Coleman Advocates for Children and Youth has worked to improve the lives of San Francisco’s children, youth, and families for over 30 years. We completed our Five Year Strategic Plan in 2006 and since then we have successfully become a member-driven, community-based organization of working families, youth, advocates and service providers.

Our mission is to make San Francisco a city of hope, justice and opportunity for all children and their families. We have a pioneering hybrid model of policy advocacy and grassroots organizing, with the leadership development of young people and parents at the center. Our recent strategic plan clarified that while we seek to improve the lives of all children, our constituency is low to moderate income families in San Francisco, the majority of whom are families of color.

Parents Making a Change (P-MAC which was formerly known as Parent Advocates for Youth) and Youth Making a Change (Y-MAC) are Coleman’s two organizing projects. Staff organizers conduct daily outreach in the schools, recruit members and conduct one-on-ones to build relationships with members and encourage active participation and leadership roles. We also have a coalition of city service providers, and a broad network of thousands of individual advocate-supporters. In our new model, only members vote on and drive our policy agenda.

Since the completion of our 5 Year Strategic Plan, the quality of San Francisco public schools has become a core priority for Coleman Advocates, alongside the need to dramatically increase the construction of affordable housing for working families . Improving the quality of the public schools and affordable family housing are key to keeping working families in the city, and is central to ensuring that the thousands of low income young people of color living in San Francisco today become the next generation of working people, homeowners and civic leaders. We also have a growing Family Budget Coalition that advocates each year to protect and expand the city-funded safety net for low income families in San Francisco.

OUR VALUES AND GUIDING PRINCIPLES from our 2006 Five Year Strategic Plan

• We believe that all people, including parents and young people, have a democratic right to express their voice and exercise their power in the political and economic decisions that affect their lives.
  
• We believe that the rights and dignity of all people should be respected and affirmed, including people of different ages, races, ethnic and national backgrounds, religions, sexual orientations, immigration status, native languages, disability levels, and economic backgrounds.
  
• We believe that all children have a right to have their basic needs met, to be educated and prepared for full participation in society, and that it is the responsibility of government to ensure that these rights are fully realized.
  
• We affirm the diversity of San Francisco families and know that our strength is in our unity and in our ability to learn and struggle together for positive change.
  
• We believe that economic disparities, persistent poverty and structural racism are the major barriers to meeting the needs of families and children.
  
• We believe that Coleman should be reflective of and accountable to our diverse constituency.
  
• We believe that we must partner with other community organizations to build a movement capable of winning long term, systemic social policy change because we cannot achieve our vision alone.