The West Bay Pilipino Multi-Service Center and other Filipino Non-Profit Organizations have been excluded from San Francisco's $ 9 million budget allocated for community agencies.
Executive Director Rudy Asercion says West Bay "serves the poorest of the poor of SOMA including after-school tutorials, financial literacy and healthy lifestyle programs as well as life skills training. West Bay had collaborated with the Filipino Senior Center, the Filipino Family Resource Center, the South of Market Clinic and the SOMA Employment Center to present a comprehensive package of services for the Filipino community."
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors will meet on Wednesday, July 1 to decide on the fate of the Filipino Non-Profits. Show your support by demanding that we get representation!
50,000 people of Filipino descent in the City and County of San Francisco (8% of the population), half a million in Northern California and 2.2 million in the State must surely mean something to city, county and state governments %u2013 because these translate into significant taxes paid, jobs created, business generated, services rendered and votes cast.
However, these vital facts seem to have been completely overlooked in the allocation of funds from the $9 million NOFA Family Resource Center Initiative (2009-2010 RFP) for non-profit service organizations in the City and County of San Francisco. Of the 23 non-profits recommended for funding, there was not one single Filipino organization included.
The application for funding submitted by West Bay Pilipino Multi-Service Center, which has been providing direct services to disadvantaged Filipino families in San Francisco for 40 years, was overlooked by city administrators, along with 4 other Filipino non-profits that had sought funding, namely, Philippine Senior Center, Family Resource Network, South of Market Clinic and South of Market Employment Center.
We demand that this oversight be rectified, otherwise, it will amount to a gross injustice and a case of discrimination against the Filipino community. There is extreme urgency here as a decision of the Board of Supervisors is set for this Wednesday, July 1.
As tax payers, voters and contributors to the social, economic and political fabric of San Francisco, we demand that the application for funding of West Bay Pilipino Multi-Service Center, Philippine Senior Center, Family Resource Network, South of Market Clinic and South of Market Employment Center be reviewed and their fair and rightful share be allocated to them.
We will look forward to your positive response to this very important matter. We shall attend the Board of Supervisors meeting on July 1 when you champion the cause of the Filipino community.
Thank you.
