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The Footprints Network encourages the spirit and energy of community cohesion so that each footprint we leave today builds on the last, and leads to a future that includes everyone.

The Footprints Network connects community groups to one another so they can support and promote one another.

The Footprints Network is non-governmental, non-political, and entirely supportive of established policymaking and advisory structures. While some Member Groups are advocates for particular perspectives, the Network celebrates what we all have in common.

Member Groups: The Network welcomes Bayview Hunters Point groups that typically don’t have a place elsewhere: social clubs, church groups, neighborhood associations, families, new projects, small nonprofits, projects without funding or sponsorship, independent businesses, and the like

Supporting Organizations and Individuals: The Network is grateful to larger and more established groups and institutions from within and outside the community that commit to contributions in support of the network.

Steering Committee: The Network is guided by a core group of community leaders with deep roots in Bayview Hunters Point. Member Groups can appoint a representative to the Steering Committee which is always open to participation of all sorts.

Bayview Footprints brief history…

Bayview Footprints started in 2007 as a collaboration of several groups that were new at the time: Bayview History Preservation Project, Blue Dolphin Youth Swim Team, NozMind, Quesada Gardens Initiative, and Think Round, Inc. Those groups were unable to find support for their efforts, at that time, due to their informal status and a general lack of understanding about the importance of social networks and informal groups of residents to community health and vibrancy.

The organizers felt the need for support, and wanted to avoid stepping on each other’s toes. They believed there was a need to tell a balanced, more positive story about the neighborhood. They also recognized the need for more online community resources which, they felt, should be developed collaboratively instead of one group “owning” them.

The collaboration quickly grew to over two dozen groups, and led a series of successful programs. At the end of 2008, volunteers from all corners of the community came together to “reinvent” the collaboration, to ensure it met the needs of its members. The Bayview Footprints Network of Community-Building Groups emerged from that process.

Bayview Footprints activities…

Community “portal website” development and maintenance
Open, online community calendar
Regular Footprints Local e-blasts
Innovative Footprints Local print edition, posted publicly
Footprints Forums, for discussion of issues important to our member groups, and social gatherings to build community
Adopt-the-Network strategy for member groups to receive focused attention for a specific project
Technical assistance about nonprofit structure, organizational development, and fundraising
Inter-Network Collaboration development for projects and funding proposals of interest to member groups
Media work to create a more balanced, positive story about Bayview Hunters Point

Recent Footprints review and findings…

Background: At the end of 2008, Bayview Footprints did something you don’t see very often: a public review of what we do and how we do it. Even a collaboration fueled by volunteers, residents, and small organization staffers should be transparent, responsive and open to change.

Footprints leaders and allies asked the Haas Business School to send a team of advanced students to facilitate public meetings, interview member group representatives, and present feedback and recommendations. We also administered two surveys, one for our member groups, and another for the broader community that was sent out online and published in the last Footprints News edition.

Bayview Footprints is respected and appreciated, according to the review findings, and accomplishing things that the community wants to see more of. On the other hand, most folks had trouble saying what, exactly, “Bayview Footprints” is!

Communications turned out to be the critical challenge: communicating Footprints’ mission and structure, communicating member benefits and responsibilities, and communicating what the group actually does.

We listened. Here are the review findings, Footprints’ 2008 accomplishments, and our 2009 vision plan.

What is “Footprints” anyway? The question came up often during the intensive public review process that Bayview Footprints just concluded. The Haas Business School volunteers said, in their final recommendations, that “Member groups interviewed were proud of their membership,” but that “Footprints’ main focus should be on networking the member groups.”

And so, Footprints is no longer a Collaboration of Community-Building Groups.” Welcome to the Bayview Footprints Network of Community-Building Groups!

Footprints is proud of its long list of accomplishments, all the more because it’s only been eighteen months since the first groups got together and defined a focus on positive strategies that build community and tell a balanced story of our neighborhood’s strengths.

7 social gatherings attracting hundreds of residents at the library, Upper Crust Deli, Roadhouse Café, Webspot, Javalencia Café and Gallery 94124, and the Quesada Garden.
6 Footprints News print editions, and dozens of e-news briefs.
4 issue forums, at the library and the Southeast Community Facility on subjects including sidewalk and streets improvements, community responses to violence, history and culture, and arts funding to BVHP.
“Bayview Is…” campaign launched for all individuals and affinity groups to share their own experience of their neighborhood through photographs, videos, public art, and more.
Community calendar launched and paid for as a donation to collaborative work in the neighborhood.
1 portal website including a social networking component so that online resources for the neighborhood can be found and shared easily

Accomplishments are the result of pro bono contributions, a grant from Wells Fargo Bank, and a contribution from the Zellerbach Family Foundation for the new “Bayview Is…” mural at Newhall and Bridgeview. We are grateful to all.

How will Footprints leave an impression in 2009? Look for Footprints to continue the best of its 2008 contributions such as the communications work and the facilitation of forums for the exchange of information and perspective.

This year, we will try something new. The network and its resources will be open for adoption by organizations or institutions for specific projects or campaigns that require resident involvement.

As always, Footprints will celebrate the spirit of collaboration, and enjoy working alongside neighbors for the benefit of the Bayview Hunters Point community of which we are so proud to be a part.

Footprints’ description, revised with feedback from an open and public review: Bayview Footprints is a network of informal BVHP Member Groups building community, supporting resident leadership, and contributing to a balanced story about our beloved neighborhood. The “walking footprints” graphic represents the strength of diversity and the recognition that our past, present and future are inseparable.

Bayview Footprints Network of Community-Building Groups focuses on shared values and a belief that every conversation and handshake is shaping our community whether it occurs in a meeting room or on the street. The Network works to connect community groups to one another so they can support and promote one another.

Bayview Footprints Network of Community-Building Groups encourages the spirit and energy of community cohesion so that each footprint we leave today builds on the last, and leads to a future that includes everyone.