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Our History
The Chinatown Beacon Center was born from the roots of community collaboration. In the Spring of 1990, six agencies came together and formed the Chinatown Consortium for a Children, Youth and Family Center (CCCYFC). This was a collaborative of community agencies seeking expanded and improved facilities in Chinatown. This network also broadened its agenda to explore how they could best provide coordinated services to the Chinatown children, youth and families, through a single, multi-generational center.
These community agency leaders continued to meet to discuss ways of working together to provide comprehensive services for the immigrant, low-income, limited-English speaking families in Chinatown. In 1996, the efforts became focused on developeing a Beacon Center in Chinatown and a larger group of community stakeholders were involved in the planning process. This group included agency leaders, school principals, residents, youth and other community members. The Chinatown Beacon Center partnered with the San Francisco Beacon Initiative and launched in 1996.
Everyone involved with the The Chinatown Beacon Center continues to create and shape its history. Please read and add to the comments below to learn more about and share in our story.
The Chinatown Beacon Center Website Workshop interviewed a few individuals who were influential in establishing a Beacon Center in San Francisco Chinatown. Here are some of the things that they learned.
I learned that Chinatown Beacon Center is call pui gun. pui means (nurish) nurture and gun mean root in Chinese. The idea of Beacon Centers came from New York to use high school and middle schools as the location of after school programs. CBC started in 1996 at Jean Parker Elementary School for youth and adults. One challenge was figuring out what workshops to offer.
by Michelle Tan, age 13
I learned that Chinatown Beacon Center is called Beacon because the center keeps lights on in schools guiding people toward a place to go after school and not on the streets. The Chinese name for Chinatown Beacon Center is poiu gun and it means nurture roots.I learned that the Beacon colors are red and green because red in Chinese is lucky and the two colors are from the Chinatown lantern. Chinatown Beacon’s mascot is a lantern because you could see it at the entrance of Chinatown and it also symbolizes guidance.
I learned that the Beacon Centers first started in New York, Boston and was later brought to San Francisco by Linda Asato. Beacon Centers were planned to be in middle and high schools, but there weren’t any middle or high schools in Chinatown. Beacon Centers are located in schools because usually after school, the school will be empty and not being used.
I learned that the Chinatown Beacon Center didn’t have that many resources to turn to when they started Chinatown Beacon Center. I learned that using elementary school space is very hard because if you move a little thing the students and teachers may complain.
I learned that Beacon Centers are places where students can go after school and also a place where all kinds of people could gather and learn from each other.
by Cindy Du, age 13