After a late-night session on June 26, the Budget & Appropriations Committee of San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors is moving forward with a set of proposed resolutions regarding the budget. This includes one key provision proposed by Mayor Daniel Lurie to reallocate tax revenue raised from 2018’s Local Measure C, a.k.a. “Our City Our Home” or just Prop C. Besides likely being illegal – per the city attorney – this move would remove funding for a popular and successful housing program addressing homelessness in San Francisco.
In 2018, hundreds of activists came together with over a hundred endorsers in a political upsurge to fight for a durable solution to homelessness in San Francisco. DSA San Francisco formed a key part of this coalition, with DSA members occupying positions at every level of the campaign, from signature-gathering to running the field operation. We saw something revolutionary in Prop C: the ability to address homelessness at its root by funding permanent supportive housing.
Prop C implemented a gross receipts tax on large businesses, with the revenue going into a special city fund. It also specified that this fund be used for four things, in proportion: at least half for permanent housing, at least a quarter for mental health services, up to 15% on homelessness prevention, and only up to 10% for temporary shelter. This isn’t an afterthought: Prop C was built around the Housing First approach, which argues that homelessness and the constellation of issues that often surround it — drug use, mental health crises, and poverty — are best resolved by providing housing, not by temporary half-measures.
Prop C has faced challenges before. In 2018, before its passage, it received unprecedented pushback from the mayor at the time, London Breed, in an astounding statement where she highlighted the “lack of accountability” in her own administration and claimed that housing people without homes would worsen homelessness by “funding services for residents from other counties”. (San Francisco’s Point-in-Time count has continued to show that around 60–70% of the homeless population was most recently housed in San Francisco, before and after Prop C’s passage). She also raised the possibility of it being blocked by business interests: “if it passes, Proposition C will likely immediately become part of an ongoing lawsuit to invalidate it and similar signature-driven tax measures passed earlier this year.”
When it has been allowed to work, Prop C and Housing First have been successful. The city’s 2024 report shows that it has provided more than 5,000 units – a number larger than the current remaining unsheltered homeless population in San Francisco – and that this housing works: “In the Permanent Housing service area, 96% of households retained their housing or exited to other stable housing options”. The contrast with other approaches is stark, and the city’s approach to temporary shelter has been, at best, chaotic: during the pandemic, San Francisco made it difficult for people to self-refer into shelter. On the other hand, Prop C made it possible for many of the residents of the city’s Shelter-in-Place Hotel program to exit to permanent housing.
This is the funding that Mayor Lurie plans to re-allocate to temporary shelter or other programs. As socialists we believe in provisioning the economy based on the needs of the people, not on the whims of startup capitalists or technocratic heirs-turned-mayors, and it’s clear that the urgent need of San Francisco’s homeless population is housing. The people of San Francisco agree. We call on the Board of Supervisors and the mayor to keep this funding permanent supportive housing and to protect Prop C and reject this antidemocratic provision.
🌹Saturday, July 19 (10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.): 🐣 No Appetite for Apartheid Training and Outreach (Meet in person for training at 1916 McAllister, then head out to do outreach in the Bayview)
🌹Saturday, July 19 (10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.): 🐣 Tenant Organizing Canvass(Meet in person at Chan Kaajal Park, 3100 17th St)
Join neighbors, activists, grassroots organizations in resisting ICE abductions happening at immigration court hearings! ICE is taking anyone indiscriminately in order to meet their daily quotas. Many of those taken include people with no removal proceedings.
We’ll be meeting every Tuesday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Immigration Court at 100 Montgomery. We need all hands on deck, even if you can only participate for 1 or 2 hours.
Reading Group: “The Housing Question” by Friedrich Engels
Join us in reading the seminal text on the political economy of housing. Written in 1872, The Housing Question is Friedrich Engels’ critique of the housing market and the solutions promoted by his contemporaries. 150 years later, his work resonates just as much, if not more, with tenants’ current struggles.
This two-part series will have readers discuss the various historical attitudes and debates around housing and apply those lessons to our modern housing crisis.
Join us Wednesday, July 16 from 6:30 p.m to 8:30 p.m. for a workshop held by the San Francisco local of the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC)! We’ll be going over how to generate workplace organizing leads and hold organizing conversations. This will be an interactive session for any and all levels of organizing experience. Whether you’re an organizer or volunteer with EWOC or simply someone who wants to start learning about workplace organizing, this workshop is a great place to join the conversation and plan work for the labor movement!
No Appetite for Apartheid is a campaign aimed at reducing economic support for Israeli apartheid by canvassing local businesses to boycott Israeli goods. Come and canvass local businesses with the Palestine Solidarity and Anti-Imperialist Working Group!
On Saturday, July 19 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., We will be doing a training on how to talk to stores in your neighborhood, then going out and talking with stores together in the Bayview! Meet at 1916 McAllister.
Help us build tenant power in SF! Tenant Organizing Working Group is hosting a canvass the Mission, in partnership with Tenant and Neighborhood Councils. We’ll meet July 19th at 3:00 p.m. at Chan Kaajal Park, near 16th St. BART station, and we’ll walk the neighborhood together, talking to tenants about their housing conditions and how collective action can help. This is a powerful way to build organizing skills and relationships within the community. We will start with a training, so no prior experience is required. Sign up here so we know you’re coming. See you there!
