How can we accelerate San Francisco’s revival as a culturally vibrant, economically robust, and livable city for all?

"I moved here less than two years after the Loma Prieta earthquake and at the height of AIDS. They didn’t call it a ‘doom loop’ back then, but they could have."

—Adriana Roberts, DJ/Performer/Writer
Why now is the best time to live in San Francisco” (The Bold Italic)

San Francisco stands at a critical juncture, suspended between “doom loop” and vibrant resurgence. Covid exacerbated longstanding challenges, pushing the city into crisis with exceptional economic, social, and cultural disruptions. Pundits warn of a downward spiral of declining downtown activity, empty storefronts, lost tax revenues, and diminished quality of life. 

Office vacancy remains highest in the nation among major cities—hitting a record 37% in the most recent quarter—while key industries such as tourism and retail struggle to recover. Tech industry layoffs are rising once again, pointing to continued instability in this critical sector. Across the top 50 metro areas, San Francisco’s small business sector was hardest hit and continues to be among the slowest to recover. 

"Doom Loop" by Thomas Hawk is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

There are encouraging indicators, too: Violent crime is down 24% and property crime down 40% compared with pre-pandemic levels. Venture capital continues its rebound, with Bay Area deal value once again exceeding all other Top 10 markets combined. The city’s population began growing again in 2023, and the metro area is now the fastest-growing in the state. These positive trends, however, aren’t enough to shake the doom narrative: throughout downtown, the Tenderloin, SoMa, and other neighborhoods, open-air drug use and overdose deaths, encampments of unhoused people, and excrement on sidewalks are daily reminders of the real human misery experienced by so many of our neighbors.

Yet, we have incredible assets at our disposal: world-renowned natural beauty and climate, robust infrastructure and abundant capital, and, most crucially, vast reserves of human talent, creativity, entrepreneurial drive, and commitment to community wellbeing. This is a city that thrives on reinvention, having weathered numerous boom and bust cycles throughout its storied history. The Gold Rush, 1906 quake, and signing of the U.N. Charter; the nation’s first professional ballet company, the Beat Generation, and the Summer of Love; milestones in environmentalism, gay liberation, and immigrant rights; the rise, fall, and rise again of tech and other industries that shape the globe—all are testament to the city’s capacity for renewal and relevance on the world stage. All exemplify San Francisco’s magic as a place where people can find their calling, find fortune, find themselves, and find home.

"Empty spaces mean opportunity, and we’re just starting to see what San Franciscans can create."

~ Katie Conry, Executive Director, Tenderloin Museum

San Francisco’s future is once again on the line, and we have an opportunity to help shape a turnaround. Having previously focused on some of the fundamental challenges affecting our city, including housing, addiction and recovery, and mental health, in this round Battery Powered will seek to address lived experience and quality of life, and will explore this theme through the following guiding question: 

How can we accelerate San Francisco’s revival as a culturally

vibrant, economically robust, and livable city for all?

Our Focus: Lived Experience and Quality of Life

In recent years, Battery Powered has worked to address many of the root causes of our city’s troubles. These challenges remain, and overcoming them will require sustained commitment from many stakeholders. Government has a role. Businesses have a role. Residents and community groups have roles, as do many others. In this context, we must consider how our grants—typically between $100-$250k over two years—can make a difference. What can philanthropy do that government and other stakeholders cannot? Where can relatively modest investment have immediate, tangible impact?

With this in mind, we’ve chosen to focus on lived experience and quality of life—reasons our city was, until quite recently, one of the world’s most in demand places to live, work, study, and play. We identified three areas where one-time investment has the potential to activate existing assets and promote transformative solutions: Artistic & Cultural Experiences, Neighborhood Businesses, and Livable Environments. Each makes outsize contributions to San Francisco’s distinctive character, and each offers exciting opportunities for creative problem-solving. Moreover, they are profoundly interconnected: Many of the most compelling approaches to revitalization leverage all three—culture, commerce, and communal spaces—for greater impact.

	Artistic & Cultural Experiences are defining features of life in San Francisco. This sector has been among the hardest hit by the pandemic, but if history serves, we should look to artists and arts organizations to breathe new life into struggling neighborhoods. Inclusive cultural events, festivals, and artist-led community projects foster connection and a sense of renewal and shared ownership in our city’s future. The ripple effects are well documented: a diverse and vibrant arts ecosystem directly correlates to a strong local economy, and will be essential to making San Francisco a thriving city once more. We will support cultural initiatives that seek to drive and shape a future for our city that is dynamic and equitable.
	Neighborhood Businesses are a big part of what makes living in this city special. The character of a neighborhood, along with what sociologists refer to as “weak ties” that knit together the fabric of community, flourishes at cafes and laundromats, in botanicas and bookstores, and at the local hardware store or corner store. Downtown and throughout the city, independent merchants contribute to the cultural and ethnic diversity we cherish, while creating jobs, paying taxes, and keeping more of our dollars in the local economy. We seek novel solutions to strengthen the independent business sector while honoring our city’s diversity and stimulating inclusive economic growth.
	Livable Environments, including sidewalks, shopping districts, transit plazas, neighborhood gathering spots, and other shared spaces, are essential for economic activity and tourism. Just as importantly, they are our public square—places of leisure and entertainment, spontaneous social connection, discourse and dialogue, and creative expression. Livable environments are clean, secure, accessible, and inviting places where families, friends, and neighbors meet, activating a sense of community and identity. We will support innovative approaches to making shared public spaces vibrant hubs of activity and connection for everyone, nurturing pride and ownership, and contributing to the revival of the city.

Cross-cutting considerations. Resurgence inevitably means different things to different people. Across all three focus areas, we anticipate needing to grapple with two fundamental questions: how to prioritize diverse needs and opportunities for recovery across distinct neighborhoods—including, but not limited to, the central business district; and how to ensure recovery efforts raise the quality of life for truly all San Franciscans.