Equitable Development Plan Leadership Committee

We’re introducing members of the community who are working closely with project partners to bring the voices of the Bayview-Hunters Point to the table. The Equitable Development Plan (EDP) Leadership Committee meets monthly to help drive project design and ensure that the resulting legacy of the new park captures the heart and soul of the Bayview-Hunters Point community. See their interviews below!

Maika Pinkston is a recent addition the EDP Leadership Committee who has lived her whole life as a Bayview-Hunters Point resident. She is a community leader and activist, as well as the founder of From the Heart, an organization encouraging healthy living among the most marginalized communities in San Francisco. She was also recently sworn in by Mayor London Breed as a member of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission Community Advisory Committee, which was done with a virtual ceremony at the park.

Growing up, Maika went to many neighborhood parks including Visitacion Valley Playground, Hilltop Park, Youngblood Coleman, Purple Playground in Crocker Amazon, as well as India Basin Shoreline Park for "Sucka Free Saturdays." She still visits all of these parks today with her children.

Parks to Maika are a source of family and community. One of her most memorable experiences at India Basin was a Mother's Day event last year that helped local moms not only enjoy the park, but to bring them together to create an environment of support for those mothers who have lost sons.

She has also used the park to build community by organizing a cleanup day for the park and neighborhood, bringing local youth to help in this work and create a sense of stewardship for the next generation. The first of these cleanup days occurred last month and she looks forward to continuing them. Maika emphasized the importance of keeping a clean park as the pandemic has shown us the integral nature of parks in communities.

Maika is excited to be a part of the EDP leadership team to help inform the neighborhood of what is going on with the project and to make sure that the community is deeply involved in its future. She stated that there are families who have lived in the neighborhood around the park for up to six generations, as part of one of the last standing Black communities in San Francisco. With all of the change that have happened in the last decade, she looks forward to making sure that everyone in the community, from elders to the next generation, is involved and heard from as we move forward with one of the most ambitious park projects in a generation!

Darryl Watkins is currently a summer fellow with CCS Fundraising, a consultant on the India Basin project. Darryl has lived in Bayview-Hunters Point since he was 6 years old, growing up with parks as the place to be. In his first few weeks of his fellowship, he has enjoyed learning about what it will take to raise the funds for this project.

His favorite activities include football and basketball, with some of his favorite places to play including Joe Lee Recreation Center, Youngblood Coleman Playground, and India Basin Shoreline Park.

As he grew, so did his passion for his community that raised him. Darryl’s long history of volunteer work has focused on building up the Bayview-Hunters Point community, which led him to the A. Philip Randolph Institute, one of our nonprofit partners on this project. From there, he was able to secure his current position with CCS, helping to raise money for one of the largest park projects in San Francisco's history. Darryl had this to say about the importance of parks, community, and this project:

"Parks are the place for community, to see friends, exercise and play. Even as my friends and I from the neighborhood grew up, we're still always coming back to the same parks. It's a place to show support and love for one another. People don’t forget about their communities at their parks."

His favorite aspect of the India Basin project is the amount of park space that it will add to this site. He believes it will make it easier to have large community events at the park, building it into a stronger neighborhood hub, while also allowing more families to use it on a daily basis. He also stated that the potential for this park, and the entire Bayview-Hunters Point community, is embodied by the beautiful views. All it takes is investment from the community and City.

Thank you to CCS, APRI, and the San Francisco Parks Alliance for helping to bring this talented and passionate individual to this project. We look forward to working with you Darryl to help build up this community and make this park a reality!

After immigrating from Hong Kong, Michael Wong landed his first job in the United States with SF Safety Awareness for Everyone (SF SAFE), a public safety and crime prevention non-profit in the City. Despite lacking prior experience running community service projects, Wong found that he excelled in his new position. Twenty-three years later, he now supervises several projects as the Program Director for the Bayview Community Youth Center (CYC) on Third Street.

Over the years, Wong and the Bayview CYC have collaborated with the Bayview YMCA to host the Joint Black History Month and Lunar New Year Celebrations by bringing the two major populations together to share food, fun, performances, and tradition.

