Projects

Vanguard Project: Tenderloin street youth founded the organization Vanguard in 1966 with the support of liberal ministers, and in the context of a federal anti-poverty campaign. It is considered to be the nation’s first gay liberation organization and first gay/transgender youth organization. 

A partnership between Welcome and the GLBT Historical Society, this project creates series of opportunities for people living in poverty and those working on anti-poverty campaigns, to consider their place in the city vis-à-vis creative engagement with Vanguard Magazine, published from 1966-68. 

Megan has worked at Project Homeless Connect (PHC) since 2010 and specializes in coming up with creative ways to help the homeless gain access to the services and support that they need.  Megan began at PHC at the Manager of the Growing Home Community Garden, where Megan created SF Refresh.  Currently, Megan is the Provider and Resources Manager and works to find collaborations with providers in the city, at non-profits and businesses.  Megan also works on developing relationships to get in-kind donations, financial support and other resources that will enable the homeless to improve their quality of life.  In 2012, Megan is focusing on increasing dental, vision, housing and shelter resources for the homeless in San Francisco.

Growing Home's Seeding Resilience project, increases access to mental health services and provides employment opportunities and skills. A two year innovation project with major support provided by the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA), the Seeding Resilience project is 75% focused on the Growing Home Community Garden (Octavia & Lily) and 25% on working with Urban Agricultural leaders in San Francisco to build a citywide network of support for mental health consumers.

SF Refresh, is the first of these citywide projects. SF Refresh's goal is to create six daylong citywide events that enable San Franciscans to receive free whole body care in community garden settings in 2011.  Activities include: gardening classes, yoga, life couching, meditation, trauma care, nutrition classes, massage, acupuncture, tea and coffee cuppings, movement classes, preventative health care information and more.  In addition to providing direct services to those who need them, SF Refresh connects individuals and families to self care resources available through the city's system of care, local businesses and non-profit organizations.

The Urban Share Community Gardening Project takes advantage of underutilized city spaces by transforming them into community spaces; the results providing a tangible resource and tools for residents to learn about environmental protection, creative reuse and to address local hunger.  The most well known of these garden sites is the Free Farm.
 

Wilgefortis is a press primarily concerned with queer, disability and poverty issues. Many of our publications are theological (primarily Lutheran), but we are also interested in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, children’s books and other creative ways to talk about our focus areas.

Wilgefortis seeks to provide a just compensation for books. This means that we share our proceeds in the following way 30% royalty for authors, 20% to charity/organizations. In order to achieve this, we rely primarily on print on demand publishing.