Social Housing Reading Group
What could social housing look like in San Francisco, and how do we get there? Join DSASF for a reading of the Budget and Legislative Analyst’s report on how the city can build its own publicly owned, deeply affordable housing. We will also read the SF Berniecrats report, Housing for the 99%, which lays out a vision for social housing for all in San Francisco. Join us at 1916 McAllister Tuesday, July 22 from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
On July 23rd from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., come join DSA SF and Rideshare Drivers United tech workers for our next monthly tech reading group.
We’ll be reading an excerpt from You Deserve a Tech Union by Ethan Marcotte. This event is hybrid with food provided at the DSA SF office at 1916 McAllister St.
RSVP here to access the link to the reading! See you there!
Electoral Education: Zohran x DSA’s Victory
Join us Friday, July 25 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at 1916 McAllister for an open discussion about the very exciting Zohran campaign, how they did it, and how it’s shaping the national discussion about electoral politics in the United States and in our national organization! .
Audience: EVERYONE! Whether you’re new to movement or been following the Zohran campaign for a while, we hope this will be interesting for us all!
Maker Friday: Zine Edition
Join us for Maker Friday: Zine Edition on July 25 at 1916 McAllister from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.! We will learn how to make zines, brainstorm ideas for them, and make them. All are welcome, no experience necessary, come connect with your fellow comrades while making fun content to pass out.
Summer Social(ist) Events! ☀️
On Sunday, July 27th at 3:30 p.m. we’ll be going to the Oakland Ballers vs Northern Colorado Owlz baseball game + “Halloween in July Night” (at Raimondi Park) – RSVP here by July 13th so that we can put in a group order of tickets! Group tickets are are $15 per ticket, but no one will be turned away for lack of funds!
📣 Support the Blue Bottle Independent Union
Nestlé is one of the biggest corporations in the world charged with decades of human rights violations in the global south. They’re now in our backyard intimidating baristas with surveillance, firing, and bad-faith bargaining. Last week, baristas in four Bay Area locations of Nestlé-owned Blue Bottle presented management with a super majority of union cards and demanded voluntary recognition. Instead, Blue Bottle fired one of the organizers, B.B. Young. This comes at an especially bad time for B.B. since their husband was also recently laid off.
On July 13th DSA SF held its second physical education training. Seven comrades got together in the park to learn and practice basic movement and self defense skills such as falling, quick get ups, rolling, human crutch carries, and basic stance work.
Stay tuned for the next one! If you’re interested in inclusive physical education and self defense strategies, please join #phys-ed on the DSA SF Slack.
Behind the Scenes
The Chapter Coordination Committee (CCC) regularly rotates duties among chapter members. This allows us to train new members in key duties that help keep the chapter running like organizing chapter meetings, keeping records updated, office cleanup, updating the DSA SF website and newsletter, etc. Members can view current CCC rotations.
To help with the day-to-day tasks that keep the chapter running, fill out the CCC help form.
🌹Saturday, July 19 (10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.): 🐣 No Appetite for Apartheid Training and Outreach (Meet in person for training at 1916 McAllister, then head out to do outreach in the Bayview)
Mark your calendars for our Summer Social(ist) event series! Our next event is coming up this Friday, July 11th @ 7:30PM – Comrade Karaoke at the Roar Shack (34 7th Street) – Come hang out and do some FREE karaoke with your fellow DSA SF comrades or cool people you want to impress with your incredible singing voice! No songs refused, no entry denied! Suggested Donation: $10. Drinks: Wine + Beer Available / BYOB
Later this month on July 27th @ 1:05PM we’ll be going to the Oakland Ballers vs Northern Colorado Owlz baseball game + “Halloween in July Night” (at Raimondi Park) – RSVP here by July 13th so that we can put in a group order of tickets! Group tickets are are $15 per ticket, but no one will be turned away for lack of funds!
Reading Group: “The Housing Question” by Friedrich Engels
Join us in reading the seminal text on the political economy of housing. Written in 1872, The Housing Question is Friedrich Engels’ critique of the housing market and the solutions promoted by his contemporaries. 150 years later, his work resonates just as much, if not more, with tenants’ current struggles.
This two-part series will have readers discuss the various historical attitudes and debates around housing and apply those lessons to our modern housing crisis.
EWOC (Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee) is a project of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) and DSA working to build a distributed grassroots organizing program to support workers organizing at the workplace. To learn more about the work EWOC does, come by the DSA SF office to pick up a copy of Unite and Win or tune into the Labor Board’s weekly meetings every Monday at 7 p.m. on Zoom.
The next EWOC event hosted by DSA SF features EWOC staff members conducting a training on generating workplace leads and conducting organizing conversations on July 16th from 6:30 p.m to 8:30 p.m.Let us know if you can make it! Hope to see you there!
Tenant Organizing Canvass in the Mission
Help us build tenant power in SF! Tenant Organizing Working Group is hosting a canvass the Mission, in partnership with Tenant and Neighborhood Councils. We’ll meet July 19th at 3:00 p.m. at Chan Kaajal Park, near 16th St. BART station, and we’ll walk the neighborhood together, talking to tenants about their housing conditions and how collective action can help. This is a powerful way to build organizing skills and relationships within the community. We will start with a training, so no prior experience is required. Sign up here so we know you’re coming. See you there!
