THE MISSION DISTRICT LIKE YOU HAVEN’T SEEN IT

In San Francisco, the Mission offers up bright art, tasty bites — and inspiration.

‘A Mission Way of Doing Things’

Sarah Brown in Rio de Janeiro

San Francisco’s Mission District is known for its lively Latin influence, colorful street murals and the famous Mission burritos. Insiders of this neighborhood — one of the city’s oldest — also know its history of community-led action, which recently came to a head. When San Francisco registered its first COVID-19 cases in March 2020, the city quickly issued a stay-at-home alert. But not everyone could afford to self-isolate. Low-income essential workers had to carry on earning a living, exposing themselves daily to the impending pandemic.
I think that what came out of the pandemic was [an] absolute tragedy. But there was also absolute beauty from the community. - Valerie Tulier-Laiwa
Valerie Tulier-Laiwa is a longtime activist and Mission resident who features in a new episode of Sheroics, the podcast about ordinary women doing extraordinary things. “We knew instinctively that [the pandemic] was going to hit Latinos very hard,” Tulier-Laiwa told OZY. But she wasn’t going to stand back and watch that happen.
Listen to Sheroics Episode 4

Mobilized


In the Mission District, Tulier-Laiwa and seven other leaders mobilized a Latino Task Force to provide their close-knit community with essential services — long before the city stepped in with funding. Their mantra? “Community-led, community-driven and community-implemented,” said Tulier-Laiwa. Carmen Yulín Cruz Soto, host of the Sheroics podcast, interviewed Tulier-Laiwa about what it takes to preserve and protect a community besieged by sickness and hardship. Said Tulier-Laiwa, “I think that what came out of the pandemic was [an] absolute tragedy. But there was also absolute beauty from the community.” To better understand the impact of the pandemic on Mission residents, the Latino Task Force and the University of California, San Francisco partnered up to test residents. Over the course of four days in April 2020, 3,100 Mission residents and workers (representing over half of the district’s households) showed up for open-air tests.
Tulier-Laiwa helped establish the Food Hub on Alabama Street. With a team of more than 100 volunteers, this venue was handing out 7,000 boxes of food each week by late April 2020.
Given that an equal share of Latino and white residents were tested, the results were startling. Of those who tested positive, 96% were Latino. Why was the Latino community so disproportionately affected? As well as many being essential workers whose jobs prevented them from staying at home, some monolingual Spanish speakers were unable to understand the English public service announcements, thereby preventing them from following lockdown procedures. Tulier-Laiwa and the Latino Task Force took matters into their own hands. They recruited 450 volunteers to knock on doors, distribute flyers, and run phone banks to sign residents up for tests at local parks and schools. On testing days, Tulier-Laiwa was there, ensuring everything ran smoothly. To make information accessible for all, the team created a trilingual website in Spanish, Mayan and English. It also served as a platform to help combat misinformation, said Tulier-Laiwa. With families struggling to pay for food, she helped establish the Food Hub on Alabama Street. With a team of more than 100 volunteers, this venue was handing out 7,000 boxes of food each week by late April 2020. It was a community effort that ran smoothly thanks to Tulier-Laiwa’s passionate, no-nonsense approach that earned her the nickname “mama bear.” “There is a Mission way of doing things. We get things done,” she said.

NOW STREAMING FROM OZY STUDIO

More Heroes You Won’t See in the News

Sheroics Episode 1: The Women of Torres de Francia

After Hurricane Maria devastated the island of Puerto Rico in 2017, a small group of women from a local housing project in San Juan rushed into action by organizing community soup kitchens and feeding hundreds of families. They saved lives, and their efforts became a model that was replicated across the island. Listen to this episode.

Sheroics Episode 2: The Mothers of Uvalde

Uvalde, Texas sits at a literal crossroads: U.S. highways 83, from Canada to Mexico, and 90, from Florida to California, cross right through the middle of the town. But the city is at a different crossroads, too — an emotional one. It’s at the intersection of fear, cultural division and grief. Against this backdrop, meet the inspiring mothers who call themselves “Fierce Madres.” Listen to this episode.

Sheroics Episode 3: Nicaragua’s Voice for Freedom

What does it take to be the voice for freedom? Berta Valle, a former television newscaster, has become a tireless advocate for the more than 200 political prisoners in Nicaragua — a group that includes her husband, Felix Maradiaga. His crime was nothing more than announcing his intention to run for president in 2021, which got him arrested and sentenced for treason. Valle is now raising her voice for freedom wherever she can — for her, her husband, and their young daughter. Listen to this episode.


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