Summa ry o f M o de ls
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SUMMARY OF MODELS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR SAN FRANCISCO Event-Based Models
Grassroots Partnership Models
Models that activate public spaces or make them conducive to social gathering for a defined period of time - an evening, a full day, a season, etc.
Models in which small, primarily volunteer-led organizations play a leadership role in public space management, improvement, and stewardship.
STRENGTHS: »» Help create social interaction and entice people to linger. »» Can foster support for public space investment through positive experiences. »» Can generate revenue. »» The process of organizing events can catalyze partnerships. »» Small community organizations can initiate and lead. WEAKNESSES: »» Activation is, by nature, temporary and tied to planned events. »» Event production can be time intensive and challenging. »» Events can contribute to wear and tear on public space. RECOMMENDATIONS: »» Create a “bundled” or “blanket” permit structure to allow community groups to host a series of small-scale community events in one public space site, similar to Seattle’s Festival Street initiative (p. 19).
STRENGTHS: »» Grassroots groups can be strong partners for activation/programming, light maintenance, and even fundraising. »» Small size typically allows groups to be nimble and flexible in responding to community needs. »» Can have a big impact while keeping costs low. »» With a broad base of stakeholders, they achieve a foundation of community ownership over a public space. »» Build capacity and strengthen social infrastructure. WEAKNESSES: »» Lack of sophisticated organizational systems can be a limiting factor. Groups typically rely on established institutional partners for the “heavy lifting” aspects of public space maintenance.
»» Consistency is difficult to sustain. Productivity depends on people’s free time, and this may vary as key players drop in and out over the years. »» Equity can be a concern with this model. High-resource communities are often better-positioned to make grassroots partnerships work for public space management: they can more easily secure financial donations from local neighbors and businesses; they tend to have stronger connections to corporate sponsors; and, they often have more experience with organizational management, marketing, and fundraising. RECOMMENDATIONS: »» Grow awareness of fiscal sponsorship resources, such as those offered by ioby, San Francisco Parks Alliance (SFPA) and SF Beautiful. »» Replicate the structure of SFPA’s Street Parks Program (p. 32) for a broader array of public spaces, in order to support organizations in mobilizing volunteers, managing clean-up, landscaping, and events. »» Support the sharing of organizational knowledge and practices among grassroots groups.