Social Housing Reading Group
What could social housing look like in San Francisco, and how do we get there? Join DSASF for a reading of the Budget and Legislative Analyst’s report on how the city can build its own publicly owned, deeply affordable housing. We will also read the SF Berniecrats report, Housing for the 99%, which lays out a vision for social housing for all in San Francisco. Join us at 1916 McAllister Tuesday, July 22 from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
On July 23rd from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., come join DSA SF and Rideshare Drivers United tech workers for our next monthly tech reading group.
We’ll be reading an excerpt from You Deserve a Tech Union by Ethan Marcotte. This event is hybrid with food provided at the DSA SF office at 1916 McAllister St.
RSVP here to access the link to the reading! See you there!
📣 Support the Blue Bottle Independent Union
Nestlé is one of the biggest corporations in the world charged with decades of human rights violations in the global south. They’re now in our backyard intimidating baristas with surveillance, firing, and bad-faith bargaining. Last week, baristas in four Bay Area locations of Nestlé-owned Blue Bottle presented management with a super majority of union cards and demanded voluntary recognition. Instead, Blue Bottle fired one of the organizers, B.B. Young. This comes at an especially bad time for B.B. since their husband was also recently laid off.
The Chapter Coordination Committee (CCC) regularly rotates duties among chapter members. This allows us to train new members in key duties that help keep the chapter running like organizing chapter meetings, keeping records updated, office cleanup, updating the DSA SF website and newsletter, etc. Members can view current CCC rotations.
To help with the day-to-day tasks that keep the chapter running, fill out the CCC help form.
🌹Thursday, July 10 (7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Immigrant Justice Working Group Meeting (Zoom)
🌹Friday, July 11 (7:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.): 🐣 Comrade Karaoke (In person at The Roar Shack, 34 7th St)
🌹Sunday, July 13 (11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.): 🐣 Physical Education + Self Defense Training (In person at William McKinley Monument, Panhandle Park)
🌹Monday, July 14 (6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): 🐣 Tenderloin Healing Circle (In person at Kelly Cullen Community, 220 Golden Gate)
Check out https://dev.dsasf.org/events for more events and updates. Events with a 🐣 are especially new-member-friendly!
Reading Group: “The Housing Question” by Friedrich Engels
Join us in reading the seminal text on the political economy of housing. Written in 1872, “The Housing Question” is Friedrich Engels’ critique of the housing market and the solutions promoted by his contemporaries. 150 years later, his work resonates just as much, if not more, with tenants’ current struggles.
This two-part series will have readers discuss the various historical attitudes and debates around housing and apply those lessons to our modern housing crisis.
Mark your calendars for our Summer Social(ist) event series!
July 6th @ 11:00 p.m. – Screening of The Room at the Balboa Theater! We’ll meet outside at 10:30.
July 11th @ 7:30PM – Comrade Karaoke at the Roar Shack (34 7th Street) – Come hang out and do some FREE karaoke with your fellow DSA SF comrades or cool people you want to impress with your incredible singing voice! No songs refused, no entry denied! Suggested Donation: $10. Drinks: Wine + Beer Available / BYOB
July 27th @ 1:05PM – Oakland Ballers vs Northern Colorado Owlz baseball game + “Halloween in July Night” (at Raimondi Park) – RSVP here by July 13th so that we can put in a group order of tickets! Group tickets are are $15 per ticket, but no one will be turned away for lack of funds!
🇵🇸 Apartheid-Free Bay Area Consumer Pledge Canvassing
Help build public support for stores that have pledged to go apartheid-free 🇵🇸 at the Ferry Plaza Farmer’s Market, Harry Bridges Plaza, this Saturday, July 5 from 11:00 a.m to 1:00 p.m.! You will receive basic training, and then you will put that training into practice by collecting signatures at the Ferry Plaza Building Farmer’s Market. Please sign up here. Bring a tote bag and make sure to wear your DSA merch. New members encouraged to join!
Call your comrades to oppose the billionaire budget! Join the DSA SF Electoral Board this Saturday, July 5, 2:00 p.m. to – 4:00 p.m at 1916 McAllister to phonebank members and urge them to send letters opposing Mayor Daniel Lurie’s Billionaire Budget. The proposed budget forces austerity upon the most vulnerable San Franciscans by redirecting Prop C Our City Our Home funds away from effective solutions to homelessness to temporary measures which do not address the root causes of homelessness.
EWOC (Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee) is a project of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) and DSA working to build a distributed grassroots organizing program to support workers organizing at the workplace. To learn more about the work EWOC does, come by the DSA SF office to pick up a copy of Unite and Win or tune into the Labor Board’s weekly meetings every Monday at 7 p.m. on Zoom.
The next EWOC event hosted by DSA SF features EWOC staff members conducting a training on generating workplace leads and conducting organizing conversations on July 16th from 6:30 p.m to 8:30 p.m.Let us know if you can make it! Hope to see you there!
📣 Support the Blue Bottle Independent Union
Nestlé is one of the biggest corporations in the world charged with decades of human rights violations in the global south. They’re now in our backyard intimidating baristas with surveillance, firing, and bad-faith bargaining. Last week, baristas in four Bay Area locations of Nestlé-owned Blue Bottle presented management with a super majority of union cards and demanded voluntary recognition. Instead, Blue Bottle fired one of the organizers, B.B. Young. This comes at an especially bad time for B.B. since their husband was also recently laid off.
