Our mission

Coleman Advocates for Children and Youth is a member-led, multi-racial community organization working to create a city of hope, justice, and opportunity for all children and families in San Francisco.

What we do

Through grassroots leadership development, youth and parent organizing, budget and policy advocacy, civic engagement and strategic alliance-building, Coleman has transformed public institutions, improved the lives of tens of thousands of residents, and become a national model for community-driven change.

Among other contributions to local movements for education and economic justice, we have:

• Spearheaded campaigns to pass the Children’s Amendment, which now guarantees more than $50 million in annual funding for children and youth services.
• Created new public systems for quality, affordable childcare.
• Won reforms at the SF Juvenile Hall which led to a significant decrease in the unnecessary incarceration of young people of color.
• Won the resources to start 7 school-based Wellness Centers in SFUSD and creating Youth Vote and the SF Youth Commission, through youth-led campaigns.
• Helped to create multiple vehicles for meaningful parent engagement in SFUSD, including the SF Parent Advisory Council.
• Influenced substantive changes to the current MOU between SFUSD and SFPD, in order to prevent unnecessary student referrals to the juvenile justice system.
• Won multiple precedent-setting education equity reforms, including the A-G/College and Career for All Policy in SFUSD and CCSF’s equity-based reforms to its placement testing policies.
• Successfully advocated for a dramatic expansion of the city’s investment in workforce development resources in the Southeast neighborhoods most affected by unemployment.