40 for 40: Hunters Point Head Start - 2006

Audiences got dreamy watching “Dreamgirls” for which American Idol runner up Jennifer Hudson took home an Oscar while music lovers got their “SexyBack” with Justin Timberlake’s electronic rap-rock hit topping the charts in 2006.

Overlooking Candlestick Park and the US Naval Shipyard, the SFSU Head Start facilities on Kirkwood Ave. in the former Boys and Girls Club provides services for 60 children and is an important and much needed resource for families in Hunters Point.  Created by the US Dept. of Health & Human Svcs., Head Start is one of the longest-running programs addressing systemic poverty in the nation.  It provides education, health, nutrition and parent involvement services to low-income children and their families.

For this project, AND  was hired to provide full architectural services to renovate an existing SF Housing Authority building into four classrooms for infants to 5-year-olds, offices, meeting rooms for parents and community and a commercial kitchen.  AND’s ETC trainees provided pro bono labor installing insulation and drywall in the community space–allowing participants a chance to give back to the neighborhood in which many of them have roots.  Our design included a new exterior sidewalk with accessible drop-off ramp, new path of travel from a MUNI bus stop and new ramp from the main entry walkway and play areas.  The center is surrounded by affordable family housing, an elementary school and the Willie Mays Boys and Girls Club house.  AND is proud of its work over the decades providing similar architectural services for dozens of community-based child care centers, including Kai Ming Head Start, Florence Crittenton Child Care, Judith Baker Child Care Center and Hamilton Family Center totaling over 50,000 sq. ft. of facilities.