What could social housing look like in San Francisco, and how do we get there? Join DSASF for a reading of the Budget and Legislative Analyst’s report on how the city can build its own publicly owned, deeply affordable housing. We will also read the SF Berniecrats report, Housing for the 99%, which lays out a vision for social housing for all in San Francisco. Join us at 1916 McAllister Tuesday, July 22 from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
On June 28th, DSA SF held its first physical education training. Five comrades got together in the park to learn and practice basic movement and self defense skills like falling, squatting, lifting, and palm striking. The next one will be held on July 13th at 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. at the William McKinley Monument in Panhandle Park. Join us for some fun and inclusive physical education, aimed at building the strength and flexibility to build a better world.
Ecosocialist Office Gardening
The Ecosocialist Working Group held their first office gardening event last Tuesday, with 12 attendees, including 5 non-members. We discussed native plants in the bay area and the various tools to help with plant identification, and labeled our garden with popsicle sticks. Our comrade Lizzie even brought a microscope to take a closer look at petals and leaves.
Stay tuned for the next office gardening event! To get involved, join #ecosocialism on the DSA SF Slack, or reach out to ecosocialist@dsasf.org.
Behind the Scenes
The Chapter Coordination Committee (CCC) regularly rotates duties among chapter members. This allows us to train new members in key duties that help keep the chapter running like organizing chapter meetings, keeping records updated, office cleanup, updating the DSA SF website and newsletter, etc. Members can view current CCC rotations.
To help with the day-to-day tasks that keep the chapter running, fill out the CCC help form.
Check out https://dev.dsasf.org/events for more events and updates. Events with a 🐣 are especially new-member-friendly!
🌱 Ecosocialism Gardening
Come garden with our Ecoscocialism Working Group to talk socialism and get to know our garden! We’ll start with a discussion of the history of native plants in the Bay Area and then identify the native plants in our office garden. Join us Tuesday, June 24th at 6:30 p.m. at 1916 McAllister.
Mark your calendars for our Summer Social(ist) event series!
June 25th @ 7:00 p.m. – Screening of They Live at Roar Shack (34 7th Street) – Let’s watch the classic monster movie inspired by the scariest monsters of them all (Ronald Reagan and Capitalism)!
July 6th @ 11:00 p.m. – Screening of The Room at the Balboa Theater! We’ll meet outside at 10:30.
July 11th @ 7:30PM – Comrade Karaoke at the Roar Shack (34 7th Street) – Come hang out and do some FREE karaoke with your fellow DSA SF comrades or cool people you want to impress with your incredible singing voice! No songs refused, no entry denied! Suggested Donation: $10. Drinks: Wine + Beer Available / BYOB
July 27th @ 1:05PM – Oakland Ballers vs Northern Colorado Owlz baseball game + “Halloween in July Night” (at Raimondi Park) – RSVP here by July 13th so that we can put in a group order of tickets! Group tickets are are $15 per ticket, but no one will be turned away for lack of funds!
Apartheid-Free Bay Area Canvassing @ Trans March
🏳️⚧️Celebrate Trans Pride and build public support for stores that have pledged to go apartheid-free 🇵🇸 this Friday, 6/27 from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.! We’ll meet at the Dolores Park tennis courts.
You will receive basic training, and then you will put that training into practice by collecting signatures at the Trans March. RSVP and then sign up for a 1-hour shift. Bring a tote bag and make sure to wear your DSA merch. New members encouraged to join!
Reading Group: “The Housing Question” by Friedrich Engels
Join us in reading the seminal text on the political economy of housing. Written in 1872, “The Housing Question” is Friedrich Engels’ critique of the housing market and the solutions promoted by his contemporaries. 150 years later, his work resonates just as much, if not more, with tenants’ current struggles.
This two-part series will have readers discuss the various historical attitudes and debates around housing and apply those lessons to our modern housing crisis.
EWOC (Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee) is a project of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) and DSA working to build a distributed grassroots organizing program to support workers organizing at the workplace. To learn more about the work EWOC does, come by the DSA SF office to pick up a copy of Unite and Win or tune into the Labor Board’s weekly meetings every Monday at 7 p.m. on Zoom.
The next EWOC event hosted by DSA SF features EWOC staff members conducting a training on generating workplace leads and conducting organizing conversations on July 16th from 6:30 p.m to 8:30 p.m.Let us know if you can make it! Hope to see you there!
People’s Conference for Palestine: Gaza is the Compass
📣 Come one, come all! We’re hoping to have a DSA SF delegation at the 🍉 People’s Conference For Palestine: Gaza is the Compass 🧭 from August 29-31 in Detroit, Michigan. Interested? We’re gauging interest, so please fill out this form by June 19th at 11:00 p.m. Limited financial aid may be available.
Immigrant Justice Working Group x East Bay DSA Know Your Rights Training
About 30 attendees filled the DSA office for a KYR training hosted by the Immigrant Justice Working Group (IJWG) and East Bay DSA Migrants Rights Working Group on Tuesday, June 17. A highlight from the training included roleplay scenarios which allowed participants to practice exercising their rights at work and during a traffic stop, among other scenarios.
Special thanks to comrades Caroline G., Cielo, Rashad X, Eric (EBDSA), Kevin (EBDSA) for helping present and facilitate the breakout sessions.
Stay tuned for future trainings. Join the #immigrant-justice channel on the DSA SF Slack for more information.
