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Program Areas

Community Leadership
Service Delivery

Community Educational Services’ programs provide multilevel support, learning and exploration.  As the lead agency of the Chinatown Beacon Center and Francisco Connection at Francisco Middle School, CES provides a continuum of care for K-12 youth.  CES’ work can be separated into three main program areas- Community Leadership, Centers for Learning and Development, and service delivery.

1) Community Leadership

As the only youth development organization in Chinatown, CES plays a major leadership role in the community.  Working in partnership with local groups and leaders, we identify issues affecting children, youth and families and help create real solutions. CES implements youth empowerment programs at twelve elementary, middle and high schools, providing positive learning environments across San Francisco. 

Locally, CES acts as a convener for the District 3 Youth Development Network, a collaboration of community-based youth organizations.  We work with the Network to create a comprehensive system of partners that support the healthy development of youth and their families in the Chinatown/North Beach community.

CES’ programs create centers for learning and growth, not only for youth but adults.  Our Principals’ Breakfast is one such example of investing in our community members’ development.  It is a bi-annual, informal gathering for principals in District 3 to meet and connect over their shared work.  Janet Dong, Principal of Jean Parker Elementary School said, “This meeting is what I need as an administrator…We hope that [Principal’s Breakfast] continues and we continue to refine out dialogue on how to best serve our children.”

2) Service Delivery

CES believes all children, youth and families should have access to services, skills, training, and opportunity.  Currently, we serve 2,000 children and youth.  Here is a listing of our programs:

  • The Chinatown Beacon Center hosts arts, sports, education, technology and parent support activities serving 600 children, youth, and parents. The Beacon center also convenes and/or contributes coordinating efforts to community forums and events ranging from an upcoming forum on college access to a recent event to celebrate Chinatown's rebirth after the 1906 earthquake.
  • The Outdoor Club gives youth the tools and opportunities to become leaders by engaging them in challenging outdoor activities. In planning and preparing for outdoor trips such as day hikes or overnight snowshoe trips, young people learn accountability, teamwork, healthy physical fitness and eating habits, self-sufficiency, and develop leadership skills.
  • Gateway to Health promotes physical fitness and nutrition of 60 Chinatown youth and their families.
  • Lunch Bunch organizes teambuilding, discussion groups, social activities, and middle school fieldtrips for 100 fifth graders at two Chinatown elementary schools to prepare them for the transition to middle school.
  • The Mayors Youth Employment & Education Program works through CES to provide jobs and educational guidance to 100+ Chinatown youth who might not otherwise be able to qualify for private sector jobs.
  • The Youth Empowerment Program provides opportunities and guidance for dozens of Chinatown youth to engage in community assessment, education, and media projects to address critical issues such as family communication, cultural pride, and educational equity. Currently these groups include ACT ONE (Asian Community Teens Organized for Neighborhood Empowerment), NiteLites, and the SALT Program (Summer Assistant Leader Training Program).
SCHOOL PARTNERED PROGRAMS

  • The After School Community Enrichment (ACE) program provides after school tutoring, art, science, and nutrition activities centered on literacy development to children at eight San Francisco elementary schools. Schools sites are Chinese Education Center, Garfield, Gordon J. Lau, Redding, Sherman, Jean Parker, John Yehall Chin, and Spring Valley.
  • Francisco Connection provides an extremely comprehensive range of services that students at Francisco Middle School need to do better in school and life. Services range from after-school tutoring to intensive mental health counseling to arts programs. FC provides both direct services while serving as Francisco's interface to the community by bringing in and coordinating the services of over a dozen other community agencies who collectively serve over 400 Francisco students.
  • The Galileo Health Academy integrates career exploration and training in the health field with science and English classes at Galileo in order to increase academic motivation and graduation rates of 120 students. The SFUSD has cited our academy as the leading health academy program in San Francisco, and is working with us to bring elements of the academy to several other schools.
  • ACT ONE is a high school leadership program.  One component of program is for youth to produce and host a radio program in Cantonese. Youth are challenged to develop their skills through creating and facilitating workshops for peers, primarily on issues of communication. Radio show themes include safe sex and health topics, acculturation to American society, challenges navigating school and peer/ family relationships.  Listeners comprise mainly of Chinese immigrants and parents have reported increased positive communication with their teens after listening to the program.
    Check our ACT ONE's newsletter!
  • Youth Empowerment Program coaches teachers to integrate youth empowerment and service-learning practices into their teaching as a means of increasing student engagement.

    REAL (Revitalizing Education And Learning), a unit of the Youth Empowerment Program, pairs CES staff with San Francisco public school teachers to integrate youth empowerment and service-learning approaches into the daily life of schools and specific classrooms.  Through this partnership, staff and teachers work to increase the engagement of students in their learning and their school community.  REAL directly serves roughly 200 students in SFUSD.

    The Training and Technical Assistance unit of CES aims to share what we have learned through real world experience and our on-the-ground work about youth development and the community with our partners as well as all other educators. We offer workshops and trainings in such practices as the Youth Empowerment Approach.  Some collaborators include: TEAMS, a teacher education program at the University of San Francisco; Teachers 4 Social Justice, a grass roots professional development organization in the Bay Area; and the Wellness Initiative’s Youth Outreach Coordinators of SFUSD.  Through these trainings, technical assistance, and collaborations, we work with several hundred teachers and educators throughout the Bay Area who in turn go on to impact their thousands of students.