Episode 51: BMAGIC & Third Street Youth Center and Clinic

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A transcript, lightly edited for clarity and length, follows.

VOC Covid 19 Podcast Bmagic & 3rd St Youth EP 51 Mix 1

[00:00:00] George Koster: Welcome to Voices of the Community, which explores critical issues facing Northern California communities. We introduce you to the voices of community thought leaders and change makers who are working on solutions that face our fellow individual community members, neighborhoods,

[00:00:26] Sakeenah El-Amin: cities, and our region.

[00:00:28] Sakeenah El-Amin: This is George Costa, your host.

[00:00:33] George Koster: This episode is part of our series Exploring COVID nineteens impact on nonprofits and small businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area back in April of 2020 when we decided to create this ongoing series on COVID nineteens impact, first on nonprofits and then on small businesses in the San Francisco Bay area.

[00:00:52] George Koster: We like you had no idea how long the pandemic would go on and what the health and economic impact would be in our community. Going into 2021, the pandemic is now killing more people, shutting down more nonprofits and small businesses, along with wiping out the livelihoods of families, neighborhoods, and communities.

[00:01:12] George Koster: We will continue to shine a spotlight on the nonprofits and small businesses that make up the fabric of our community. Along with the founders and staff who are struggling to deal with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their operations, services and sustainability, until we can all get to the other side of the pandemic.

[00:01:31] George Koster: Along the way, we will also share with you all the amazing solutions that our nonprofits, small businesses, foundations, and government leaders are working on to help us all get to the other side of the pandemic and come together to rebuild our communities with more economic, social, and environmental equality.

[00:01:49] Sakeenah El-Amin: I think back to March of 2020 and the amount of fear and confusion that we all felt, and it was palpable and it actually kind of like had a texture to it. I always say that when people ran away from the fire or away from the building, that. Third Street ran into the fire. We ran into the building, and like Liz said, with B Magic, we are a stabilizing force in the community.

[00:02:14] Sakeenah El-Amin: 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.

[00:02:23] George Koster: One of the biggest unintended consequences of our year long school closures on again, off again, stay at home orders and ever changing shutdowns of businesses.

[00:02:32] George Koster: Deemed non essential is the surging rates of depression. Suicide and drug overdose 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.

[00:03:07] George Koster: Our featured voices in this episode are Liz Lynn Lacoste, the Executive Director of BM Magic and Sakina Emin, the Deputy Director of the Third Street use Center and Clinic.

[00:03:18] Lyslyn Lacoste: Hi, my name is Liz Lacoste. I'm the executive director for UM, program called BM Magic, which is a program under the Office of the Public Defender for San Francisco.

[00:03:27] Sakeenah El-Amin: Hi, my name is Sakina Emin and I'm the deputy director at Third Street Youth Center and Clinic.

[00:03:33] George Koster: Welcome to Voices of the Community, and thanks for being here, Lily and Sakina. I would love it if you could please provide the audience a really good overview of each of your organizations. And Lily, would you like to start first with BM Magic?

[00:03:44] Lyslyn Lacoste: Sure. So BM Magic stands for Bayview Hunter's Point Mobilization for adolescent growth in our communities. And as I mentioned, it is a program under the San Francisco Office of the Public Defender. We came out of a community need back in 2000. Four, with many organizations that work with children, youth and families wanting to come together and collaborate and work on a collective vision.

[00:04:05] Lyslyn Lacoste: And so a magic program was started out of that need. We are one of two magic programs. We have a sister program called Mo Magic that serves the Western Edition Fillmore area of San Francisco as well. But we specifically serve the Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood of San Francisco. Um, working with.

[00:04:21] Lyslyn Lacoste: Community based organizations that serve children, youth, and families. We're a convener, a network, a resource, all things that help with the community needs here in Bayview.

[00:04:32] Sakeenah El-Amin: So Third Street is a nonprofit deeply rooted in and responsive to the needs of the Bay Boost Hunters Point community. We serve youth ages 12 to 24, and at the center of our work is this belief in youth agency and youth autonomy and their ability to make responsible choices about their lives and their health.

