Who We Are
Coleman Advocates for Children and Youth is a member-led, multi-racial community organization working to create a city of hope, opportunity, and justice for all children and all families in San Francisco.
Over the last 30 years, Coleman has become the leading voice for low to moderate income youth and families in San Francisco.
Through grassroots leadership development, youth and parent organizing, budget and policy advocacy, civic engagement and strategic alliance-building, Coleman has transformed public institutions, improved the lives of tens of thousands of residents, and become a national model for community-driven change.
MEMBERSHIP >>
Coleman members are the families struggling to stay in San Francisco. We are low income and working class young people and parents, primarily from the city’s southeastern African American, Latino and Pacific Islander communities. With our supporters, partners and allies, we are uniting communities across the city to make change for the next generation of San Francisco.
Grassroots leaders are the heart and soul of this organization. Coleman families’ membership meetings are lively spaces, full of debate, lots of food and the sound of children’s or young people’s laughter. Every week, leaders are meeting in local elementary, middle and high schools, gathering up the courage to speak out, building unity across race, language and generations, and winning issue campaigns that make a real difference, together.
Youth Making a Change (YMAC) and Parents Making a Change (PMAC) organize high school students and parents in San Francisco public schools to make change in our schools, our communities and our own lives. Students Making a Change (SMAC) organizes community college students to take control of our education and win the resources and policy changes we need to graduate, be successful and contribute back to our communities. Together, the grassroots student and parent leaders from our organizing projects make up the Coleman Families Leadership Council, where all major decisions about Coleman advocacy and organizing issues are made.
CHECK OUT OUR MEMBER GALLERY >> here.
Above: Coleman Staff & Board President (in bottom corner). Our staff directory is >> here.
Coleman is governed by a strong and representative Board of Directors, and has a proud history of remarkably talented staff. The faces of Coleman staff are above; you can find our bios and contact info in the staff directory >> here.
Many former Coleman staff alumni have gone on to prominent roles in public service – Margaret Brodkin to run the city’s Department of Children, Youth & Their Families (below) ; John Avalos to serve as the District 11 City Supervisor (below); Sandra Lee Fewer to serve on the SF School Board (below); Tom Jackson as a legislative aide at City Hall; Ingrid Gonzalez to lead a major retention program at City College, and many others over the decades. Some Coleman alumni have gone on to serve as national leaders in labor, community organizing and advocacy fields, including Taj James, Executive Director of the Movement Strategy Center, Joe Wilson as a state leader of AFSCME’s statewide child care organizing campaigns, and NTanya Lee, director of a national progressive initiative called Project 2040 (below).
