You Think You Know, But You Have No Idea

Bonjour, Connie here again! After catching some rest at the hostel, Monday was the first day out in the Tenderloin. The service site we were assigned to go to today was St. Anthony's Foundation, which was located about 10-15 minutes away. The brisk walk to St. Anthony was the beginning of a day full of shocking and unexpected situations. Walking toward the foundation, I had a better view of the situation than the night before. The ground was littered with trash; there were groups of people loitering, leering, smoking a bum here and there; the air was filled with the putrid smell of dank water and feces. I tried to not stare too much, but I couldn't help looking at what was happening to me - if someone stared at me directly, I immediately looked away.

Finally, after the longest time walking around the streets of the Tenderloin, we arrived at St. Anthony's. Immediately, I felt like the foundation had a special feeling to it. It was so inviting and open; when I walked in, many of the workers greeted me with a smile on their faces. The volunteer coordinator, Colleen, met us at the work room and began with an orientation/justice education describing the brief history of San Francisco as well as the mission and goals of the foundation. Hearing her speak, I was in awe of how many people the foundation served daily.

One of the things we learned about were Single Room Occupancies, otherwise known as SRO. Many of the people who lived in poverty or at the poverty line. The SROs were originally meant to be temporary housing after the big earthquake in SF but, after the rising amount of rates, they ended up being permanent housing for those people who could only afford low housing. As well, many of the people had the problem of having to budget expenses - most people who were living in the Tenderloin district collected social security only that amounted to $660 a month, $600 of which was used on Housing so they could only live on the next $60 to fulfill their basic needs.

Colleen also spoke of the five groups that the foundation served:
1) Recent immigrants
2) Seniors - 1 in 3
3) Mental illness
4) Addictive illness
5) Veterans - 1 in 4

What was shocking was that, even though Veterans had served our country, they were still not able to support themselves in a capacity that allowed them to live in a place with enough food and shelter.

The information I thought most interesting was the description of the borders of the Tenderloin. The Tenderloin is supposedly surrounded by areas of commerce:
1) To the west, it's surrounded by public commerce such as City Hall and other state or federal buildings
2) To the north, the area is surrounded by private wealth by Nob Hill, which has this literally physical boundary between the bad area and the good - Nob Hill is where all the fancy houses are, some of the real estate is some of the most expensive in the US
3) To the east, it's surrounded by commercial wealth - think huge, skyscrapers with wealthy bankers and 401k businesses
4) Lastly, to the south, it's a mix of all the above - big business, real estate, public commerce, and a bit of the Tenderloin mixed in

With these four borders surrounding the Tenderloin, the poverty of the city becomes entrapped and isolated. The things happening in the Tenderloin, such as sleeping out on the streets or panhandling, stay in this area; activities that are similar to those found in the Tenderloin are also pushed into this central area. As a result, many people don't see what happens in the Tenderloin (i.e. tourists) and, many times, it was a place that people overlooked. It was just heart-wrenching to hear about the situation these people were in and, as you can see, there was a lot of information to take in at the orientation.