Episode 51: BMAGIC & Third Street Youth Center and Clinic

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BMAGIC Backpack Program, 3rd Street Youth Center & Clinic Programs Health Core, 3rd StrEATS, Leadership Academy, Summer Health Education

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“One thing that has been very prominent throughout this 10 months is just a ability for everyone to come together and really work together and making sure that the most vulnerable, their needs are met first” – Lyslyn Lacoste

In this episode, we feature the voices of Lyslynn Lacoste the Executive Director of BMagic, and Sakeenah El-Amin the Deputy Director of the Third Street Youth Center and Clinic.

One of the biggest unintended consequences of our yearlong school closures, on-again, off-again stay-at-home orders, and ever-changing shutdowns of businesses deemed “non-essential” is the surging rates of both depression, suicide, and drug overdoses among the young people in our community. In addition, the pandemic has made housing, food, and medical services even that much harder to access for our transitional age youth 18 to 24. In today’s episode, we wanted to feature two nonprofits that are working together in the southeastern community of San Francisco to provide services to our youth and families as they struggle to deal with the ongoing economic, health, safety, and emotional impact of the pandemic.

Lyslyn Lacoste

Lyslynn Lacoste, is a New York Bar licensed attorney from Boston, Massachusetts. For more than fifteen years, she has diligently served youth through leadership development, mentoring, and juvenile justice reform. Lyslynn began her career in youth development while working closely with local community centers, Boys and Girls Clubs, and Boston Centers for Youth and Families. After witnessing too many young men of color enter the revolving door of the juvenile justice system, she ventured into Suffolk University Law School to focus on juvenile justice reform and prevention. As a law student, Lyslynn honed her skills through meaningful internships at Suffolk’s Juvenile Justice Center and New York’s Legal Aid Society. As the Director of BMAGIC, Lyslynn brings her experience and excitement to continue strengthening the community collaborative and support the more than 75 community-based organizations, school, faith–based organizations, and city agencies that serve Bayview Hunters Point. She holds a BA in Political Science with a minor in Latin American Studies from Boston University.

BMAGIC

Bayview Hunters Point Mobilization for Adolescent Growth in our Communities (BMAGIC) is a network San Francisco neighborhood-based nonprofit organizations whose mission is to facilitate, coordinate and develop community resources and opportunities that support service providers and community members in Bayview Hunters Point (BVHP).
Our vision is to create and maintain a deeper unified road-map to social change that advances the educational, health, economic, and juvenile justice of disadvantaged youth and their families in Bayview Hunters Point.
BMAGIC was co-founded in 2004 by the Public Defender’s Office and BVHP community-based organizations to create collaborative community-building efforts that improve the quality of life of BVHP children, youth, and their families.

Sakeenah El-Amin

“Young folk are brave enough to see the world for how it should be.” This is what motivates Sakeenah— working with young folks keeps her connected to her highest self.

Sakeenah started her journey in public interest law and realized quickly that legal remedies were not enough to effectuate substantive change. After graduating from law school, she turned to education and never looked back. Since then, she has had the privilege of teaching high school students the beautiful complexities of US history and leading several youth development programs.

Sakeenah brings her brand of heart-centered leadership to the workspace, challenging outdated modes of leadership. She focuses on helping managers become the best versions of themselves for their teams and the people in their lives. As deputy director, she’s infused heart-centered leadership into 3rd Street’s organizational structures. It’s her core belief that we must harness the energy of the heart to better serve our youth and move black and brown communities toward true liberation and justice.

3rd Street Youth Center & Clinic

3rd Street Youth Center & Clinic was founded as a community effort to ensure that the 6,000 young residents of Bayview Hunters Point (BVHP) had access to the same opportunities for healthcare, employment, and education as other youth in San Francisco. When it first opened in 2005, 3rd Street was run by a dedicated group of volunteers made up of neighborhood parents and upstanders who offered health education and arts programming over the summer months. Today, 3rd Street reaches more than 1,500 young people each year through a wide range of holistic services that include:
+ A full-service primary health care clinic
+ Individual, family, and group therapy and clinical case management
+ Housing Services: 3rd Street is a designated Youth Access Point into the City’s Coordinated Entry System
+ Lower Polk TAY Navigation Center. 3rd Street and its partner Success Centers oversee a gender-inclusive homeless shelter at 700 Hyde Street
+ 3rd StrEATS: a food pantry/CSA program that gives young people free and fresh organic produce and food twice a week
+ HealthCore: A healthcare-focused workforce development program that prepares Transition Age Youth (TAY) for careers in allied health
+ 3rd Street Leadership Academy (3LA ): Participants study health challenges and opportunities in the neighborhood
+ Youth Outreach Squad (YOS): Youth learn about health and wellness and create health-focused outreach campaigns to share with their peers.
+ Summer Health Education Program (SHEP): Held over the summer months, young people learn how to make informed choices about their health and the relationship between poverty, race, and chronic disease

Donation/Volunteer

Any amount of contributions to BMAGIC are appreciated and assists in furthering our mission to serve the Bayview Hunter’s Point Community. All proceeds will go directly to the programmatic work, not staff salaries or overhead fees. Your support will provide children, youth, and their families with resources, tools, and opportunities such as: backpacks, school supplies, age-appropriate books, workshops, and other academic and enrichment programs. BMAGIC operates under the 501(c)3 of our fiscal agent, Urban Services YMCA a program under the YMCA of San Francisco, and all contributions are tax-deductible. Please write checks out to “Urban Services YMCA” with “BMAGIC” in the memo line and mail them to BMAGIC’s office. https://www.ymcasf.org/bmagic

Become a Volunteer with BMAGIC and support the community of Bayview Hunters Point.

You donation to 3rd Street Youth Center & Clinic will support these Programs Health Core, 3rd StrEATS, Leadership Academy, Summer Health Education. To find out how you can get engaged as a volunteer please email: info@3rdstyouth.org

Videos

To find out more about 3rd Street Youth Center & Clinic and BMAGIC check out their videos:

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“We are a stabilizing force in the community. Our community needed us there. They needed our presence, they needed, again, a stabilizing force in the middle of all of the confusion in the middle of all of the unknown.”

— Sakeenah El-Amin, Deputy Director,3rd Street Youth Center and Clinic

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