Behind the Scenes
The Chapter Coordination Committee (CCC) regularly rotates duties among chapter members. This allows us to train new members in key duties that help keep the chapter running like organizing chapter meetings, keeping records updated, office cleanup, updating the DSA SF website and newsletter, etc. Members can view current CCC rotations.
To help with the day-to-day tasks that keep the chapter running, fill out the CCC help form.
🌹Tuesday, June 24 (6:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.): 🐣 Ecosocialism Office Gardening (In person at 1916 McAllister)
🌹Wednesday, June 25 (6:45 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.): Tenant Organizing Working Group Meeting (Zoom & in person at Radical Reading Room, 438 Haight)
🌹Wednesday, June 25 (7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.): 🐣 Screening of ‘They Live’ (In person at Roar Shack, 34 7th St)
🌹Thursday, June 26 (7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Immigrant Justice Working Group Meeting (Zoom) Check out https://dev.dsasf.org/events for more events and updates.
IJWG & EBDSA: Know Your Rights + Immigration 101 Training
Join the DSA SF Immigrant Justice Working Group and EBDSA Migrants Defense Working Group for a joint Know Your Rights + Immigration 101 training! We will be discussing the current political moment, a brief history of immigration in the U.S., and important Know Your Rights information, including the difference between a judicial and administrative warrant and how to exercise your rights or intervene as a bystander in various scenarios. The training will take place on Tuesday, June 17, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the DSA SF office at 1916 McAllister St.
Join us for Maker Friday on June 20 at the DSA SF office at 1916 McAllister from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.! Come make some art and connect with comrades. All are welcome. See you there!
Apartheid-Free Bay Area Training & Canvassing
Join the Palestine Solidarity and Anti-Imperialist Working Group at 1916 McAllister Stthis Saturday, June 21st from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. as we canvass Hayes Valley as part of the No Appetite for Apartheid campaign! This campaign aims to reduce economic support for Israeli apartheid by canvassing local businesses to boycott Israeli goods.
You will receive training on how to talk to stores in your neighborhood, then we will go out and talk to stores together! This is a great event for both beginner and experienced canvassers.
June 22nd, 12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. – Picnic @ Dolores Park! Bring some food or drinks, bring your dog, bring your friends, bring your friend’s dog! We will be in the Northeast corner by the tennis courts.
June 25th @ 7:00 p.m. – Screening of They Live at Roar Shack (34 7th Street) – Let’s watch the classic monster movie inspired by the scariest monsters of them all (Ronald Reagan and Capitalism)!
July 6th @ 11:00 p.m. – Screening of The Room at the Balboa Theater! We’ll meet outside at 10:30.
July 11th @ 7:30PM – Comrade Karaoke at the Roar Shack (34 7th Street) – Come hang out and do some FREE karaoke with your fellow DSA SF comrades or cool people you want to impress with your incredible singing voice! No songs refused, no entry denied! Suggested Donation: $10. Drinks: Wine + Beer Available / BYOB
July 27th @ 1:05PM – Oakland Ballers vs Northern Colorado Owlz baseball game + “Halloween in July Night” (at Raimondi Park) – RSVP here by July 13th so that we can put in a group order of tickets! Group tickets are are $15 per ticket, but no one will be turned away for lack of funds!
🌱 Ecosocialism Gardening
Come garden with our Ecoscocialism Working Group to talk socialism and get to know our garden! We’ll start with a discussion of the history of native plants in the Bay Area and then identify the native plants in our office garden. Join us Tuesday, June 24th at 6:30 p.m. at 1916 McAllister.
People’s Conference for Palestine: Gaza is the Compass
📣 Come one, come all! We’re hoping to have a DSA SF delegation at the 🍉 People’s Conference For Palestine: Gaza is the Compass 🧭 from August 29-31 in Detroit, Michigan. Interested? We’re gauging interest, so please fill out this form by June 19th at 11:00 p.m. Limited financial aid may be available.
This past weekend we held our chapter’s Annual Convention. At Convention, we elect new leadership, charter our chapter bodies, consider bylaws amendments, and determine our chapter’s priority campaigns for the year. Here’s a recap from this year’s Convention!
Bylaws Amendments
We amended our bylaws to reduce the number of annual priority campaigns from up to 3 to only 2, now requiring one of those priorities to be an external-facing campaign and the other to be an internal organizing priority.
Priority Campaigns
Our new priority campaign for the year is San Francisco Divestment: Confronting Israeli Genocide and Apartheid at Home. The priority campaign will be led by Christina W, Doc R, and Jayson V. You can read more about the goals for this campaign in the resolution we passed.
Both of the priority resolutions up for consideration at Convention were external-facing campaigns, so we will have a single priority campaign for the year unless an internal priority is considered at a future chapter meeting.
We rechartered several chapter bodies and elected new leadership for the first six-month term.
Steering Committee – Aditya B, Annie R, Ellyn D, Jenbo, and Julian M
Grievance Officers – Chloe J, Jenna L
Electoral Board – Anya W-Z, Carlos C-R, Lizzie M, Harlo P, Jordan N
Education Board – Matt R, Stephen A, Volo K
Labor Board – Caitlin S, Erich F, James S, Reilly P, Sayuri F
Ecosocialism Working Group – Rishav R, Sophie P
Homelessness Working Group – Ben P, Keith H
Immigrant Justice Working Group – Caroline G, Cindy R
Palestine Solidarity & Anti-Imperialism Working Group – Andrew Y, Louise D
Tenant Organizing Working Group – Dan E, Ellyn D
Sunday Streets Tabling
DSA hosted a table at Sunday Streets this past weekend on June 15 which took place in the Tenderloin, right outside the DSA convention happening in Kelly Cullen Auditorium. We had a group of 4 helpers representing the healing circle who facilitated the activities and spoke with community members.
