About Us
Who we are :
North Beach Citizens was started by a group of residents and merchants in North Beach, who began meeting in 1996 to discuss the ways in which the North Beach community could address the issue of homelessness in their neighborhood. Francis Ford Coppola convened the first meeting after partnering with students from Telegraph Hill Neighborhood Center to produce a short documentary about homelessness in North Beach.
At the August 1996 meeting, Mr. Coppola articulated his earliest vision for North Beach Citizens: “My idea is that if the City is made up of many, many neighborhoods, that any neighborhood that wanted to do something positive would have to at least know who they’re doing it for. So part of this has to be a linking of the North Beach people who are homeless to the North Beach community.”
Some of the community leaders who participated in the preliminary North Beach Citizens meetings were Denise McCarthy, former Executive Director of Telegraph Hill Neighborhood Center, Jeannette Etheredge, owner of Tosca Café, Ed Moose, former owner of Moose’s, Jo Schuman Silver, producer of Beach Blanket Babylon, along with representatives from the Delancey Street Foundation, Saints Peter & Paul Church, the San Francisco Police Department, and Bank of America.
Mr. Coppola and the North Beach Citizens steering committee of community leaders that developed out of the initial meetings hired Sarah Andrews, one of the Telegraph Hill Neighborhood Center’s youth coordinators who had participated in the making of the North Beach homelessness documentary, as program coordinator. For the next three years, this group built the foundation of North Beach Citizens. Mr. Coppola and others raised funds within the community, holding the first annual fundraiser at Café Niebaum-Coppola. For her part, Ms. Andrews conducted a community survey in North Beach to assess the needs of North Beach’s homeless, developed North Beach Citizens’ initial program model, and, after hiring North Beach Citizens’ first executive director, rented North Beach Citizens’ first office space at 718 Columbus Avenue.
In the spring of 2000, North Beach Citizens’ first Board of Directors, largely made up of members of the North Beach Citizens steering committee, filed for 501(c)3 non-profit status–Our Federal ID# is 94-3360013. Over the course of the next year, the board rented and renovated 720 Columbus Avenue, and, in January 2001, North Beach Citizens opened. Staffed by only the executive director, North Beach Citizens was operating at full capacity within three months, enrolling and working with 50 homeless residents.
North Beach Citizens’ Board of Directors
| Board Officers
Francis Ford Coppola, Chairman Richard Grosboll, President Ruth Yankoupe, Vice President Stacie Kowalczyk, Treasurer Gussie Stewart, Secretary |
Board Members
Richard Armanino Curt Cassels Claudine Cheng Janet Crane Susan Daniloff Anne Halsted George Hamel Jeanne Milligan Lynda Spence Gail Switzer Irenè Lindbeck Tibbits |
Honorary Members
Eleanor Bertino Jeannette Etheredge Mel Figoni Gyöngy Laky Jo Schuman Silver |
Advisory Board
John Buoymaster Ben Golvin Seth Katzman Denise McCarthy Jimmie Schein |
| North Beach Citizens Staff
Kristie Fairchild, Executive Director Amy Snyder, Development Director Brandon Castronova, Intensive Case Manager Theresa Andrews, North Beach Citizens Street Beautification Program Team Leader & Support Staff Mandy Boatright, North Beach Citizens Community Food Pantry Coordinator Alexandra Neidenberg, Operations & Development Associate |
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