Saoirse recently joined the 3rd Street family as our Youth Leadership & Policy Analyst. Saoirse grew up in San Francisco’s Excelsior district just west of Bayview Hunter’s Point. She comes to us with a double major in Criminal Justice and Women and Gender Studies along with a passion to "work restoratively alongside the system instead of inside it." 

In her new role, Saoirse has been tasked with better understanding the local policies that impact the young people in District 10 and then developing a strategy to change, update, or eradicate those policies that might be keeping community members stuck.

Don't worry, Saoirse won’t be doing all of this policy work alone. She'll be enlisting help from Bayview's young people. Another important part of her job is overseeing our popular civic engagement and leadership development program, 3rd Street Leadership Academy known as 3LA. (3LA is currently on hiatus and scheduled to return Fall 2022.)
In a nutshell, 3LA gives 14 to 17-year-old youth interested in political and civil engagement the tools and resources to impact change in their community. Please read Saoirse's responses to a few questions about her new position below:
What are the top goals of 3LA?

  • To make sure the youth can identify their local, state, and federal representatives, and how to contact them. If nothing else, they should walk away knowing the names of those contacts.

  • To get the youth to start recognizing that nothing in government or politics is an accident or a coincidence. From creating district maps to political rhetoric, everything is said and done with very thoughtful intentions that we can decipher. 

  • To help youth understand how to strategize their advocacy to be effective in this SF political landscape. This is done by giving the youth tools to identify which entities' intentions and actions align with their cause and can provide support or partnership.
What do you do as a Policy Analyst?

I keep track of political policies and legislation in the city as it relates to advocating for youth in the areas of funding, resources, etc... Ideally, the youth and certain agencies in BVHP will partner and those agencies will welcome youth-led advocacy projects.

What can the students expect as they start out in 3LA? 

I will begin by laying a foundation of political knowledge entailing where and why government and politics intertwine. Based on the issues students are most concerned with, we will keep building on how we can best navigate within the system or put pressure on it from the outside.
3rd Street and Park Rx
Park Prescription Program (Park Rx) is a national program run in communities across the United States. Parks Rx sets out to improve the health outcomes of community members by strengthening the connection between the healthcare system, public spaces, and land.

This summer, 3rd Street will take over the Park Rx in Bayview and continue to move its mission forward by connecting with community members about their most pressing health disparities. 3rd Street's Park Rx will also partner with local health clinics on a referral program for access to health and wellness opportunities.

Chandna Agarwal, our Outreach Coordinator, leads this program. Please email her for more info.
If you are interested in joining our team, please click the link below to see our open positions.