We handed out flyers for DSA SF and the Tenderloin Healing Circle, Know Your Rights cards, educational zines previously created by members, buttons with various comradely phrases and information on No Appetite for Apartheid; and shared the QR code in support of Jackie Fielder’s legislation to extend family shelter stays. We also ran a button making station, which was incredibly popular, and had chalk available, which was especially popular with the littles but appreciated by all ages.
We had a steady stream of folks of all ages at our table the entire time, asking questions about DSA and the different projects we were promoting, or even just stopping to chat about life for a few minutes. In the end, we handed out the entire original stack of healing circle flyers, and the button design with “Stand Up Fight Back” really seemed to strike a chord. We found this to be a very engaging and inspiring event and would strongly encourage the chapter to attend again in the future.
A few other moments to highlight:
The first person to use the chalk was a young man who drew the blue and pink design – a passerby stopped to compliment the artist saying it looked like a unicorn
A mom with her three daughters sat and each made a pin together with great enthusiasm while chatting with our helpers
A father and his three young daughters took turns with chalk and expanded the mural in front of our table, running up to our table each time to retrieve new colors
Behind the Scenes
The Chapter Coordination Committee (CCC) regularly rotates duties among chapter members. This allows us to train new members in key duties that help keep the chapter running like organizing chapter meetings, keeping records updated, office cleanup, updating the DSA SF website and newsletter, etc. Members can view current CCC rotations.
To help with the day-to-day tasks that keep the chapter running, fill out the CCC help form.
🌹Tuesday, June 17 (6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Immigrant Justice Working Group & East Bay DSA: Know Your Rights & Immigration 101 Training (In person at 1916 McAllister)
🌹Wednesday, June 18 (6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.): 🐣What Is DSA? (In person at 1916 McAllister)
🌹Thursday, June 19 (5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.): Education Board Open Meeting (Zoom)
🌹Friday, June 20 (7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.): 🐣Maker Friday (In person at 1916 McAllister)
Our 2025 Chapter Convention will be held this weekend on June 14th and 15th at Kelly Cullen Auditorium (220 Golden Gate Ave) and will take the place of our June Regular Meeting. At convention we will debate amendments to our bylaws, select our 2025/2026 chapter priorities, re-charter chapter bodies, and elect new leadership. RSVP at dev.dsasf.org/convention-RSVP. The Convention Packet with reflections on our work from the last year and proposals for the next year can be viewed at dev.dsasf.org/packet2025.
Supporting Sup. Fielder’s Family Shelter Stay Policy
DSA SF’s Electoral Board is organizing this campaign to support Supervisor Jackie Fielder’s proposed ordinance to extend the stay of families in shelters to 1 year. Mayor Daniel Lurie and the Department of Homelessness have been enforcing a harmful policy of limiting the stay of families with children to 90 days which is not long enough to secure permanent housing. Please use this link to submit a letter to your supervisor in support of families getting to stay sheltered.
You can also attend the Family Shelter Hearing in person on June 16th at 10:00 a.m. at City Hall to show your support!
IJWG & EBDSA: Know Your Rights + Immigration 101 Training
Join the DSA SF Immigrant Justice Working Group and EBDSA Migrants Defense Working Group for a joint Know Your Rights + Immigration 101 training! We will be discussing the current political moment, a brief history of immigration in the U.S., and important Know Your Rights information, including the difference between a judicial and administrative warrant and how to exercise your rights or intervene as a bystander in various scenarios. The training will take place on Tuesday, June 17, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the DSA SF office at 1916 McAllister St.
Maker Friday on June 20 🎨
Join us for Maker Friday on June 20 at the DSA SF office at 1916 McAllister from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.! Come make some art and connect with comrades. All are welcome. See you there!
Summer Social(ist) Events! ☀️
Mark your calendars for our Summer Social(ist) event series!
June 22nd, 12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. – Picnic @ Dolores Park! Bring some food or drinks, bring your dog, bring your friends, bring your friend’s dog! We will be in the Northeast corner by the tennis courts.
June 25th @ 7:00 p.m. – Screening of They Live at Roar Shack (34 7th Street) – Let’s watch the classic monster movie inspired by the scariest monsters of them all (Ronald Reagan and Capitalism)!
July 6th @ 11:00 p.m. – Screening of The Room at the Balboa Theater! We’ll meet outside at 10:30.
July 11th @ 7:30PM – Comrade Karaoke at the Roar Shack (34 7th Street) – Come hang out and do some FREE karaoke with your fellow DSA SF comrades or cool people you want to impress with your incredible singing voice! No songs refused, no entry denied! Suggested Donation: $10. Drinks: Wine + Beer Available / BYOB
July 27th @ 1:05PM – Oakland Ballers vs Northern Colorado Owlz baseball game + “Halloween in July Night” (at Raimondi Park) – RSVP here by July 13th so that we can put in a group order of tickets! Group tickets are are $15 per ticket, but no one will be turned away for lack of funds!