“The most joyous thing is that we were able to invite the Warriors players, including Steph Curry, Draymond Green, and James Wiseman to virtually celebrate this year's Black History Month and Lunar New Year,” reflected Wong.

Wong is excited for the India Basin project to break ground on June 17 and looks forward to the new trails and shoreline access that the new park will bring.

“I can imagine that I can connect the Asian and African American youth to do water sports together, such as kayaking and dragon boat racing,” Wong shared.

Jessica Campos fondly remembers catching footballs, playing tag, and climbing trees in front of the Samoan Church on her street as a child. She used to race her friends down the stairs from the housing complexes to India Basin Shoreline Park and skip rocks along the shoreline.

Today, she’s working to create similar experiences for Bayview kids at the new India Basin Park. As the Southeast Center Manager for Wu Yee Children’s Services, Campos is excited to connect with other community organizations to collaborate on children and youth programming at the future park site.

“Especially after this year of the pandemic where children and youth shifted their school and social learning to at-home learning, we need to work on their connection to nature and learn the history of Bayview through arts, music and spoken word from our legacy residents,” said Campos. She points to the late Dr. Espanola Jackson and Mr. Oscar James as two influential leaders whose guidance has helped pave the way for future community advocates.

A first-generation Mexican American, large families are part of Campos’ culture, which makes her feel at ease working with hundreds of Bayview Hunters Point families.

“Since childhood, I was taught to help others whenever we could,” reflected Campos. “Following the footsteps of my parents, community is an extension of our family. Community means connections and cultivation of our roots and traditions in a shared space to unite to strengthen each other.”

Whether it’s skipping rocks or launching kayaks, Campos is ready to bring those traditions to a new generation of kids racing each other from the hills to the shoreline.

Born and raised in the Bayview, Kimberley Hill-Brown learned activism at the knees of her elders, which included the likes of Enola Maxwell, founder and longtime director of the Potrero Hill Neighborhood House, and her daughter, former D10 Supervisor Sophie Maxwell.

“I grew up with a lot of activism and people actually getting things done, and I think that's what sparked me as a child to want to go out and help people,” said Hill-Brown.

At around age 15, she was already helping her neighbors, passing out flyers and reminding them to vote, years before she could do so herself.

Today, Hill-Brown continues proudly serving her community as the secretary of the citywide Public Housing Tenants Association, and also sits on a number of other committees and works with various community organizations.

The EDP Leadership Committee is one such group with which she’s involved, and she is thrilled to see every aspect of the India Basin Park project being realized.

“I’m excited about it all. From the bottom of my heart.” she said. “I'm excited to see them dredge the bay and clean up the toxins…because everything else will come after that. We'll know that it's safe to play on the water, to canoe and boat or whatever you want to do.”

One of her favorite moments of the project thus far was the Golden State Warriors watch party at 900 Innes, held during a block party in June 2019. The event also unveiled a new mural on the walls of the historic Shipwright’s Cottage, painted by Shipyard Trust for the Arts Artist in Residence Ira Watkins.

“We were having a good time and it was a beautiful day,” she said.

A lifelong Bayview resident, Oscar James has served his community for the last 54 years. At 18, James joined Youth for Service, a successful non-profit that recruited youth in community service projects and provided jobs and training to thousands of young gang members. Since then, James has served on a multitude of city boards and agencies, including the Redevelopment Agency, Joint Housing Committee, and Economic Opportunity Council of San Francisco.

James is most excited to see the neighborhood reconnected to the San Francisco Bay – which hasn’t been accessible since the early 1950s. He also wants younger generations to be afforded the same opportunities for job training and workforce development that other neighborhoods enjoy.

“They should be trained in business management and have the opportunity to do catering or whatever concessions come out of there,” said James from inside his car. He was driving through Hayes Valley in search of the new mural dedicated to Amanda Gorman, who recently became the youngest poet to read at a presidential inauguration, and who has inspired millions of people across the country.

Asked what the BVHP community means to him, James responded, “I was born and raised here, it means a lot. I’ve travelled to quite a few different countries and what have you, but there’s nothing like Bayview-Hunters Point.”