[00:04:52] Sakeenah El-Amin: Given the right support, given the right resources. Third Street really is truly, we provide wraparound services. I think, and I'm biased obviously in, in ways that are, um, much more robust than I've seen in any other organizations. Our youth can come into our clinic and get free primary care and sexual reproductive health services.

[00:05:12] Sakeenah El-Amin: We have behavioral health clinicians that provide therapy for youth and families. We do year round youth development programming, and then we just recently ventured into the housing world, which is a whole nother story, but like this amazing work that we've been able to do and we are one of the few youth access points in the city.

[00:05:31] Sakeenah El-Amin: We also do youth stabilization programs. And we just recently opened up the first transitional age youth navigation center in San Francisco.

[00:05:41] George Koster: So could you both talk a little bit about how BM Magic and Third Street Youth centers kinda work hand in hand with regards to offering up the the wraparound services?

[00:05:51] Lyslyn Lacoste: So the magic, we're not a direct service provider. However, we are great because we have a touchstone. With over 70 community-based organizations serving the Bayview, we are able to connect and see what the gaps are in the, in the larger landscape of youth development and family serving organizations and figuring out.

[00:06:11] Lyslyn Lacoste: Where organizations like Thirsty can connect with other organizations in order to create that wraparound service and continuity of services. So if Thirsty was to come to us and ask for that type of advice, and then we can, um, navigate them towards the right organization as well as. Connecting them with the right person in order to do that warm handoff, so to speak, the same way we would do for a family as well.

[00:06:34] Lyslyn Lacoste: Now, we've worked on several projects together, like a youth summit for the seven years, and currently we're working on a park prescription program together that connects all four health clinics in the baby, including THI youth, so clinic with park partners and park programming, and that addresses some of the health needs in the Bayview.

[00:06:49] George Koster: Can you talk a little bit more in depth that you guys are doing rapid rehousing? Only because, as we all know, housing, especially in the Southeast communities, has become extraordinarily expensive and really hard. And the mayor's whole mission talking about trying to get youth who are unhoused into some form of housing, it's so finally we appear to get the idea that Housing First Yeah.

[00:07:10] George Koster: Is really in the way to stabilize that. So I would love it if you could just share a little bit more depth. 'cause it, it sounds easy, but I know it's really complex.

[00:07:17] Sakeenah El-Amin: It is complex. One of the things that COVID has taught us is that housing really is healthcare. And so for us, you know, when the pandemic hit, it was extremely important for us to mobilize and to get our youth housed as quickly as possible and, and offer the streets, you know, in the Bayview.

[00:07:35] Sakeenah El-Amin: Our youth don't necessarily look like the typical person that's struggling with housing insecurity. And so a lot of our youth are often overlooked, but we, we want our youth to know that we see them, we see their struggles, and so we have a, you know, concerted effort to get them assessed and to get them housed as quickly as possible.

[00:07:53] Sakeenah El-Amin: And I'm really proud to say that, you know, during a pandemic that we have one of the highest rates of youth housed out of all of the rising up programs in San Francisco.

[00:08:04] George Koster: You're not only providing housing, but you're also back to your youth development, the skills training component of IT Academy. You've got a whole series of what appears to be everything from medical to food to arts and culture.

[00:08:15] George Koster: So I think that would also be really wonderful for people to understand that it's not just, Hey, it's a health clinic, or we're trying to get youth off of the street into housing, but once they're in your ecosystem, you're really trying to support them in a holistic fashion.

[00:08:29] Sakeenah El-Amin: Yes, very true. And you know, one of the things that our families and our youth struggle with is food insecurity.

[00:08:35] Sakeenah El-Amin: You know, Bayview is a food desert, and we've seen with the pandemic, you know, there's been an increase in the lack of access to fresh foods when shelter in place hit. Our youth were scared to leave their houses to get food. We have a food pharmacy program at third Street, but they were afraid of being stopped by the police.

