Sidewalk trees also improve property values. Sidewalk trees increase property value, provide wildlife habitat, reduce the speed of traffic, absorb carbon dioxide and other pollutants, are associated with lower asthma rates in young children, and established street trees are also associated with a lower level of crime! You can help bring these benefits to your neighborhood! 

With the passage of Proposition E voters approved giving back to the Department of Public Works Urban Forestry, responsibility for the trees in public spaces and sidewalks. Earlier this year Friends of the Urban Forest (FUF) planted trees in the Excelsior and Mission Terrace neighborhoods, including along the Mission Street commercial corridor. In late-August FUF will be planting trees in Crocker-Amazon and will be holding a community outreach meeting July 17th when they will ask for volunteers to get the word out and sign up interested property owners.. Now that the City again is responsible for tree maintenance and sidewalk repairs you may be able to sign up for a tree to be planted in front of your property. As part of Supervisor Ahsha Safai's commitment to the community to improve the look of the neighborhoods, more tree plantings are coming to the district this year and beyond.  Planting trees is a great way to get to know your neighbors, have fun; and make our community a quieter, prettier, and greener place to work and live! 

For District 11 property owners, there is NO cost of a tree (which is typically $105 plus a $30 FUF membership). FUF and DPW will coordinate with property owners to cut the concrete area, plant the tree, water it, and maintain it for 18-24 months. To sign up to get a tree, please print, complete, and mail or fax the attached forms to FUF. To volunteer, please contact Caitlin Moon at [email protected] or 415-268-0772.

(San Francisco – October 29, 2013)  On Friday, November 1, the Excelsior community will join together at the site of the Ever Upward sculpture, the neighborhood’s first, for an unveiling ceremony.  In Latin, the word “Excelsior” means “Ever Upward.”  Driven by passionate community members, visionary local artists, and a committed nonprofit, the Excelsior Action Group, the Ever Upward project installed a sculpture at the corner of Geneva Avenue and Mission Street to mark the southern gateway to San Francisco’s Excelsior neighborhood.  Ever Upward was conceived through a community design process led by Excelsior artists Isis Rodriguez and Jason Gilmore that included over 200 local participants.  Standing 14-feet tall, the forged metal flame atop the mosaic column was erected in honor of the neighborhood’s long tradition of immigrants and working class families who endeavor to raise themselves ever upward.

The concept of the Ever Upward project first arose during the 2009 Excelsior Art Summit, at which over 50 local artists of all ages and mediums convened with community stakeholders to dialogue about projects for the neighborhood.  Artists called for a project to mark the gateways to the Excelsior Community, most notably our bustling southern gateway at the intersection of Geneva Avenue and Mission Street.  Over the past few years the Excelsior Action Group has executed earlier phases of the gateway project, including a garden and mosaic installation at Geneva and Mission in 2009 and a mural spanning the 280 overpass at the neighborhood’s northern extremity in 2010.  In 2012, the Excelsior Action Group received a Community Challenge Grant from the City of San Francisco to begin a robust community design process and install a piece of public art at the southern gateway.  Over the course of six public meetings with the help of over 200 community members, the design concept for Ever Upward was born.  The most salient ideas that came from our community process described the Excelsior neighborhood as a landing point for immigrants and working class families who strive to raise themselves ever upward.

A tremendously talented and dedicated project team has organized to bring this project to life.  Isis Rodriguez, an award-winning international artist based in San Francisco’s Excelsior district, designed the metal sculpture.  Jason Gilmore, a local artist and educator who has worked on murals in the Excelsior, designed and helped to construct the mosaic for the column.  Aurelio Lofaro, an Italian master blacksmith of Old World Ironworks fabricated the metal sculpture.  An extremely dedicated team of local volunteers lead by Grace D’Anca and Deborah LeDet committed almost every Saturday from March to October 2013 to create the mosaic panels.  Suaro Cervantes, master grouter and associate of Precita Eyes, led a team of volunteers to install the mosaic designs on the sculpture’s column.  The Excelsior Action Group, a neighborhood nonprofit organization, managed the project under the leadership of Corridor Manager and Excelsior native, Nicole Jesslyn Agbayani.  Project funders included the S.F. Community Challenge Grant program, District 11 Supervisor John Avalos, the Office of Economic and Workforce Development, the San Francisco Foundation, the Max and Anna Levinson Foundation, the Jewish Home of San Francisco, and many local businesses and resident donors.  Finally, hundreds of Excelsior community members have dedicated their ideas, energy, and time to move this project forward.   

