1. 2003
6 Awardees 2002
Ten dedicated leaders from Alameda’s diverse West
End received Koshland Civic Unity Awards in 2002.
14 Mothers Against
Murder and Assault
Amidst Oakland’s murder epidemic, a group of brave
women are reaching out to help incarcerated youth.
16 Interview: Arnold Perkins
Alameda County’s Director of Public Health,
a former Koshland Program director, talks about
the importance of community.
3 about the koshland program
5 20th anniversary celebration
12 neighborhoods on the move
18 awardees in the news
19 new koshland web pages
20 resources
22 koshland committee + staff

2. Dear Friends,
2002
We are proud to showcase once again the exceptional Koshland awardees West Alameda
and their efforts to build civic unity in Bay Area neighborhoods. alameda
koshland neighborhoods
In September 2002, the Koshland Program marked its 20th year of working
2001
collaboratively and supportively with neighborhoods to improve the quality South of Market
san francisco
of life in the Bay Area. Our 20th anniversary event was a forum to celebrate
the many factors that build a strong community, such as involved residents,
strong families, interracial understanding, and a collective appreciation 2000
of multicultural diversity. Canal
san rafael
This newsletter features updates on the exciting work of residents and
service providers in the West End neighborhood of the City of Alameda, the 1999
soma neighborhood of San Francisco, the Canal neighborhood of San
Rafael, the Bayshore and Crocker neighborhoods of Daly City, and four
Bayshore · Crocker
daly city
neighborhoods in Pittsburg.
This year we are looking forward to working with leaders in the
1998
Monument Corridor neighborhood of Concord. Our 12 newest awardees will West Boulevard · El Pueblo ·
be honored in a ceremony on May 27, 2003. Parkside · Downtown
pittsburg
We want to express our appreciation to the Koshland Committee and staff
for their support and commitment and, most of all, to the neighborhood 1997
residents who continue to inspire our work.
San Antonio
oakland
Fondly,
1996
Chinatown
san francisco
1995
Retha Robinson Michael Omi
koshland program director koshland committee chair Oceanview · Merced · Ingleside
san francisco
1992
Central and North Richmond
richmond
1991
Mission
san francisco
Retha Robinson
koshland program director
1990
Susan Kleinman
editor
West Oakland
oakland
Bahati Banks, Amy Conley,
Charles Fields, Susan Kleinman
Tenderloin
contributors
san francisco
Talya Gould, Rebecca Holder, Anna Marie Tutera 1989
editorial assistants
Elmhurst
Amici Design oakland
design
Kathy Sloane 1985
photography
Visitacion Valley
Koshland Connect, 2003 san francisco
Published annually by The San Francisco Foundation
The San Francisco Foundation 1984
225 Bush Street, Suite 500
San Francisco, CA 94104-4224 Potrero Hill
san francisco
tel: 415.733.8561
fax: 415.733.2785
email: rsa@sff.org 1983
Visit us online at www.sff.org/koshland
Western Addition
san francisco
2

3. In 1982, The San Francisco Foundation
established The Daniel E. Koshland Civic Unity
Awards in honor of one of its founders and
major benefactors. He built a reputation for
practical, bold, and even risky
current neighborhoods
representing all 5 counties served
by the san francisco foundation philanthropy in his efforts to improve the
quality of life for all Bay Area residents.
Daniel Koshland devoted his energy
and resources toward alleviating injustices
and discrimination. His focus was on
bringing together leaders
from neighborhoods, the private sector,
government, and philanthropy to solve
community problems.
The Koshland Program is administered by
The San Francisco Foundation’s Koshland
Committee, which is comprised of Koshland
family members and local leaders who are
committed to improving the
quality of life in the Bay Area.
In the spirit of Daniel Koshland's life and work, the Koshland
Civic Unity Awards recognize Bay Area grassroots risk-takers—those social innovators of
bold spirit who accept the most stubborn neighborhood problems as a personal challenge
and who work collaboratively to overcome them.
continued 8
3

4. a conversation
with Arnold Perkins
KOSHLAND PROGRAM DIRECTOR, 1988 – 1992; KOSHLAND COMMITTEE MEMBER, 1996 – PRESENT
interview with a koshland committee member BB: How did your upbringing contribute to your passion for
community building?
Arnold Perkins is the director of the Alameda County Public Health
Department, providing leadership and direction for administrative, AP: I was raised in Miami, Florida in a traditional African way, in the
program, and policy activities. He brings diverse experience and a deep sense that whatever was done by the families was collective. My
father, for example, built a number of houses with his friends.
commitment to building and maintaining the spirit of community to his
They used to drill wells by hand collectively, buy food together, or
current position. Currently, Arnold is leading the department through a go down to the banana boat and get bananas collectively. So early
major organizational shift that reflects a broad vision of public health on I understood the importance of communing with others, which
is what community is, and the unity that it took to accomplish
and a community development orientation. His colorful background things.
includes roles as a high school teacher, counselor, and principal; psy-
Living in an environment that has been heavily influenced by tra-
chology technician; director of a California Youth Authority halfway ditional European values, specifically the value placed on inde-
house; faculty member at California State University at Hayward and at pendence and the “I can do it myself ” mentality, I have had to
struggle to help folks understand that we have to operate collec-
Antioch College; developer of the first county-wide homeless programs
tively. It needs to be “our program” and not just “my program.”
for Alameda County; multicultural fellow and director of the Koshland
Program at The San Francisco Foundation; and restaurant owner and BB: How has your experience wearing various hats (teacher,
educator, business owner, and grantmaker) molded your
operator. Arnold is an experienced speaker and facilitator, especially in philosophy about community?
the areas of organizational change, team building, creative leadership,
AP: My philosophy comes from my elders and from mentors that
community development, and group dynamics. Married with four sons,
I have known and worked with. I have always been taught the
Arnold is an avid traveler, reader, and sportsman and enjoys gardening, importance of community. My parents instilled in me not to think
raising bees, and growing orchids. Arnold spoke with Bahati Banks, a of myself as a “minority.” “Minor” is a code word meaning “unim-
portant.” I was raised in an environment where I didn’t know how
multicultural fellow with The San Francisco Foundation, about his expe- to sing the Star Spangled Banner until I came to California. All
riences and his philosophy of community building. I knew growing up was [the Negro National Anthem], “Lift every
voice and sing, ’til earth and heaven ring.” On the weekends
I would hear [African American musicians and activists such as]
Marian Anderson, Roland Hayes, and Paul Robeson. It was always
all about communities. That has always been an integral part of me.
I feel like I was born with a sense of community. I don’t get caught
up in the argument about, “Well, you’re not from the community!”
All of us are from a community and it all counts. You don’t have to
live in West Oakland to have a sense of what people there experi-
ence; but at the same time you certainly can’t go into West
Oakland and tell people what to do.
continued8
16

