San Francisco Mayor London Breed Redirects $3.75 Million from Law Enforcement to Black Businesses as Part of Dream Keeper Initiative

San Francisco Mayor London N. Breed announced yesterday the awarding of $3.75 million to serve San Francisco’s Black and African American small business community.

This investment by the Office of Economic and Workforce Development (OEWD) and the San Francisco Human Rights Commission (HRC) is part of the Dream Keeper Initiative, which is reinvesting $120 million from law enforcement into San Francisco’s African American community.

In June 2020, following the killing of George Floyd, Mayor Breed and Supervisor Shamann Walton announced a plan to prioritize the redirection of resources from law enforcement to support the African-American community. Following that plan, HRC led an extensive and collaborative process with the community to identify and prioritize funding needs and developed a report to guide the reinvestment.

The community engagement process included more than 60 community meetings, listening sessions, coalition convenings, and surveys with over 700 respondents. As part of the budget process, Mayor Breed redirected $120 million from law enforcement for investments in the African American community for Fiscal Years 2020-21 and 2021-22.

This funding is aimed at mitigating the economic hardships facing San Francisco’s African American community and will support rebuilding of the community’s economic power in San Francisco.

“Across this country, and in our City, we’ve seen how the Black community’s economic growth and prosperity has historically been disrupted and marginalized,” said Mayor Breed. “This funding is part our efforts to undo the harm of generations of disinvestment and economic inequities. As we work to recover and make San Francisco a better place to live, work, and do business, we have to invest our resources in a way that lifts up and supports African American small businesses owners, entrepreneurs, and the entire community.”

As part of the Dream Keeper Initiative, OEWD has awarded 17 Black-serving community organizations with funding to provide services and achieve improved economic development outcomes for African American businesses, entrepreneurs, and the African American and Black communities in San Francisco more broadly.

The organizations awarded funding include Working Solutions, the San Francisco African American Chamber of Commerce, San Francisco Housing Development Corporation, Children’s Council of San Francisco, En2action, SF Black Wallstreet, Center for Equity and Success, Inc., Mercy Housing California, Young Community Developers, New Community Leadership Foundation, The Good Rural, Urban Ed Academy, Citizen Film. Inc., Bayview Hunters Point Community Advocates, Inc., African American Arts and Culture Complex, Bayview Opera House, Inc., and the Homeless Children’s Network.

Dream Keeper Initiative 

The goal of the Dream Keeper Initiative is to improve outcomes for San Francisco’s Black and African-American youth and their families, and will provide family-based navigation supports to ensure that the needs of all family members are addressed cohesively and comprehensively. With this coordinated approach, the Dream Keeper Initiative aims to break the cycle of poverty and involvement in the criminal justice system for the families in its City programs and ensure that new investments, including in youth development, economic opportunity, community-led change, arts and culture, workforce, and homeownership, are accessible to San Francisco’s families who are most in need.

More information about the Dream Keeper Initiative is available online at sf-hrc.org/city-fund-reallocation-dream-keeper-initiative