Sixth Street Photography Workshop Nutrition Programs: Meal Program Brown Bag Distribution Program Creative Writing Class Gardens Program Other Programs Bingo Fitness and Exercise Arts and Crafts Youth Cares Meet the Composer Here are highlights of a few of our programs:

Sixth Street Photography Workshop "In the residential hotels and shelters in the surrounding neighborhood, individuals often adopt a defensive, solitary posture to face drugs, violence and other threats of their environment. Photography expands their world, offering a vehicle for communicating and establishing community where few such avenues existed." --Tom Ferentz, Founder and Artistic Director, Sixth Street Photography Workshop Under the leadership of founder, Tom Ferentz—artist, teacher and curator, the Sixth Street Photography Workshop has mentored more than 300 students in photojournalism and developing since the workshop began in 1992. The Workshop is an extraordinary program of high quality artistry, distinguished from similar projects by involving adults and sharing the art and skill of photography with residential hotel residents, homeless people and others living below the poverty line. The Workshop extends benefits into the larger community by revealing the reality of homelessness and hotel life. The purpose of the workshop is to awaken creative and artistic expression within individuals and to help those who are otherwise un-empowered, develop a voice. Program participants deliver a truth from their points of view. They share their eyes; taking people visually to scary places without putting them in their real danger. It's good journalism. The hard-hitting and compelling visual images make people "get it." Their photography and imagery has become a vehicle for analysis and expression, giving workshop participants both an outer voice for their community as well as an inner voice for themselves. The depth of their portraits assault the commoner's perceptions by showing things that are so "un-pretty," places so undesirable, and people…human beings functioning, living, in these neglected places. And still, surprisingly, these portraits pull out their subjects' identity, displaying what the subject is most proud of; what thing, despite their circumstances, they found worthwhile—like finding sweet things in piles of shit. Participants are challenged to communicate the richness of their perceptions and understandings, focusing on the outside world and on themselves, creating a documentary expression for poor and disenfranchised adults. And it's making a difference. The workshop has enabled many participants to find stability in their lives; giving them quiet moments, moments to focus on themselves, their families, their lives and where to go from here. In the dark rooms of the South of Market Cultural Center, participants have developed more than just images; in the silence, they begin to develop themselves. Many of our participants have changed their lives after being involved in the workshop, some reuniting with family, while others take on and hold down jobs—accomplishments they never had the courage or clarity to achieve before. The Sixth Street Photography Workshop has exhibited its work at several locations throughout the City including Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in 1995. These exhibitions are an important feature for Workshop photojournalists because the exhibitions give them an opportunity to display their work so it can be viewed and appreciated. And appreciated it is. The next exhibition will be held in January 2004 at the Southern Exposure Gallery located at 401 Alabama Street in San Francisco. Other exhibitions sites in 2004 will include City Hall and the San Francisco Public Library. These exhibitions are sponsored by the California Council for Humanity. You may also view works by the Sixth Street Photography Workshop in its 1997 book, Positively Sixth Street, a published collection of outstanding work by the Sixth Street Photography Workshop which serves as a looking glass into the lives of San Francisco's hotel tenants and the homeless. The Sixth Street Photography Workshop is a project of TODCO's Inner City Arts Program and funded by organizations such as the San Francisco Arts Commission and the LEF Foundation. The South of Market Cultural Center hosts the Workshop and provides dark room space at no-cost to workshop participants. Additional support and assistance is provided by the the Sixth Street Photography Workshops' Advisory Committee. By supporting programs like the Sixth Street Photography Project for its hotel residents, TODCO continues its mission to assure that they will always be an integral part of their Neighborhood's future. To purchase a copy of the book, participate in the Sixth Street Photography Workshop, or for more information, please contact Tom Ferentz at photographyforall@yahoo.com.

