In early 2023, an incredible collaboration between public, private, and school district entities was born. The mission? To transform the two acres of asphalt schoolyard at Everett Middle School in San Francisco’s Mission District into an inspiring, safe, beautiful place for its 745 students to play and learn.
Current Everett Schoolyard
The research is clear: play helps social skills, creativity, and problem solving—skills constantly in development during the middle school years. This project gives Everett Middle School students the opportunity to access more dynamic spaces to play, in addition to safer ground for sports, and more options for those looking to relax in the schoolyard. In addition to recess and after-school sports, there will be spaces to enhance classroom learning about water management, food systems, and nutrition. This project will be a step in the direction of meeting the developmental, recreational, and well-being needs of Everett’s students. Everett Middle School has been a fixture in the San Francisco community for over 40 years and the Ed Fund is proud to play a role in these efforts to make these updates to an essential space for students.
In January of 2023 an anonymous donor contacted the San Francisco Education Fund, eager to transform Everett Middle School’s schoolyard. Since the school district cannot receive donations directly, the Ed Fund took on responsibility for the donation as a Fiscal Sponsor, working with the District Bond Office as representatives of the donor. Serendipitously, an Everett Middle School parent had just applied and been awarded a Green Infrastructure grant from the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission to use toward sustainable improvements of the yard. With all partners in place, the playground was ready for a dramatic renovation.
“Our city is known for its incredible public spaces – Golden Gate Park, Presidio Tunnel Tops, Dolores Park, etc. To also be the city of asphalt at our public schools doesn’t make sense.”
— Donor of the Everett Middle School Renovation Project
Catalyzed by the combined public and private funding for the transformative schoolyard, the Ed Fund, the school district, and architects have worked extensively with the Everett Middle School community to arrive at the concept vision. The scope of work includes a complete regrading of the 2-acre schoolyard and removal of all existing paving in order to re-envision how the space can serve students. This will include the following:
Additional scope at the entry to the yard from the school building and in the parking lot include accessible paths of travel and landscaping to support stormwater management goals.
Follow along to learn about more updates on this project!
The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) allocates $1,874,496 to the project via a Public Utilities Commission Green Infrastructure Grant.
SFUSD Bond Office connects with the San Francisco Education Fund and the anonymous donor.
$45,000 donor gift #1 is allocated for architect’s fees for conceptual design and community outreach.
Groundworks Landscape Architects signs agreement to provide landscape architecture services for conceptual design, placemaking and community outreach to the schoolyard, including the open space and outdoor area immediately west of the school building.
Groundworks Architects Launch the Following Tasks:
Task 1 Concept Design and Placemaking – 8 Weeks
Task 1 is where we dreamt big and thought of profound ways to affect change and make a big impact for Everett Middle School. “No idea is a bad one” and we used all our creative might to imagine a dynamic and vibrant schoolyard experience. This was an open ended and iterative process where we tested the feasibility of our ideas with our own intuition, pragmatism and real-world experience. At the conclusion of Task 1 we carried several of the ideas into Task 2 where we pursued outreach and feedback on these initial ideas and concepts.
Task 2 Community Outreach and Stakeholder Engagement– 6 Weeks
This task is where we solicited feedback and responses from students, faculty, administrators, and stakeholders on the ideas and concepts developed from the previous task. This task was meant to inform and provide direction for the proposed improvements to the schoolyard. During this stage, we held multiple meetings and presentations with students, facility and administrators.
Task 3 Professional Renderings– 4 Weeks
We developed professional quality and high-resolution perspectives and graphics for use in print and digital media, and the SFUSD Commission and Board Meeting.
$1,400,000 donor gift #2 is allocated for construction.
Board of Education approves design plan.
Community Meeting is held to share final plans with Everett staff, students, and families.
The renovation project breaks ground.
Renovations are complete and commemorated with a school yard grand opening.
The San Francisco Education Fund advances equitable education through learning acceleration programs, mental wellness initiatives, enhancing community engagement, and providing transformative financial resources to students, educators, and schools. Fiscal sponsorship allows education-based projects to operate under the Ed Fund’s 501(c)(3) status. The Ed Fund holds all fiduciary and legal responsibility for a project while project leads remain the experts on programming. As an independent and small nonprofit, the Ed Fund is able to be agile and respond quickly with flexibility to adapting needs of our community.