[00:08:54] Sakeenah El-Amin: So we had to mobilize and find a way to get food to them. So we enlisted volunteers that now, you know, go out and deliver food directly to our youth. So that's one of the things that's great about Third Street, is that we are responsive, we're able to, to community needs in the moment and able to pivot and make adjustments.

[00:09:13] George Koster: And I have to ask, what's the word on third? I, I watched a couple episodes. That was really wonderful. Is it still going? I mean, given that we have COVID, but we have

[00:09:21] Sakeenah El-Amin: a little pause, but we can't wait to get that back up again

[00:09:24] George Koster: and share with the audience, what's the word? On third? 'cause I just watched some episodes, but it's part of your skills training as well.

[00:09:30] George Koster: You're a gaming voice to youth.

[00:09:32] Sakeenah El-Amin: Yeah, so we had a like a sound booth where our youth would go and they would be able to make beats and make, you know, podcasts. Things like that and talk about what's happening in their community, what's happening on the street. And as part of, you know, the social justice programming that we do with our youth development and our youth development department.

[00:09:50] George Koster: Thank you. Well, I'm gonna segue to the next question for each of you in, we're going on to 10 plus months. And so much of both of your work is really personal. It's in person, it's, you know, it's convening people, it's talking to people. It's providing 'em that hand up. How has COVID-19 impacted B Magic and Third Street Youth Center's programs?

[00:10:09] George Koster: I'm gonna start with you, Lizette.

[00:10:11] Lyslyn Lacoste: For our core programs and services, it has not affected how we, you know, implement our programming too much because a lot of it was due electronically anyways. So that being our resource guide, that being our community calendar that we put out every week, we were able to move our convening meeting to a virtual platform, most utilizing Zoom like most folks.

[00:10:29] Lyslyn Lacoste: And so that was pretty simple. Now what wasn't is that in the meantime, we had to cancel some of our annual engagement events, like our annual literacies Freedom book Fair, which we usually host. For young tiny talks, pre-K to first grade, but we were still able to pivot and work with our office mates and community partner tandem to provide books about a thousand books to those children.

[00:10:52] Lyslyn Lacoste: And then we've been housing third Street's food program, so they can actually put the, you know, the food that they get weekly in bags and be able to then have the volunteers come to our site to pick them up to deliver to their young people in need. We've been able to provide. Some feminine hygiene products that have been really useful to young women and families.

[00:11:11] Lyslyn Lacoste: And our other big large engagement event, which is our annual backpack giveaway, we were able to still get donations and distribute actually one of our largest numbers of backpacks and school supplies we've ever done in the last 17 years. We gave a little over. 2,600 backpacks and school supplies away to children K through 12th grade.

[00:11:31] Lyslyn Lacoste: And so we were still able to provide that service. However, it wasn't the big community building event that we usually have where we have different community-based organizations come through and provide outta school time services and sign up families before going back to the school year in person. And so we did manage to host a resource fair that was virtual, to provide parents and young people opportunities.

[00:11:53] Lyslyn Lacoste: For enrichment programs that we're just pivoting to an online platform.

[00:11:58] George Koster: Thank you, Liz. And, uh,

[00:12:00] Sakeenah El-Amin: Sakina for third Street. Well, immediately we had to move most of our services online, so remotely. And, you know, we actually do a pretty good job at it, but it's been hard. It's been hard for our families. It's been hard for our.

[00:12:13] Sakeenah El-Amin: Hard for our staff because there's a loss of connection. Third Street really was a hub for youth. You know, it was a place where they could go and feel safe and feel, you know, connected and, and it was theirs. They designed the office, they designed the art on the wall. They picked out the couches. It was kind of like a second home for them.

[00:12:34] Sakeenah El-Amin: So that's something that we've lost. Through COVID. On the flip side, I'd have to say that the crisis has really crystallized the importance of our work. COVID has exposed a fracture points in our society and neighborhoods like the Bayview have suffered disproportionately from COVID. You know, a lot of our youth, a lot of our families lost jobs, lost wages.