Nutrition Programs Meal Program "No [resident] should have problems because they don't have adequate food." -John Elberling, Executive Vice-President, TODCO Recognizing that nutrition is vital to seniors and problematic in the Central City area, TODCO, in partnership with "Self Help for the Elderly" began its Nutrition Meal Program at the Woolf House apartments in 1985. The purpose of the program was to ensure that seniors, whether living on a TODCO property or not, had adequate nutrition despite their economic situation. TODCO wanted to provide nutritious food that seniors could afford. The Meal Program responded to the needs of senior residents and other seniors in the community by providing complete, nutritional lunch meals, five days per week, for only a fraction of the cost—a minimal donation of $1.50 per day. Each meal is valued at an average of $6.00. With over 250 participants, the value of the program to residents is over $200,000 each year. We hope to extend this program to the seniors in the 6th street area with the opening of the Bayanihan House, later this year. Brown Bag Distribution Program In collaboration with the San Francisco Food Bank, TODCO began the "Brown Bag Distribution Program" to ensure that all tenants at TODCO properties would have access to basic nutritional needs. Because of the Brown Bag Program, approximately 200 seniors and low-income members are directly benefited. They are provided with bags and boxes of food which include produce, fruit, canned foods, drinks and so on. The average value of each food baskets is $30-$40 per person and baskets are distributed every other week. The retail value of the food distributed at no cost to participants is $72,000-$96,000 per year.

Creative Writing Class THIS SECTION CLOSED Closed to smokers Closed to breathers Closed to non-eaters Closed to gorgers Closed to Blacks, Chicanos, Jews, Gays Closed for repairs. Down with "closed" Up with "open" Down with closed minds Up with sharing thoughts. Ask me no personal questions unless you're a friend and really care Then I will bubble over to tell all And open this section to you. -Ruth Tutt, TODCO Creative Writing Class "It's very important that our elders have a voice to be heard because often, individuals who are marginalized in society are not heard. If it's not in the media it doesn’t exist. So you have to find a way to give a voice so it's heard. That's what art is for." - John Elberling, Executive Vice President, TODCO As part of TODCO's Inner City Arts Program, the Creative Writing Class was formed in 1990 to give voice to seniors of the neighborhood for the City to hear. Poems like "This Section Closed," screams with voice, creativity and courage—characteristic of the senior students in TODCO's Creative Writing Class. TODCO has been able to maintain this creative writing program for seniors in the South of Market Area under the stewardship of Nancy Deutsch, the Creative Writing Instructor. Ms. Deutsch has been able to tap into the richness and diversity of the senior housing community and lead each writer to find his or her own legacy, hopes, dreams, vulnerabilities and strengths in their own voice. The senior poets perform regularly at civic events and community readings and boast six commissioned poems. Their poem, "Dare We Dream In Concrete" is the official poem of the Yerba Buena Gardens and can be found engraved in the granite cornerstone at the entrance to the Garden on Mission Street, between Third and Fourth Streets. Over the years, many students have been part of the Creative Writing Class, the longest stay of any student has been 13 years. Currently the average attendance is 12 people per class. The senior participants range from age 70 to age 92 with new members welcomed to join any Monday class at TODCO's Ceatrice Polite Apartments. Maria Tan, a poet in the group says, "It's never too late to start writing poetry." She joined the class last year after turning 80. For more information about the program, please contact Nancy Deutsch at 415-648-6121.

Gardens Program "A lot of people think it's nice to have a garden. They plant a seed and get satisfaction when their flowers bloom." --Willie Abasta, Mendelsohn House Building Administrator Our Gardens Program is the single most popular program of all. TODCO created the Gardens Program to encourage physical activity and creativity in its seniors. The gardens give seniors and the community an opportunity that very few apartment residents have—to plant in a real garden. The blossoms of this opportunity have become rows and rows of vegetables and flowers from all over the world—roses and jasmine and lavender bushes and cabbage and coriander and kale. Our gardens are proof of an international love of gardening and we are pleased to be able to provide this space. TODCO provides several gardens for residents including roof gardens and a community garden—Alice Gardens. Built in 1988, Alice Gardens was our first garden project, providing 250 individually assigned gardening beds for all Yerba Buena Neighborhood residents. The beautiful garden/park is so popular that individual boxes have always been completely subscribed to its gardeners.

