On Thursday, November 12, 2015 we did our first cooking class at Willie Mays Clubhouse at Hunters Point. It was an honor to work in this kitchen, which is part of the first Edible Schoolyard Project built in San Francisco by Alice Waters in June 2008. CommunityGrows will be offering cooking and gardening classes in the 2,000 square foot garden and well-appointed kitchen. One of the main objectives of these programs is to involve youth in all aspects of tending the garden – along with preparing, serving and eating the food – as a way to increase access to fresh fruits and vegetables and develop lifelong healthy eating habits. 
On this day Tavi Baker, MPH, the Citywide Director of Health and Fitness at the Boys & Gils Clubs of San Francisco joined us with Dominick Anthony, Education Director at Willie Mays Clubhouse. We were interviewing candidates for the Seed-to-Mouth Cooking Programs manager. This new position will oversee our cooking programs in the Western Addition and Bayview-Hunters Point. These photos are of the youth making veggie wraps.
The Boys and Girls Club of San Francisco (BGCSF) started serving the Bayview-Hunters Point community in 2005 at the request of Mayor Gavin Newsom and City Attorney Dennis Herrera, who asked BGCSF to transform an old Housing Authority site into a safe haven for local youth. Their partnership has been critical in this historic project. Other key partners included the San Francisco 49ers and the San Francisco Giants, who built a Junior Giants Field on-site and later led the effort to rename the Club after the great Willie Mays. Now the Willie Mays Clubhouse provides full-service resources for 6 to 18-year-olds on Hunters Point Hill – a community that for decades had desperately lacked services for young people.
CommunityGrows is thrilled to be partnering with the Willie Mays Clubhouse at Hunters Point and thanks the Department of Children, Youth and Families for this opportunity. 
For more photos from the day, check out our Flickr Photostream here.