In dark times, finding hope in San Francisco’s Tenderloin

If you haven’t seen Joe Wilson address a crowd, you’re missing out.

The executive director of Hospitality House, which serves homeless and low-income people through a variety of programs, is a stirring orator. He takes his audience by the hand and, reassuringly, helps them envision a better future.

That’s what he was doing earlier this month at a meeting of the Tenderloin People’s Congress, a local group that regularly convenes staff of nearby organizations and others who care about the neighborhood. 

I saw him remind them that they mattered.

It’s an effect that we aspire to have too, as we prepare to launch a local newsroom. We think that when people feel like they matter, they’re more likely to participate socially and politically. And that’s how they change things, for the better.

I watched as the room locked eyes on Joe, as he roused them to straighten in their chairs. When he finished, they broke out in applause and joyous laughter.

Doubtless, at least some of them needed that. They were fresh off an effort to push City Hall to invest in long-identified projects to improve their public spaces and generally make life better. They got nothing. Worse than nothing, actually, because the latest city budget reduced funding to critical local services for the poorest San Franciscans. 

Joe had the air of a coach, huddling with an exhausted team late in the game. He set this moment in context, laying out the long struggle to win civil rights in this nation, especially for African Americans, and then the rise of fascism that we now face. My mind went to the escalating ICE arrests in San Francisco, and how immigrants must feel under siege.

“When we look at this struggle, there are times where it seems like we are scaling straight up the side of a vertical mountain — that every step takes everything we have,” Joe said. “But when we look down on the ground, we see footprints in the snow. Which tells us, someone has made this journey before us. It is possible. It is possible. Believe that. Never give up hope.”

Joe pointed to attendees.

“You are our best hope for our future,” he said. “Someone is paying attention to you, whether or not you know it in that moment. They are watching you. So give them something to be proud of. Keep doing what you’re doing. We need you.”

Hope can be an elusive feeling in the Tenderloin neighborhood. I know, because I’ve been at many meetings like this in recent months, watching how community members politically organize and the response they get from city leaders.

There is a popular narrative that the Tenderloin is a “containment zone,” where bad living conditions and society’s more spurned people concentrate. Far-right national publications push that framing, especially since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and sometimes local outlets resort to it too. It is not a fair or full telling. Add to this that when the community asks for help to address the problems that are real, politicians may not deliver — this budget cycle wasn’t the first time, and it won’t be the last.

So I think it’s easy to spot some of the reasons why voter turnout might be depressed in the Tenderloin. In the November 2024 election, citywide turnout was 79%, but in the Tenderloin it was about 62%. It was even lower — 47% — for the neighborhood’s supervisorial race. It’s a tall order to ask that people engage civically and politically when they feel unseen, unwanted, or perhaps disrespected by their city.

Through News Relay Network, we want to help them feel differently. Our forthcoming newsroom serving the neighborhood will amplify the voices here calling for positive change.

If denizens are generally united in wanting something, our work will say so and challenge politicians to satisfy that need. On the other hand, if people disagree then we’ll help them understand each other, refine ideas, and possibly reach compromises. And, unlike much coverage of the Tenderloin, ours won’t wait for the next election or City Hall budget cycle to surface these issues. We’ll talk about them whenever — and for as long as — they’re on the minds of our audience.

And identifying what’s on their minds will be a key part of this process. Through our model, the audience will decide what we cover; we will proactively share editorial control with them in perpetuity. This means we’ll never be guessing at what information our readers want or need.

We hope that this will make more people want to stay in the know, to vote, to take powerful leaders to task, and to generally participate in driving the neighborhood’s future.

The goal is to make it impossible for officials to forget what Joe knows, and what we know: The people of the Tenderloin do matter.

News Relay Network aims to launch a newsroom in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood in 2025. We are meeting with people and groups in the area to learn their information needs, and will hold larger listening sessions soon.

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