EWOC: How to Talk About Organizing
EWOC (Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee) is a project of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) and DSA working to build a distributed grassroots organizing program to support workers organizing at the workplace. To learn more about the work EWOC does, come by the DSA SF office to pick up a copy of Unite and Win or tune into the Labor Board’s weekly meetings every Monday at 7 p.m. on Zoom.
The next EWOC event hosted by DSA SF features EWOC staff members conducting a training on generating workplace leads and conducting organizing conversations on July 17th from 6:30 p.m to 8:30 p.m. Let us know in if you can make it! Hope to see you there!
Know Your Rights Canvass Reportback
On Saturday, June 7, a group of DSA and non-DSA members gathered to distribute red cards and Know Your Rights (KYR) information for business brochures between 30th St and Cesar Chavez. The event had a good turnout with many new members who were eager to get involved as the Trump administration continues to escalate its attacks against immigrant communities across the country. The Immigrant Justice Working Group (IJWG) will continue holding monthly canvasses and other events. Stay tuned for the next one! If you would like to get involved in KYR canvassing or are interested in joining the IJWG, reach out at immigrantjustice@dsasf.org or join the #immigrant-justice channel on the DSA SF Slack!
Socialist in Office Meeting Summary – June 2
At the June 2 Socialist in Office (SiO) meeting with Jackie Fielder’s office, DSA SF members received key updates on the city’s budget and pressing policy fights.
🌹Budget and Social Services The Mayor’s proposed budget expands police and sheriff overtime spending for next year, even as social services like legal aid services, food stamps and elder care face deep cuts. Jackie’s office highlighted the opaque budget process and the challenge of influencing it, as they are not on the budget committee.
The mayor is seeking to redirect Prop C funds from permanent affordable housing to temporary shelter beds, a move that would prioritize reducing visible homelessness over creating real homes. This reallocation requires a supermajority at the Board.
🌹Family Shelter Policy Win Jackie’s Family Shelter Ordinance is being heard at the Rules Committee June 16th. On June 9th, Jackie, Faith in Action Bay Area, and the Coalition on Homelessness presented a plan to the Mayor’s budget office to end family homelessness for $66.5M. We are in active discussions with the Mayor’s office about this policy proposal and also his upcoming proposals around families who are living in RVs.
🌹Next Steps Members discussed holding a July session to demystify the city’s budget process for the chapter. Jackie’s office continues to build coalitions with labor and community groups to fight for transparency and social priorities.
Stay tuned for action opportunities, and join us at SiO next week to stay engaged with our efforts at City Hall!
Behind the Scenes
The Chapter Coordination Committee (CCC) regularly rotates duties among chapter members. This allows us to train new members in key duties that help keep the chapter running like organizing chapter meetings, keeping records updated, office cleanup, updating the DSA SF website and newsletter, etc. Members can view current CCC rotations.
To help with the day-to-day tasks that keep the chapter running, fill out the CCC help form.
On June 4, 2025, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents detained at least 15 individuals, including a 3-year-old and other children, at court check-in appointments in San Francisco. This attack on our community members came just a week after the arrest of four asylum seekers after their hearings at S.F. Immigration Court. These actions are part of a nationwide escalation in immigration enforcement where ICE agents coordinate with court officers to identify and harass migrants and interfere with their cases to fast track their deportations. The Democratic Socialists of America – San Francisco (DSA SF) condemns this continued debilitation and criminalization of displaced migrants under the undemocratic U.S. border regime.
ICE’s presence inside courtrooms, their coordination with prosecutors, and their terrorizing of already vulnerable migrants represent a dangerous rise in state repression. Fear mongering at the courthouse keeps migrants in a perpetual state of panic and “under control.” Deportations are then enforced to deal the final blow to expel the racialized migrant class. Both debilitation and exclusionist tactics serve to solidify the racist idea of a homogeneous nation-state that keeps the working class divided and the capitalist class in power. This is why these expedited removals are not just an attack on our migrant neighbors, but an attack on all of the working class.
As democratic socialists, we are building an independent political movement that fights for the working class majority. We believe that we must end the U.S. war machine and economic warfare. We must fight for freedom of movement, allowing people to freely cross borders without restrictive immigration controls. We must demilitarize the border, end all immigrant detention and deportations, grant immediate amnesty for all immigrants regardless of current immigration status, and provide access to jobs, labor, rights, and social services to all immigrants. We must abolish all repressive capitalist institutions like ICE and establish a working class democracy.
The courts are not safe. It is only through mobilizing for community defense initiatives, such as Know Your Rights resource-sharing, accompaniment to immigration appointments, and community rapid response, and building democratic organs of popular power like people’s assemblies that we can protect our working-class community. Join DSA SF to defend our migrant neighbors and build the independent political movement needed to win the battle against fascism.
Join the Immigrant Justice Working Group on Saturday, June 7th at 1:00 p.m. for Know Your Rights (KYR) canvassing! We will be distributing red cards and KYR posters to businesses and community members on Mission between Cesar Chavez and 30th St. Our meeting point will be at the intersection of Mission & Cesar Chavez St. New to canvassing? No worries! There will be a brief how-to training before we go out in pairs or small groups.
Hello all, there will be a hearing on June 9th about the family shelter evictions, and it is in need of YOUR support! Jackie is proposing to extend the stay of families in shelters to 1 year. The mayor would like to limit the stay to 90 days, which is not long enough to secure permanent housing. Come speak at the public comment in support of families getting to stay sheltered, or just cheer on Jackie!