5. I give a talk where I begin with the universe and I balance, and it will go up and down until it finds says, “I discover your car.” In some ways we have
bring it all the way down to the individual. If you look homeostasis. A lot of our communities, for various discovered, from an organizational perspective,
at us from 5,000 feet in the air, we look very much reasons such as education, economics, policing, or what people in the community already knew. I think
like a cell does. If you’re walking down a corridor on lack of health access, are like mobiles out of kilter. what Koshland does is work with the people in the
San Francisco’s Market Street, it looks just like cells Our goal is to create the homeostasis within a com- community to celebrate their genius, their great-
in the body. When we look at ourselves in a much munity so the community can operate, because most ness, their leadership. It also reinforces for the com-
broader context, we’re part of an organism, and we communities already have what they need. Some munity that you folks have a lot going on; it’s right in
all affect one another. Even me [breath sound] blow- communities don’t have grocery stores or banks, but, your midst. What we want to do is help you harness
ing on you, you feel my presence, and so we all have with organized pressure, residents could bring those the wisdom that you already have.
this energy that we exchange back and forth. My institutions into the community. I encourage commu-
experience has taught me about the importance of nities to create their own institutions. Omowale Satterwhite, who facilitates the initial
our interconnectedness. Koshland neighborhood meetings, usually goes
People in the community are so wonderful. Look at around the room and asks, “How many years have
BB: How has your background in promoting health the Koshland Program. Folks just want attention you been involved with service in this community?”
and wellness influenced your work around commu- paid to them and they want us to listen to what they He points out that the total number of years in the
nity building? have to say. Many communities are disenfranchised room could be anywhere from 500 to 1,000. That’s a
because of the lack of access to capital and employ- significant amount of knowledge. The Koshland
AP: I didn’t come to this job in the traditional way, ment. We have the ability to assist them with organ- Program assists people in tapping into that
through the Masters in Public Health track. I came izing around issues so that the community feels knowledge in a more organized fashion, helping
from a community wellness perspective and a belief whole and empowered. them develop a community plan. If you don’t have
that communities are interrelated, and I learned a plan, then any path will get you there because
about health later on. BB: How has the Koshland Program transformed the you don’t know where you’re going. But, if you
way in which communities view their homegrown have someone to work with you and organize and
I reorganized the department from being a down- leaders? harness the energy, then you can do incredible
town operation, making the people come to us, to a things. It doesn’t have to be a lot of people, just a
community-based operation. My philosophy is that AP: I don’t know if it has transformed them as much few people who organize can make a difference.
I’m employed by the residents of Alameda County, as recognized that those leaders exist and that they Koshland has helped people to realize the genius
and the best way to serve them is to go where they have been there for many years. It’s like if I’m driving within their communities.
live. We now have ten community health teams in down the street and Columbus sees my car and
ten different neighborhoods. I would like to have 20
or 30 more teams, and the teams don’t have to focus
solely on public health. They need to be a part of a
larger structure, because if a team is only working
on public health, then we are not doing our jobs.
BB: Can you tell me more about the community
health teams?
AP: The teams are made up of community health
outreach workers, nurses, and clerical support with-
in these various communities. We selected two
neighborhoods in each supervisory district in
Alameda County. The teams are there to teach the
community and also to learn from the community. In
order to do our job well, we must build capacity,
which means we transfer the skills that we have
within the community and we also have the commu-
nity skills transferred to us.
It’s very much like raising bees. Bees go out and pol-
linate. Our community health teams should be going
into the community to pollinate and then setting up
structures so the community does the work on their
own. When we do research, it has to be participato-
ry, so that the community learns the research meth-
ods that we have. The goal is to create healthy or
well communities. People in our communities are
diseased, and we have communities that are “dis-
eased,” and part of our goal is to create environ-
ments where people are not “dis-eased,” but people
are “at ease.” When people feel well, they feel like
they are in homeostasis.
When you look at a mobile, it goes around in bal-
ance, and then sometimes the mobile gets out of
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