentorship, Ultimate Impact creates a positive environment for youth to have fun, be active, improve athletic skills, and build community through the concept of a team.
United Playaz is a violence prevention and youth development organization that has operated from the heart of San Francisco’s SoMa district for 25 years. Their dedicated team shares similar backgrounds with the youth they serve, and works with the key insight that communities prosper from within. Their goal is to maintain a consistent ‘home’ that most of their youth lack. Their youth feel liberated when given a personal sense of security from those they can trust, and have the opportunity to grow from UP’s foundation of love and support.
Up On Top’s mission is to provide year-round, tuition-free after-school and summer programs, consisting of academic assistance, enrichment opportunities, recreational activities, neighborhood exploration, community service, and family support services to TK-5th grade students and their families. Open to all, Up On Top proudly provides services in San Francisco’s Tenderloin & Western Addition neighborhoods in an inclusive, culturally-diverse, and respectful manner to participants, families, staff, and partners.
Urban Services YMCA— Charles Drew Elementary Beacon Center and James Denman Middle School Beacon Center
The YMCA of San Francisco’s mission is to build healthy, sustainable, and equitable communities for all generations. With a focus on youth development, healthy living and social responsibility, the Y nurtures the potential of every youth and teen, improves the San Francisco Bay Area’s health and well-being, and provides opportunities to engage with and support each other.
West Bay Pilipino Multi-Service’s mission is to provide culturally sensitive services to enhance the quality of life of underserved youth, seniors, and their families. West Bay’s vision is that all youth, seniors, and their families have the knowledge, skill sets, and resources to do and be whatever they want to be.
YCD believes that every individual should have the right to sustainable and generational economic mobility. They positively impact lives, empower people to break cycles of poverty for themselves, their families, and their communities.
Youth 1st
Youth 1st’s mission is to improve the quality of life of young people through positive youth development in a safe and supportive environment. They encourage youth to become active, productive members of their families, schools and communities. They strive to develop a community in which people actively participate in the decisions that affect their everyday lives and for future generations. Youth 1st also provides a safe space for at-risk youth to develop healthy school habits, and receive counseling, mentoring and family strengthening.
Youth Speaks creates safe spaces that challenge young people to find, develop, publicly present, and apply their voices as creators of societal change. They envision a world in which young people are heard, honored and connected through creative ecosystems of interdependence and care.
Our City & County of San Francisco Partners
Every year when we invite our City department partners to help shine a light on the importance of afterschool programs, they absolutely come through. We are so thankful to have so many people in the ‘City Family’ who are eager to support afterschool programs — and nonprofit agencies in general — in San Francisco!
We would like to thank all of the students, youth service workers, volunteers, and City employees who took part in Lights On Afterschool 2024. Your partnership and support today — and every day — shines light on the critical role afterschool programs play in making San Francisco a great place to grow up!