Our 2025 Chapter Convention will be held on June 14th and 15th at Kelly Cullen Auditorium (220 Golden Gate Ave) and will take the place of our June Regular Meeting. At convention we will debate amendments to our bylaws, select our 2025/2026 chapter priorities, re-charter chapter bodies, and elect new leadership. RSVP at dev.dsasf.org/convention-RSVP. The Convention Packet with reflections on our work from the last year and proposals for the next year can be viewed at dev.dsasf.org/packet2025.
EWOC Fundamentals of Workplace Organizing Reportback
EWOC (Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee) is a project of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) and DSA working to build a distributed grassroots organizing program to support workers organizing at the workplace. This week local organizers-in-training met at the DSA SF office to wrap up Fundamentals of Workplace Organizing, a four-module EWOC course, with a lesson on preparing your coworkers to counter against bosses’ anti-union rhetoric, also known as inoculation. Bosses utilize rhetoric like “the union doesn’t represent you” or “we’re all making sacrifices” as a way to incite fear, division, and complacency among workers. Inoculation helps ensure that bosses’ messaging doesn’t further exploit workers and keeps the focus on the positive power of union organizing.
To learn more about the work EWOC does, come by the DSA SF office to pick up a copy of Unite and Win or tune into the Labor Board’s weekly meetings every Monday at 7 p.m. on Zoom. The next EWOC event hosted by DSA SF features EWOC staff members conducting a training on generating workplace leads and conducting organizing conversations on July 17th from 6:30 p.m to 8:30 p.m. Let us know in if you can make it! Hope to see you there!
Behind the Scenes
The Chapter Coordination Committee (CCC) regularly rotates duties among chapter members. This allows us to train new members in key duties that help keep the chapter running like organizing chapter meetings, keeping records updated, office cleanup, updating the DSA SF website and newsletter, etc. Members can view current CCC rotations.
To help with the day-to-day tasks that keep the chapter running, fill out the CCC help form.
Join us for Maker Wednesday on May 28 from 7:00 – 9:00 p.m.! Come make some art and connect with comrades. All are welcome, see you there!
Visioning an Ecosocialist San Francisco
Join us for “Visioning an Ecosocialist San Francisco” this Thursday, May 29 6:00-8:00 p.m.! We’ll meet in-person at 1916 McAllister to imagine, brainstorm, strategize, and plan our ecosocialist future.
The Labor Board and Immigrant Justice Working Group are excited to announce our upcoming Spanish Language Movie Night! As part of our desire to improve our Spanish, learn more about Marxist movements in Latin America, and connect with the Spanish speaking community of San Francisco, we are going to be showing “Soy Cuba,” an 1964 international co-production of Cuba and the USSR. We are planning on having food, so please RSVP so we can know how much food to order. We will be watching at the Carr Auditorium at SF General, Saturday, May 31 from 6-8:30 p.m. Invite your friends, eat snacks, and sharpen your knowledge of Spanish and Marxism in Latin America. Hope to see you there!
At the Socialist in Office meeting on May 19, the electoral board discussed several items
Land use permitting reforms being pushed by the Mayor which threaten gentrification of districts in the City like Calle 24
A debrief on on the Four Pillars hearing. Notably, SFPD admitted to not being able to solve the underlying issues surrounding drug overdoses.
Proposed ordinance from Jackie Fielder preventing unhoused families from evictions from shelters for at least a year
The board is organizing a contingent for a rally in support of the hearing on the resolution on June 9 at City Hall. Keep an eye on the calendar for full details and a link to the RSVP which will be posted shortly.
If you would like to be involved in these conversations, join the electoral board on Mondays at 6:00 p.m. via Zoom and find us on Slack at #electoral-discussion.
EWOC Fundamentals Training Reportback
The Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC) Fundamentals Training group continued with our third session. The lecture plenary was an interview with Phoebe from the Sesame Workers union, who won their union campaign this past week! Phoebe talked about how they navigated a company environment that outwardly championed community but was actually deeply anti-worker. The lecture also focused on how to escalate campaigns with actions successfully.
We began our discussion section with a reaction to the plenary interview. One comrade shared how they connected to how workers at quote-unquote ‘progressive companies’ can use the company’s mission against them. For example, a pharmaceutical company’s workers can use a slogan like “wellness for all” to argue that workers deserve to be part of that too. Another comrade shared the story they heard of Starbucks workers having a catchphrase to write on coffee cups to build support for their campaign.
Our assignment from last week was to have an organizing conversation with a coworker, so we also discussed our experiences with that. We helped one comrade troubleshoot their conversation, where they encountered people of the “things are okay” camp. We talked about how asking hypothetical questions has worked to open up people’s imaginations and be more receptive to joining the campaign. Things like… “what if you didn’t have to work two jobs – that this one would be enough?”
Next week, we’re going to wrap up the training with a focus on inoculation and the boss campaign!
Behind the Scenes
The Chapter Coordination Committee (CCC) regularly rotates duties among chapter members. This allows us to train new members in key duties that help keep the chapter running like organizing chapter meetings, keeping records updated, office cleanup, updating the DSA SF website and newsletter, etc. Members can view current CCC rotations.
To help with the day-to-day tasks that keep the chapter running, fill out the CCC help form.