[00:12:58] Sakeenah El-Amin: We're sent out into the front lines to do essential work without protection, and that's made us our commitment stronger as we see, you know, how vulnerable our communities are and how needed these services are at this moment and beyond.

[00:13:14] George Koster: So just to follow up to that, the clinic, is it just specifically focused on youth?

[00:13:18] George Koster: You're not providing, um, health services for, I'm thinking of vaccinations, right? And the distribution of vaccinations. And obviously youth are, you know, even lower down the list than so many other people. But is the clinic working with other, and back to Liz Lynn's point about before clinics bringing clinics together, I'm just thinking of distribution of vaccines, for example, and vaccine education and testing, which I know is, you know, again, Ms.

[00:13:45] George Koster: Miserably poor throughout the state and specifically in San Francisco and, and its lower income communities.

[00:13:50] Sakeenah El-Amin: Yeah, that's a good question. Right now, the clinic is still just focused on primary care and sexual reproductive health, which is actually really important at a time like this to, to make sure that we are talking about our youth and sexual reproductive health and how they're able to manage that in a pandemic.

[00:14:06] George Koster: I'd like to turn to my next question for both of you, and that is, and you've both been at this for a while, if each of you could talk about what you feel has been the biggest impact of, uh, BM Magic and Third Street Youth Center's programs on the youth and families in the Bayview.

[00:14:21] Lyslyn Lacoste: I think for us, the biggest impact has been that we are a consistent and reliable source of just resources and because, like I said, we have a large network.

[00:14:33] Lyslyn Lacoste: If families or young people get in touch with us and are in need of some type of service, we're quickly able to get them the services that they need and provide them a reliable contact and actually. Pretty much walk them to that organization and get them, you know, the services and the resources that they need.

[00:14:51] Lyslyn Lacoste: Now that being said, we're also, you know, a program that's under the city and county. Right. And a lot of folks forget that we're a city and county program because we do run very grassroots, very organically. We are. Um, here in the community. And so I think, you know, the community here in Bayview really, really cherishes that.

[00:15:07] Lyslyn Lacoste: The fact that we don't have, they don't have the same bureaucracy that they have to go through with many other CI city programs. And we don't ask for like, identification. We're not asking them to fill out a form. We're not, you know, asking for any, you know, financial information. We're just here to serve the community and meet their needs.

[00:15:24] Lyslyn Lacoste: And they can come to us as they are and know that they will get the services, or at least we'll put them in touch with the community based organizations. That will be able to provide them that type of service. So we're trusted.

[00:15:35] George Koster: And, and Lyn, just to follow up with that, since you are part and parcel of the city and county to the, I think it's the public defender's office as I recall.

[00:15:43] George Koster: Correct. How are you able to tap into that ecosystem of services that you can bring to the ground in Bayview?

[00:15:49] Lyslyn Lacoste: Relationship building. You know, when I first started in this position, I spent at least a year and a half just talking to executive directors from, from my CBO partners, talking to frontline staff, really learning what their work is, the core of their work, the core of their missions, and really figuring out, you know, what the ecosystem looked like in the Bayview and the services, you know, just overall and really shoring up.

[00:16:12] Lyslyn Lacoste: Those relationships even with, you know, staffing transitions, I always make sure I meet one-on-one with any new leadership coming into organizations. And we do a lot of C community building work as well. And you know, the whole effort is to keep young people out of the juvenile justice system so that my offices have to see them later on the criminal justice system.

[00:16:31] Lyslyn Lacoste: That's the premise of our work. So, you know, the foundation is just building relationships. Making sure that we're allowing all the service providers and leadership here in the Bayview on the same page with it. Like I said, a collective vision and that buy-in sometimes is hard, especially when there's change over and new leadership.

[00:16:47] Lyslyn Lacoste: But because we meet people where they are, it's easy for them to come into whatever we're working on and be able to provide their niche. On, you know, whatever that project is. Without us asking for too much, we try to make it as simple as possible, knowing that everybody is stretched at this time, at this time.

[00:17:06] Lyslyn Lacoste: Anything previously.

