SoMa Youth Collaborative

Children growing up in the South of Market (SoMa) are forced to grapple with the city’s biggest problems - income inequality, open drug use and sales, violence, homelessness, mental health crises and a lack of public resources. It was in response to this reality and a round of budget cuts that brought United Playaz and West Bay together in partnership to leverage resources, increase impact and improve services for SoMa youth. 

Soma Youth Collaborative

The vision for the SoMa Youth Collaborative (SYC) was developed with the spirit of collaboration and understanding that all youth in SOMA deserve to feel safe, seen and valued in their community.  It was founded by organizations that have collectively served SoMa for more than 50 years and are the only youth programs who are stakeholders in SOMA - United Playaz & West Bay. This partnership provides our community with a full spectrum of services that go beyond our organizations including social and emotional workshops, academic interventions, life skills training, workforce development, civic engagement, mental health support, art and cultural activities, and sports and recreational activities. SYC also works to bridge the gap between local service providers and our elementary school, Bessie Carmichael, with the thriving business community in SoMa to ensure our organizations can continue to flourish. 

Collectively, we serve over 600 youth for in and out of school support services.