The Adopt-An-Alleyway Youth Empowerment Project is a non-profit project of the Chinatown Community Development Center based in the Chinatown area of ​​San Francisco.
Volunteers clean up the San Francisco Chinatown alleys, organize monthly programs for seniors and children, and provide a tour with Chinatown Alleyway Tours.
Video Adopt-An-Alleyway Youth Empowerment Project
History
The project began in 1991 when Rev. Norman Fong, a member of the Chinatown Community Development Center and a Chinatown supporter, recruited high school youth from Galileo High School to assist him in his quest to beautify the alleys of Chinatown San Francisco. Back in the 1980s, the City of San Francisco did not officially recognize the alleys as city streets, so nothing was done to defend it, which caused a lot of graffiti and trash in those areas. For this reason, he decided to start the project. In 2007, the alleys were still not considered a path as they did not meet the 32 foot wide requirement, though other alleys outside Chinatown were. In 2007, there were about 30 members in the youth empowerment program, and 10 paid workers.
Maps Adopt-An-Alleyway Youth Empowerment Project
Volunteer life
Adopt-an-Alleyway (AAA) consists of volunteers (general members and cabinet) and coordinator (s). Monthly general meetings are held on the first Friday of each month, where all volunteers gather to discuss and review upcoming events for the month. The Cabinet will hold their meetings every second Friday of each month, overseen by the coordinator, to plan events and organize events. The cabinet consists of a president, vice president, two secretaries, four social seats, and three to five cabinet leaders. Event/volunteer services performed by the organization include: "Tenant Services", "Super Sunday", and removal of clean-up/graffiti.
"Tenant Service" is done twice a month, where young people go to the single room that occupies the vicinity of Chinatown San Francisco and interact with the seniors living there, bridging the intergenerational gap.
"Super Sunday" is an event where youths take care of children while their parents hold SRO meetings at Gordon J. Lau Elementary School.
The removal of clean/graffiti is where young people enter into groups, headed by cabinets, to sweep or paint over the graffiti of Chinatown alleys in San Francisco.
Awards
On May 12, 2007, the Project won the 2007 Crissy Field Heroes award and owns a video venue at the Crissy Field Information Center.
As part of the project, AAA also offers a Chinatown gang tour, starting at Portsmouth Square.
List of Chinatown Alleyways in English and Chinese
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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