Please join us Friday, November 1, 2013 at 5:00 PM at the site of Ever Upward as we unveil and celebrate this incredible piece of community art work.  It will truly be a proud moment in our neighborhood’s history!

Join us at the Ever Upward Unveiling!

Friday, November 1, 2013

5:00 pm – 5:30 pm

5098 Mission Street (corner of Geneva and Mission), San Francisco, CA 94112

Followed up community celebration at Rincon Latino, 5080 Mission Street, 5:30 – 7:30 pm

The Excelsior Action Group is working to install the Excelsior's first sculpture at the corner of Geneva Avenue and Mission Street.  To learn more about the project, click here.  Entitled Ever Upward, this has truly been a community-driven effort.  The mosaic column whose designs are pictured to the left will be produced entirely by community volunteers. 

EAG is seeking in-kind donations of supplies & tool lending from community members who would like to support the production of Ever Upward's mosaic.  The following is a list of supplies & tools we need for this project.  Please contact (415) 585-0110 or email [email protected] if you would like to donate or lend any of the following!  Thank you!

The beautiful new Excelsior Community Mural, installed on the façade of the 4648 Mission Street branch on December 14th, has engendered excitement in the community about the Excelsior’s vibrant past and its limitless potential for future development and improvements in the Persia Triangle, often referred to as “the heart of the Excelsior.”

The 18’ x 16’ photo collage, comprised of historical photos of the district and its residents, is a part of Wells Fargo’s nationwide Community Mural Program.  EAG appreciates Wells Fargo’s collaboration with San Francisco Municipal Transit Authority, the San Francisco Public Library, City College of San Francisco, and neighborhood historians and photographers in order to choose photos, images, and maps that illustrate the Excelsior’s rich history.

For more information about the mural and its components, check out the photo key below.

EAG would like to thank Wells Fargo for choosing the branch at Mission Street and Ocean Avenue for one of their installations of art.  So far, the Excelsior Branch at 4648 Mission Street is the third in the City to receive an art installation.  Wells Fargo has been collaborating with the San Francisco Public Library's San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection, a project of the San Francisco History Center to develop a historically significant collage for the display.  The artwork installation is the first of many improvements that the Excelsior Action Group would like to see made at the Persia Triangle, which has been called the "Heart of the Excelsior" by many community members.  

Share your ideas and visions for the Excelsior Branch Library Greening, which will be installed in front of our neighborhood library this year with a Community Challenge Grant.  This project is brought to you by the Excelsior Action Group, the Excelsior Branch Library, & Architecture for Humanity.

Monday, September 24, 2012
6:00 PM – 7:30 PM
EAG’s office, 35 San Juan Avenue

For more information, contact Nicole Agbayani, (415) 585-0110 or [email protected]

Community Challenge Grant Funds help Excelsior Community realize project proposed in 2010

The Excelsior Action Group is happy to announce that it has received Community Challenge Grant funding for its Excelsior Art and Greening Gallery project!

“This Community Challenge Grant will enable the Excelsior Action Group and SF Clean City Coalition to 
realize a greening and art project that community members have been calling for since the 2010 Excelsior Art 
Summit,” said Excelsior Action Executive Director Group Nicole Agbayani. “The Excelsior Art and Greening 
Gallery will have a tremendous positive impact on the neighborhood, especially the shopping district. Most 
importantly, it helps to demonstrate that ideas formed through grassroots community processes are valuable and 
actionable in San Francisco.” 

The 28 Community Challenge Grant recipients were announced on July 5th by Mayor Edwin M. Lee and City Administrator Naomi Kelly. "'Community Challenge Grants allow the City to partner with our diverse communities to make immediate  improvements to our public spaces,' said Mayor Lee. 'We are inspired by these twenty-eight innovative  projects that will bring neighbors together to keep the City beautiful and make real, long-term investments in our neighborhoods.'" 

You can read the full length announcement from the city by following this link: http://www.sfgsa.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentID=8993