[ Info ]
The Tenderloin is a neighborhood in downtown San Francisco, California, in the flatlands on the southern slope of Nob Hill, situated between the Union Square shopping district to the northeast and the Civic Center office district to the southwest. It encompasses about 50 square blocks and a conservative description has it bounded on the north by Post Street, on the east by Mason Street, on the south by Market Street and on the west by Larkin Street. The northern boundary with Lower Nob Hill historically has been set at Geary Street.
With housing consisting almost entirely of single-room-occupancy hotel rooms, studio and one bedroom apartments, the Tenderloin historically housed single adults and couples. After World War II, with the decline in central cities throughout the United States, the Tenderloin lost population, creating a large amount of vacant housing units by the mid-1970s. Beginning in the late 1970s, after the Vietnam War, the Tenderloin received large numbers of refugees from Southeast Asia—first ethnic Chinese from Vietnam, then Khmer from Cambodia and Hmong from Laos. The low cost vacant housing, and the proximity to Chinatown through the Stockton Street Tunnel, made the area attractive to refugees and resettlement agencies. Studio apartments became home for families of four and five people and became what a local police officer called “vertical villages.” The Tenderloin quickly increased from having just a few children to having over 3,500 and this population has remained. A number of neighborhood Southeast Asian restaurants, banh mi coffee shops, ethnic grocery stores, video shops and other stores were created at this time, which still exist.
The one square mile Tenderloin District contains the largest population of homeless in the country. There are over 500 high-rise apartments filled with low-income and the poor. The need is great.
[ Dates and Cost ]
San Francisco 2012 will be on June 25-30, 2012. The trip will cost approximately $350 per person. This price includes transportation, food, and housing during our trip.
For more information, download the registration packet.
A $50 non-refundable deposit along with the registration form is due on February 19 to secure your spot. Participation in all team meetings and fundraisers is mandatory.
