3rd Street Youth Center & Clinic was founded as a community effort to ensure that the 6,000 young residents of Bayview Hunters Point (BVHP) had access to the same opportunities for healthcare, employment, and education as other youth in San Francisco. When it first opened in 2005, 3rd Street was run by a dedicated group of volunteers made up of neighborhood parents and upstanders who offered health education and arts programming over the summer months. Today, 3rd Street reaches more than 1,500 young people each year through a wide range of holistic services that include:
- A full-service primary health care clinic that offers free youth physicals, referrals for specialists, STI treatment, rapid HIV testing/counseling, and pregnancy testing/counseling.
- Individual, family, and group therapy and clinical case management.
- Housing Services: 3rd Street is a designated Youth Access Point into the City’s Coordinated Entry System, a dedicated nonprofit partner in the City’s Rising Up campaign to end homelessness, in partnership with LYRIC: Center for LGBTQQ Youth and San Francisco State University (SFSU) to connect enrolled students to rapid re-housing options, and offers HomePoint, the first and only rapid-rehousing program specifically designed for homeless youth in BVHP.
- (New!!) Lower Polk TAY Navigation Center. Now open, 3rd Street and its partner Success Centers will oversee a gender-inclusive homeless shelter at 700 Hyde Street. The TAY Navigation Center will support young people experiencing homelessness with substance abuse, mental health, and education and employment support while they await placement into permanent homes.
- 3rd StrEATS: a food pantry/CSA program that gives young people free and fresh organic produce and food twice a week through partnerships with Imperfect Produce and the San Francisco Produce Market.
- HealthCore: A healthcare-focused workforce development program that prepares Transition Age Youth (TAY) for careers in allied health.
- 3rd Street Leadership Academy (3LA ): Participants study health challenges and opportunities in the neighborhood, prioritize issues of concerns, develop action plans, and connect with grassroots activists and public officials to impact change.
- Youth Outreach Squad (YOS): Youth learn about health and wellness and create health-focused outreach campaigns to share with their peers.
- Summer Health Education Program (SHEP): Held over the summer months, young people learn how to make informed choices about their health and the relationship between poverty, race, and chronic disease
Mission Statement
To help youth, ages 12-24, from Bayview Hunters Point (BVHP) make healthy and safe decisions that improve their physical, emotional, and social health, empowering them to become successful, contributing adults.
Vision Statement
To build a more equitable world where the color of a person’s skin is not a risk factor for chronic disease, homelessness, and economic instability, and that youth from all San Francisco neighborhoods lead happy, fulfilling lives.
3rd Street Youth Center & Clinic:
Medical clinic, counseling and service hub, main office
1728 Bancroft Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94103
The Point:
Housing Services (rapid re-housing, Youth Access Point, case management)
5600 Space D 3rd Street
San Francisco, CA 94124
The Annex:
Executive Offices
One Crescent Way
San Francisco, CA 94134