San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC)

The SFPUC’s Community Benefits Program (CBP) is a comprehensive, agency-wide policy that prioritizes the wellbeing of the communities in which SFPUC serves and operates. Of particular importance are communities that have been historically disadvantaged, underserved, or otherwise suffered from racial, social, and resource inequities. Among San Francisco’s communities, there are few—if any—as disadvantaged as the City’s southeastern neighborhoods: Bayview-Hunters Point and Visitacion Valley. Due to the disproportionate impact SFPUC’s sewer system treatment facilities have on the City’s southeastern neighborhoods, the SFPUC committed to a $62 million investment into a new southeastern community center, providing much needed economic stimulus and job benefits to the communities most impacted by the City’s wastewater system operations. The outreach and engagement process involved a massive effort to penetrate this underserved population—one that had become distrustful of the government after years of disenfranchisement and broken promises. D&A led a robust outreach and engagement process.The goal was to reach as many community stakeholders and residents in the Southeast as possible and to involve them in solutions-driven planning, empowering their voices in the planning process for the new community facility.