Dynamic duo helps businesses in San Francisco's Bayview neighborhood
SAN FRANCISCO -- A pair of native San Franciscans is building a sense of community and empowerment in underserved neighborhoods.
Jameel Patterson and Majeid Crawford recently walked along Bayview's Third Street on a mission. They went door-to-door where many shop owners are African American.
They greeted one woman, the owner of a new beauty salon.
Patterson and Crawford let the entrepreneurs know they can apply for government grants, and the pair can help them submit the applications.
"We're going to come back to see what grants are out there for you. This is amazing," Crawford told the shop owner.
Crawford and Patterson have helped several dozen entrepreneurs in San Francisco secure nearly a million dollars in grants for small business training, rent relief, and other needs.
The pair leads the non-profit New Community Leadership Foundation in San Francisco, which Patterson co-founded in 2011.
And for Crawford, its executive director for the last four years, his commitment is very personal: His father, a jazz saxophonist, returned from the military with a dream to play on Fillmore Street like his uncle.
But the Fillmore was no longer the popular black entertainment venue of the 40s and 50s.
"For it to be bulldozed, for the redlining to take place, it broke my Dad's heart, it broke a lot of people in my family's heart. And it breaks my heart," Crawford said.
He and Patterson are rebuilding their broken community.
"We got tired or a community being in despair, got the violence, a community of no hope," Patterson said. "We just wanted to do something to bring the black community back to its glory days."
They've started with restaurants like Radio Africa Kitchen.
Chef and owner Askender Aseged plans to open a commissary kitchen so young chefs can hone their skills.
Crawford and Patterson helped him get a small business grant.
"They're telling people like what we could do; they're inspiring people everyday," said Aseged.
And giving them hope.
The pair says the key is to "activate" the community – get citizens involved, from voter registration to participation in cultural events.
One example was the NCLF team raising a million dollars in grants to revitalize the Fillmore Turk Mini Park, the last black park in the Fillmore. And they want to use it for community gatherings.
So for empowering San Francisco's black community through the New Community Leadership Foundation, this week's Jefferson Award in the Bay Area goes to Jameel Patterson and Majeid Crawford.
