In addition to the advocacy and fundraising undertaken by the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Parks Group in its history, it currently oversees four major initiatives, and is planning to introduce a fifth.  All of its programs and activities are structured to meet its mission and to empower all residents, youth and their families to be healthy, safe and to positively impact their community.

This project is the umbrella for all of the community building and stewardship development activities of the HVNPG. The goal of Project Parks-Green Connect is to build community ownership and pride in Hayes Valley parks by involving and empowering diverse community members to become actively involved in their parks. Through this project we serve over 1,000 residents, families and youth.  We do this through:

In what was once a derelict park, little used except by drug users and prostitutes, the HVNPG has created a vibrant Community Learning Garden, the crown jewel in our efforts to revitalize the neighborhood.  Under the direction of a full time garden educator, HVNPG's Community Learning Garden serves over 500 neighborhood students and residents.  Three hundred and fifty of them are elementary school students and their teachers from John Muir Elementary School and International Academy, fifty are community garden members, and over one hundred are residents, families and seniors.

The primary goals of the Community Learning Garden are to help at-risk youth in the community to develop an understanding and passion for nature, to build core academic and interpersonal skills, and create a sense of community and caring between neighborhood youth and adults. In order to accomplish these goals, HVPNG and its staff oversee a number of programs and activities:

The garden educator works with schoolteachers to complement the California Core Academic Standards with garden lessons that teach science, math, language arts and literacy.  Practical skills such as food production and composting are learned as well.  Social skills like teamwork and respect for living things are continually practiced.  During the day, students gather in the garden to learn about growing plants and vegetables, write stories, measure seeds and plots, discuss native cultures, create a reggae musical on Tom (Jack) in the Beanstalk, discover birds and insects, and explore with each other the intricacies of life and nature and how they are a part of the dynamic balance. 

This project, active since 1998, brings together over 1,000 people, members of churches, schools, and community based organizations to learn a peace empowerment process as they paint tiles of what peace means to each person.  Through the integration of the visual arts, a curriculum and program was taught that focused on tolerance, understanding, and non-violence, and collectively learned ways to develop positive and proactive solutions to resolving conflicts and defusing anger.  The project has been developed and implemented by residents for residents--a true community endeavor.

As a result of this project, children, residents, and seniors, many living in public housing and high crime areas of the Western Addition, designed over 1,600 tiles.  Our final steps are to employ the services of a tile setter to put the tiles and signage on a large wall of the Daniel E. Koshland Community Park.  We are currently fundraising for the completion of this project, which will happen on Mother's Day, May 13, 2007.  Begun in 1999, and funded in part by the San Francisco Foundation, the World Wall for Peace, San Francisco Beautiful, and the Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Beautification-Community Challenge Grant, this HVNPG project has raised over $120,000.00.

This is a new project which will aim to empower and train a group of diverse teens to provide stewardship over five Hayes Valley parks, as they become "park rangers," under the guidance of our trained staff. The goals of the program are to reach at least fifteen at-risk, ethnically and economically diverse teens from the community, and provide them with opportunities to engage in meaningful community service, develop a wide variety of skills and leadership qualities.  This project has the potential to engage over 250 individuals, residents and City leaders.

Their role will be to care for the parks, and to serve as ambassadors to the community through a variety of communication strategies. They will also help to grow food in the gardens and distribute it to the needy of the community.

The John Muir Green Schoolyard Project, begun in the summer of 2003, will transform the school's large cement yard into a thriving green space for play and beauty, with grass, trees, plants and play structures.  Ideally, this area will allow over 350 children (K-5th grade) to play in ways that enhance their learning and satisfy their sensory-motor requirements.

We estimate this project will cost $200,000, and will take 3-5 years to complete.  We are in the beginning stages of fundraising.

In what was once a derelict park, little used except by drug users and prostitutes, the HVNPG has created a vibrant Community Learning Garden, the crown jewel in our efforts to revitalize the neighborhood.  Under the direction of a full time garden educator, HVNPG's Community Learning Garden serves over 500 neighborhood students and residents.  Three hundred and fifty of them are elementary school students and their teachers from John Muir Elementary School and International Academy, fifty are community garden members, and over one hundred are residents, families and seniors.

The primary goals of the Community Learning Garden are to help at-risk youth in the community to develop an understanding and passion for nature, to build core academic and interpersonal skills, and create a sense of community and caring between neighborhood youth and adults. In order to accomplish these goals, HVPNG and its staff oversee a number of programs and activities:

The garden educator works with schoolteachers to complement the California Core Academic Standards with garden lessons that teach science, math, language arts and literacy.  Practical skills such as food production and composting are learned as well.  Social skills like teamwork and respect for living things are continually practiced.  During the day, students gather in the garden to learn about growing plants and vegetables, write stories, measure seeds and plots, discuss native cultures, create a reggae musical on Tom (Jack) in the Beanstalk, discover birds and insects, and explore with each other the intricacies of life and nature and how they are a part of the dynamic balance.