[00:17:07] George Koster: Thank you. Listen, that was a really great overview, Sina, how has Third Street Youth Center program impacted the Bayview?

[00:17:14] Sakeenah El-Amin: I think back to March of 2020 and the amount of fear and confusion that we all felt, and it was palpable and it actually kind of like had a texture to it. I always say that when people ran away from the fire or away from the building, that.

[00:17:31] Sakeenah El-Amin: Third Street ran into the fire. We ran into the building, and like Liz said, with B Magic, 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.

[00:17:48] George Koster: Could you each share a favorite moment or story of working either collectively or a specific program or a family or a person that you feel exemplifies your impact?

[00:17:59] Lyslyn Lacoste: For BM Magic, it would be our largest, most visible event, which is our back to school celebration, backpack giveaway. It's the event that we started off with in terms of mobilizing our community-based partners and working on one collective event in order to celebrate, you know, young children going back to school and giving them the access to resources for their school success.

[00:18:19] Lyslyn Lacoste: And it still is our biggest event. It draws of over 3000. People, and we have over 60 community based organizations that table at the event and people look forward to it every single year. It's a party. But it's also, you know, when we, some of us are seeing each other for, you know, the only time all year other than, you know, writing emails and that type of thing.

[00:18:39] Lyslyn Lacoste: And so it's just a feel good event and it's. The great way to also ensure that our young people are connected to resources, but as well as their school administrators as well. We have a lot of principals and district staff that come out to the event as well. So that would be probably, even though it's a lot of work, it's my favorite event that we host every year.

[00:18:57] George Koster: And just for clarity, for folks who are listening to this, when you say school backpack, what does school backpack include?

[00:19:04] Lyslyn Lacoste: So we have two separate backpacks. We have backpacks for K through fifth grade, and then middle school and high school backpacks. And they each have separate types of school supplies because of the age group and what's needed.

[00:19:16] Lyslyn Lacoste: And so they're, they're tailored for those age groups. And we give out anywhere between 2,500 to 3000 backpacks annually with school supplies for those, for those age groups.

[00:19:27] George Koster: Thank you, Anina. Favorite story? Favorite moment?

[00:19:30] Sakeenah El-Amin: Yeah. So many stories, so many moments, but one that always stays with me is this, you know, story of one of our youth.

[00:19:36] Sakeenah El-Amin: She was pregnant and living in her car and we met her, it was in April of 2020, and her case manager worked really hard to get her house before the baby came. A week after she found housing her own place, the baby was born and she was able to bring her newborn home. And the fact that she was able to have a safe place, a home, you know, not just a temporary shelter, but a home to bring that baby into, to start its life.

[00:20:07] Sakeenah El-Amin: That to me is the essence of what we do. Providing stability, providing homes, you know, showing our youth that they have value.

[00:20:16] George Koster: Thank you once again. Housing first, right? It's just absolutely always so important. So listen, I'm gonna turn to you and ask and then come back, ask you, it's the same question. So people that are listening to the show, watching the show, how can they support the magic?

[00:20:32] George Koster: I know you're obviously part of the city and county, but let's go back to the Backpack program for example. So if someone who's listening to the show says, great, I want to participate in the Backpack program, or any of your programs, how can they do that?

[00:20:44] Lyslyn Lacoste: Well, I'm hoping that we can go back to in-person sooner than later, and it's looking like the case as we're ramping up the vaccines distribution.

[00:20:52] Lyslyn Lacoste: But that being said, the, the cost for the backpacks and school supplies is our biggest cost, um, for the year. And so we're always looking for donations, big and small for, for those backpacks. Everything adds up. And then volunteers. We are only a staff of. Three. We're a small but mighty staff. However, we count on our volunteers throughout the year, um, especially for this event where we need, um, up to 150 to 200 volunteers to help us out.

[00:21:15] Lyslyn Lacoste: And so those are the best ways to get involved with us either donating, we have a fiscal sponsor, urban Services YMC, or volunteering with us.

[00:21:22] George Koster: And then the timing, assuming we can all go back to school. Is that the August time period?

