Hello everyone! Welcome to the March edition of our new quarterly SF NAACP Youth Council Community Newsletter! In this issue, we’ll share recent events, upcoming events, and ways you can stay engaged.
Community Events
Martin Luther King Jr. Day March
We attended the MLK Jr. Day March in San Francisco, marching from the San Francisco Caltrain Station to the Yerba Buena Gardens. We were excited to be joined by Principal Bautista from Lowell High School.
Bay Agenda: Youth power listening party
We were invited to give a presentation on the impact of youth activism and civic engagement. We talked about our work organizing the 2024 Black and Brown Mayoral Forum and our plans for engaging the community around nutrition and health outcomes.
Black Joy Talent Show
The Youth Council had a table and did member recruitment at Rosa Parks Elementary for the Black Joy Talent Show in February.
Community Nutrition Series
Florence Fang Community Farm
For our first phase of the Community Nutrition Series, we got a tour of the Florence Fang Community Farm in the Bayview, led by Faheem Carter, the Farmer-in-Charge of the Bayview Black Farmers Program. We learned about healthy produce, volunteer opportunities, and food pantries in the city, and how communities/neighborhoods can get involved to improve their food access.
SF Department of Public Health social determinants panel
For Phase 2 of our Community Nutrition Series, we invited members of the SF Department of Public Health’s Office of Health Equity to present on social determinants and food insecurity. Our guest speakers, led by Khari Marshall, and sponsored by Gavin Morrow-Hall and Dr. Vincent Fuqua, emphasized racial and socioeconomic disparities in SF that impact the health of our communities.
We also learned about the lasting health impacts of redlining in San Francisco, and how specific zip codes have higher hospitalization rates for chronic conditions like hypertension due to generational food insecurity and health inaccessibility. View a comparison of a health map and a redlining map below.
Education
Amos C. Brown Fellowship to Ghana
Two of our members were selected as fellows and attended the Amos C. Brown Fellowship trip to Ghana this past winter. They toured Accra, Kumasi, and the Cape Coast, where they visited the Assin Manso Slave River and the slave dungeons at Cape Coast Castle. Learn more about their trip here.
Member Spotlight: Markita McKinnon
Markita McKinnon, current Treasurer of the San Francisco NAACP Youth Council, is a junior at Lowell High School. She is interested in politics and fashion. At school, she is involved with the Lowell Black Student Union.
Markita’s plans for the Youth Council:
“I am interested in expanding the youth council to more youth of different backgrounds and experiences.”
Markita’s future plans:
“I look forward to studying psychology because I want to explore more about the mind and the body.”
Upcoming
For the next phase of our Community Nutrition Series (Wednesday, April 9th) we are hosting a panel with Professor Edith Guillen-Nunez of San Francisco City College on healthy drinks and mental health.
Join here:
On Tuesday, April 15, Mr. Steve Wilkinson of Wilkinson Wealth Management will host a session on financial planning, where we will dive in deeper to understand the impacts of social determinants and build skills that perpetuate economic stability.
Join here:
Join Us
As the San Francisco Branch NAACP Youth Council, our mission is to advocate for civil rights and teach civic engagement to middle and high school students.
Become a member: https://forms.gle/W6s2PNBsb5ztz38t8
San Francisco NAACP Youth Council 
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