Other Programs TODCO offers several programs and activities for its residents including exercise classes, arts and crafts, nutrition and health classes, grocery shopping and field trips, karaoke, bingo, gardening, and music programs. Monthly building meetings, resident associations and on-site activities, help to ensure that residents are actively involved in community life. In addition, TODCO has partnered with care programs in the community, including the Senior Companion Program and the Youth Cares Program to benefit its seniors. By providing high quality services and programs, TODCO continues its commitment to create supportive and responsible housing. Other programs and activities are highlighted below:

Bingo Bingo! A person could never truly appreciate that word until he or she watched our seniors play Bingo for the Grand Prize of toilet tissue. And it's not the toilet tissue, believe it or not—really. Hearing the laughter and the "Oh's" and "Ah's" swarm across the room when someone said "the word," would make anyone know that it's more than just the tissue. The concentration, the hand-eye coordination, the ability to multi-task with three or four bingo boards, never missing a number—even I desire that kind of focus. It's a great game and our seniors love it. Activities like Bingo keep seniors on their toes and provides them an opportunity to socialize and to enjoy exercising their brain muscles.

Fitness and Exercise Our seniors are more than brains and wisdoms, they're machines. Well, after visiting a fitness and exercise class at Ceatrice Polite Apartments or Mendelsohn House, someone might think they were. Even seniors with walkers and wheelchairs, or those who have to sit down, raise their arms, move their legs, and keep-up with our trained coordinators. Approximately 40 seniors have signed-up for the half-hour class and groups of 10-20 participate in any one of the three classes offered at each building during the week. When the participants are not working out, they are learning about health and nutrition and what they can do to stay healthy. These classes are taught by program coordinators or by the Nutrition Program instructors from the San Francisco City College. The nutrition class meets one time per week at the senior buildings.

Arts and Crafts Our Arts and Crafts program is offered at all of our properties for all residents to enjoy. Residents benefit from the creativity that the classes inspire as well as the relaxation associated with the different arts and crafts. The classes are overseen by our program coordinators who determine the activities for the day and assist participants with materials and tasks. Occasionally, one of the senior residents volunteer to teach the class. When TODCO resident and artist, K.W. Wong, taught the art class at Ceatrice Polite Apartments, applying what appeared to be haphazard splotches of bright pink and dark green water colors to a sheet of white paper, no one knew exactly what he was up to. We were all amazed when he turn from his painting and said, "See. Easy." Behind him was not just splotches and swipes of colors, instead it was greens linking pinks together, creating a collage of flowers with stems and roses. The art classes awaken the imagination to the benefit all participants.

Youth Cares Youth Cares is an inter-generational program where students from local high schools come and visit TODCO seniors. The youths participate in all sorts of activities with their senior partners including gardening, playing games and shopping. Programs like these are important because teenagers can lend their helping hands, share their energy and give companionship to our residents, while our seniors, in turn, tap into the lives of teenagers and share a part of themselves—their stories, their knowledge and wisdom. The program is administered through the International Institute of San Francisco, an immigrant and refugee advocacy program.

Meet the Composer "Meet the Composer" is a music workshop sponsored by the Meet the Composer Program and the Yerba Buena Center. This program brings out the rich voices of our diverse senior population. Not only is the class a mix of multilingual seniors, the participants also sing in different languages including French, Spanish, Chinese, German and English. The seniors are affectionately known as the "TODCO Songbirds." When you hear their soothing voices, you know why they are our songbirds. This program encourages seniors to get out of their rooms and make their artistic expression. You can catch one of their performances at special events in the Yerba Buena Gardens.