[00:21:27] Lyslyn Lacoste: Yes. It's usually the weekend before school starts. So usually it's second or third weekend in August,

[00:21:32] George Koster: unless they decide to change everything around and keep going.

[00:21:35] Lyslyn Lacoste: We'll, we'll see. I'm still waiting for the school district to put out the final schedule. So

[00:21:40] George Koster: it, it seems like everyone is, lots of, you know, things going on in the school district and the city and all the rest of it. So how can folks who are listening or watching participate in Third Street Youth Center and are there opportunities to volunteer or mentor?

[00:21:53] George Koster: I know at this point everyone is, you know, masked and six feet away.

[00:21:57] Sakeenah El-Amin: Yeah, so we're always looking for volunteers for our food pharmacy program. It's called Third Street Eats. Again, you know, I gave you the story of, of why we are delivering food at this time and it's, it's robust and it's grown. Would love to have more people come and to help and to actually get a chance to meet some of our youth.

[00:22:15] Sakeenah El-Amin: And then our website just went live, our new website, it's beautiful so people could, can come and donate directly on the website for our programming.

[00:22:25] George Koster: Thank you. And then turning to our final question for each of you today, going back to you, Lyn, of all of the 10 plus months of pandemic, economic meltdown, strife, death, et cetera, what do you feel are some of the good things that could come out of the situation?

[00:22:41] George Koster: It could be beneficial to all of the work that B Metric does, you know, to the community. I think within Bayview, obviously, and then the larger San Francisco community.

[00:22:50] Lyslyn Lacoste: One thing I would say, like banking's always been a resilient community, and it has shown that time and time again, and it has shown that during these last 10 months of the pandemic, you know when things are going on either externally or internally, and folks are feeling knocked down, this community rises up, residents rise up, the community-based organiz.

[00:23:08] Lyslyn Lacoste: Rise up, you know, the city services, that service community, everybody rises up to make sure this community is taken care of. And I think that resiliency was definitely shown throughout these last 10 months and will continue. One thing that also has been very prominent throughout this 10 months is just the ability for everyone to come together and really work together and making sure that the most vulnerable their needs are met.

[00:23:34] Lyslyn Lacoste: First, you know, people took a step back and assessed what was going on, but then made sure that, you know, families who were already experiencing homelessness, families who were already on the brink of experiencing homelessness. Making sure that we got to those families and those young people first before we can serve others.

[00:23:54] Lyslyn Lacoste: And you know, that was one great thing that happened, you know, throughout these last 10 months. And really uplifting those voices as well and really hearing what was needed and not just giving what we. Thought might be, you know, needed and wanted, but really listening to those families and figuring out, uh, what do they need at this time to really help them get through the pandemic.

[00:24:13] Lyslyn Lacoste: So I'm hoping that we come out this doing a lot more listening as well. We're really meeting those needs.

[00:24:18] George Koster: Thank you. And Sakina. What are some of the, the good things coming out of what appears to be lots of darkness?

[00:24:24] Sakeenah El-Amin: I think that, you know, the pandemic has unleashed a certain amount of creativity for organizations like Third Street.

[00:24:31] Sakeenah El-Amin: We've had to pivot so quickly that we've had to think out of a box. So I hope that we continue to, to stay in that spirit of really, you know. Shaking loose some of the rigid structures the way we thought we should be, or the things that we thought we should do, and know that there are many different ways that we can meet the needs of our community.

[00:24:49] Sakeenah El-Amin: And to start thinking about those ways. And like listen said, listening to our community. And I feel like we're all moving into a new paradigm. And so I want organizations like Third Street to continue to move in creativity into that new way of thinking, that new way of being. That new paradigm

[00:25:05] George Koster: on the good things coming out.

[00:25:07] George Koster: Is there anything that people in our community could do more of or better of besides funding, which everyone needs more of? Of course.

[00:25:15] Lyslyn Lacoste: It's hard because in this virtual climate you can't do things in person, so I think a lot of things that we would think of would be. You know, in person type of opportunities and really coming out, whether that's like s said, the one-to-one mentorship, you know, even guiding a young person through a job opportunity, but that actually like, you know, being there at the computer and like working through a resume and that type of thing.

