S.F. recognizes Pacific Islanders with cultural district
“Getting the cultural district approved is just the beginning.” Gaynor Siataga, director of San Francisco’s Pacific Islander Community Hub
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the city’s 10th cultural district on Tuesday, a move that will recognize Pacific Islanders in Visitacion Valley and provide resources to support the dwindling community’s growth.
“People will be able to go somewhere they belong, somewhere people understand them, somewhere where they have all the same access to resources as every other community,” said Gaynor Siataga, the director of San Francisco’s Pacific Islander Community Hub and a leading advocate for the cultural district. “This will give them a sense of identity and belonging here in this wonderful city.”
Pacific Islanders’ roots in San Francisco date back to when it was still a settlement. But the community has steadily decreased in size — from more than 8,600 residents in 1990 to about 2,150 last year, or roughly 0.4% of the city’s population. Stark socioeconomic challenges, including high levels of poverty, unemployment and chronic health conditions, contributed to the community’s decline and intensified during the pandemic.
Around the same time that several Pacific Islander communitybased organizations teamed up to respond to the population’s high rates of COVID-19 illness and death, planning for the cultural district started in earnest.
Tuesday’s 11-0 vote was seen as a culmination of those years-long efforts, but not an end point to them.
“We have folks who really want to come back to the city,” said Tino Felise, the neighborhood program coordinator at the Samoan Community Development Center and one of those behind the effort to create the cultural district. “Hopefully, establishing this cultural district will help us re-establish our population, and make sure this is a place Pacific Islanders can continue to call home.”
In coming months, the office of Supervisor Shamann Walton, who represents the area where the new district will be established, will work with Pacific Islander community leaders to cement the exact geographic boundaries of the district and solidify plans to protect and support the Pacific Islander community. This begins with the creation of a threeyear strategic plan, according to the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development, and the hiring of a cultural district staff.
Once finalized, the area will be awarded the annual funding provided to each district: $230,000 of hotel tax funds to plan for the services, resources and programs, all of which will be designed by a new cultural district advisory board and the city.
“I think the cultural district will really begin to allow everyone to see the specific needs of the Pacific Islander community, and focus on strengthening the solutions to supporting them,” Walton said.
Julia Sabory, who manages community planning and cultural districts at the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development, said cultural districts can elevate a community’s voice at the policymaking table while promoting programs that are created with and for the populations they serve.
“It’s not so much about the numbers and the masses of residents,” Sabory said. “It’s about addressing the systemic exclusion of groups, and trying to include them into processes and opportunities to improve that community’s quality of life.”
“Getting the cultural district approved is just the beginning,” Siataga said. “The work — the deep-rooted work — starts after.”