NEWS RELEASE
SFPUC Contact:
Larry Berry
415-535-5232
lberry@sfwater.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 22, 2024
Southeast Community Center Celebrates Black History Month
Festivities include the 6th Annual Black History Month Parade, performances, exhibits, free food, and a Hearts in San Francisco sculpture unveiling
SAN FRANCISCO — The Southeast Community Center (SECC) is proud to celebrate Black History Month in partnership with the Mayor's Office of Economic and Workforce Development, the Dream Keeper Initiative, Burges LLC, and the Bayview YMCA with a parade and community festival.
When:
Saturday, February 24, 2024
Event Details:
11 am: Parade starts at the Bayview Opera House at 3rd Street at Newcomb Ave
12 pm: Parade concludes and the festival begins at the Southeast Community Center, 1550 Evans Ave
1 pm: Heart sculpture unveiling at Southeast Community Center, 1550 Evans Ave
The parade and festival celebrate the long history of San Francisco’s Black community and its contributions to the City. The parade will start at the Bayview Opera House on Third Street and Newcomb. The procession of horses, classic cars, floats, dancers, and revelers will make their way down Third Street starting at 11 a.m. The parade will end at the SECC, where community will gather to enjoy a full afternoon of activities, performances, the unveiling of a Hearts in San Francisco sculpture, and free food, including a gumbo tasting!
“The parade and festival will be fun for the whole family!” exclaimed SECC Executive Director Emily Rogers-Pharr. The day is an opportunity for folks to come out and just have a good time and celebrate our Blackness with good food, good music, and good fun.”
The community will enjoy a slate of free activities, including a story time with Rue Mapp of Outdoor Afro, a hip-hop beat making workshop, and a college panel for prospective attendees to Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Stage performances include Alphabet Rockers, Hip-Hop for Change, a poetry performance, a comedy show and more. Local restaurants , Sir Hands, Gourmanade, and Yvonne's Southern Sweets will provide complimentary food. Bayview’s Gumbo Social restaurant will host a Gumbo Competition, inviting festival guests to vote on their favorite gumbo. Families can enjoy a children’s play area hosted by Wu Yee, an exhibit of classic cars, and pony rides with the Black Cowboys!
Southeast Gets a Heart
The SECC is getting a heart! The Southeast Community Center worked closely with the San Francisco General Hospital Foundation’s Hearts in San Francisco program to place one of the iconic heart sculptures at the center. It will be the first heart to be installed in the southeast sector of the city.
The heart will be unveiled as one of the activities of the festival (around 1 pm). ‘Justice’, designed by local artist André Renay, features Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Reverend Jesse Douglas, James Forman, and Ralph Abernathy marching from Selma to Montgomery for voting rights for African Americans on one side. The other side looks to the future, featuring children and the written message “Black Lives Matter.” The artist will be present to discuss his design process.
Susan Murphy, Chair of the Southeast Facility Commission, said, “We chose this design because the message of Andre’s design aligns with the center’s core values. It celebrates the legacy of the SECC’s founders, whose strong community activism is an inspiring example of civic leadership and advocacy.” She went on to say, “Home is where the heart is. The heart is here at SECC.”
The Foundation’s hearts program represents a city dedicated to caring for each of its citizens. The hearts are a symbol of pride in a public hospital that is there for every single one of us – whether in times of crisis and trauma or in everyday health. Each heart symbolizes a commitment to care for all and support for the people and programs on the front lines at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital & Trauma Center.
About the Southeast Community Center
The SECC is a hub for the local community to gather, learn, play, and grow. Through a strategic partnership model, the SECC offers programming to promote the health, well-being, cultural, educational, and financial empowerment of southeast residents. The center helps to meet mitigation requirements addressing the environmental and social impacts of the SFPUC’s Southeast Treatment Plant's expansion in the 1970s and 1980s on the residents of the Bayview-Hunters Point community.
About the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission
The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission is a department of the City and County of San Francisco. It delivers drinking water to 2.7 million people in the Bay Area, collects and treats wastewater for the City and County of San Francisco, and meets over 70 percent of the electricity demand in San Francisco. Our mission is to provide our customers with high-quality, efficient and reliable water, power, and sewer services in a manner that values environmental and community interests and sustains the resources entrusted to our care. Learn more at www.sfpuc.org.