San Francisco’s District 5 Celebrates National Summer Learning Week

SF Department of Children, Youth & Their Families

6 min readJul 29, 2024

Every year, summer programs all around the country participate in National Summer Learning Week, hosting events that celebrate and elevate the importance of summer programs for children, youth, and working families.

In San Francisco, non-profit, community-based organizations (CBOs) are one of the primary providers of summer programming for thousands of the City’s children and youth. These programs prevent the learning loss that can happen during the months that school is out, and they are a vital support for San Francisco’s working families, who can rely on these programs to keep their children engaged in learning, safe, and having fun throughout the summer. In 2024, every CBO that is funded by the San Francisco Department of Children, Youth, and their Families (DCYF) to provide comprehensive, all-day summer programs for children and youth in grades K-8 hosted events to celebrate Summer Learning Week.

San Francisco’s District 5, which includes the Fillmore, Tenderloin, and Western Addition neighborhoods, hosted seven Summer Learning Week events. Read on to find out how summer learning was celebrated in this part of San Francisco!

Booker T. Washington Community Service Center

Booker T’s Summer Learning Week event centered around the theme of “Hand-in-Hand,” and focused on indigenous culture, land, history, and solidarity. The Booker T staff created lesson plans centered around wellness, particularly healing through nature, connecting to the earth, and the benefits of physical activity. Students read the book Mii maanda ezhi-gkendmaanh/ This Is How I Know by Brittany Luby, and had honest and open conversations about Indigenous land and the importance of acknowledging and learning about Indigenous cultures. The lessons lead to a grand finale: a trip to Muir Woods that allowed students to explore and connect with nature.

Cross Cultural Family Center

The Cross Cultural Family Center’s Summer School Age Program went on a field trip to The Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkeley for Summer Learning Week. Students had a great time with the exhibits and activities, maybe inspiring some of them to become scientists, musicians, inventors, or engineers! All of the students who went on the field trip live in the Tenderloin neighborhood, and one of the goals of the field trip was to go on an adventure outside of the City and learn new ways to observe nature that they can apply in the urban setting they live in.

GLIDE Foundation

A garden is a wonderful place for children to learn and grow, and Glide’s students entered their gardening era this summer by creating plots on Glide’s rooftop. During Summer Learning Week, students designed and painted planters, and learned about ecosystems and the anatomy of flowers. Students also planted fruits and veggies they can use in Glide’s nutrition classes. In addition to channeling their green thumbs, students got physical with Street Soccer USA and Circus Center, and attended the Tenderloin’s Creater Con event!

Southeast Asian Development Center (SEADC)

At SEADC, campers focused on the National Summer Learning Week theme of Literacy & Learning by writing kindness cards or postcards to their favorite sports stars. Soccer is the most popular sport among SEADC’s students, and students participated in a geography lesson based on their favorite World Cup Teams.

Shih Yu-Lang Central YMCA

During Summer Learning Week, Shih Yu-Lang YMCA campers participated in arts, wellness, and health activities and projects that allowed them the space to build community, learn wellness practices, and be innovative. Students cooked and worked on art and science projects together, providing the opportunity for them to bond, be creative, explore leadership opportunities, and reflect on everything they have enjoyed in camp this summer.

The Salvation Army Ray & Joan Kroc Community Center

This year the Kroc Center’s Summer Learning Week theme was “Flying Around the World.” Students researched and planned their dream international trip from SFO on a $3,000 budget, including the activities they would do, accommodations, and food. But that’s not all: they built volcanoes that would rise and erupt, built marble roller coasters, built mini model airplanes, and came up with positive affirmations to get a Social Emotional Learning “airplane” to take flight. Quite the finale for these lucky Kroc Center students: they ended their week with a field trip to Six Flags!

UP ON TOP

UP ON TOP’s Community Summer Program has turned the entire city into their classroom: every week of their summer program, UP ON TOPers go on field trips to the iconic sites and neighborhoods in San Francisco. During Summer Learning Week, they made their way out to Fisherman’s Wharf, Pier 39, and Alcatraz!

Curious about DCYF’s investment in District 5? Here is a full list of our District 5 CBO grantee agencies, with links to their websites:

Check out our entire Summer Learning Week 2024 series on Medium to learn more about how all of our CBO grantees make San Francisco a great place to grow up!