[00:25:36] Lyslyn Lacoste: It's harder, you know, those type of opportunities are harder when we're just on a virtual path. When folks are also experiencing, you know, zoom fatigue, all that is really real. So that, that's been challenging to continue to keep young people engaged virtually. So if anybody has any creative ideas or best practices that have come about with keeping young people engaged virtually, that would be, we'll, you know, welcome folks.

[00:25:59] Lyslyn Lacoste: Sharing those type of ideas of what's working for them.

[00:26:02] Sakeenah El-Amin: And for Third Street, you know, we're always looking for people to share about their experiences in life. In their professions. For our youth, we want them to feel connected to the members in Bayview. So if anyone wants to come to one of our virtual classes and to share about what's happening in their lives and where they've been and what they've seen, we absolutely welcome that.

[00:26:24] George Koster: Thank you. Great stuff. Alright. Thank you Lyn and Sakina for sharing B Magic and Third Street Youth Center's work. Today we'll make sure that listeners have your contact information, website and social media so they can follow B Magic and Third Street Youth Center. Get engaged in the work and to help you with your missions.

[00:26:39] George Koster: Please stay safe and healthy as we work our way through this new strange normal. That's it for this episode of Voices of the Community. You've been listening to the Voices of Liz Lynn Lacoste, the Executive Director of BM Magic and Sakina Emin, the Deputy Director of the Third Street Youth Center and Clinic.

[00:26:56] George Koster: For more information about B Magic and get involved in sowing the seeds of community collaboration, go to bayview magic.org and to get engaged in Third Street Youth Center and clinics programs, and participate in one of their virtual classes. Go to the number three. Rd st. youth.org. As we reported in our past interviews, the pandemic and collapse of our economy and loss of jobs are having a devastating impact on our youth as well as essential workers and their families.

[00:27:29] George Koster: We hope that you'll consider diving into our past episodes to listen and support the great organizations in our community that are providing a safety net for our vulnerable fellow community members. To find out more about other wonderful organizations working with our youth and families, please listen to our interview with Doug in episode 19 from Huckleberry Youth Programs and our interview with Charles and DeMare and episode 29 from at the Crossroads, and to hear more about how the San Francisco, Marin Food Bank is helping with food insecurity.

[00:28:01] George Koster: Check out our conversation with Katie McKnight. In episode two, tune in to next week's show where we will be featuring the voices from Interm Music SF and the Women's Audio Mission. We hope that you enjoyed the insights, points of view and personal stories from the voices of Change makers and their nonprofits and small businesses featured in this series.

[00:28:21] George Koster: To find out more and get engaged with the nonprofits, small businesses, and staff members featured in the series, please go to my website, george koster.com and click on Voices of the Community to find links to the extended versions of these interviews and to listen to the entire series. After listening to these stories, we hope that you will consider making a donation and volunteering to provide a hand up to your fellow community members.

[00:28:46] George Koster: I want to thank my associate producer Eric Estrada and Casey Nance at Citron Studios, along with the wonderful crew at the San Francisco Public Press and KSFP. Voices of the Community is a member of Intersection for the Arts, which allows us to offer you a tax deduction. For your contributions, please go to george koster.com and click on the donate link to make a donation to help us provide future shows just like this one.

[00:29:12] George Koster: While you're on our website, you can enjoy our archived Pass shows, which feature community voices working on solutions to critical issues facing Northern California communities. And you can sign up for our newsletter to find out more about future shows as well as shows and events from the organizations that are included in our episodes.

[00:29:32] George Koster: Take us along on your next COVID walk by subscribing to voices of the community. On Apple Podcast, Spotify, and Google Podcast or wherever you get your podcast. You can follow us on Twitter at George Koster and we'd love to hear from you with feedback and show ideas. So send us an email toGeorge@georgekoster.com.

[00:29:52] George Koster: I'm George Koster in San Francisco, and thank you for listening.

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