Every January, Beacon Way Day (BWD) is dedicated to gathering our community and unplugging from normal programming to enhance professional development. Beacon leaders across the city had the opportunity to mingle with the larger network and strengthen bonds within their teams at San Francisco State University.

The San Francisco Beacon Initiative has always brought a heaping amount of love and care to supporting Beacon leaders. As a backbone organization, we help Beacon community schools thrive through coaching, connecting and coordinating; coaching community school leaders, connecting those leaders to each other to build power, and coordinating learning and resources.

Beacon staff are critical to creating impactful programs for youth, family and communities. Yet our field struggles with staffing and retention. To address the challenges and opportunities in our workforce, we recently launched a committee of Beacon leaders, city agencies, education, and professional development providers that will spend the next 6 months designing an Expanded Learning/Youth Development Registered Apprenticeship Program for our network.

On October 10th, 2024, over 80 people gathered to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the San Francisco Beacon Initiative. We got to reminisce about our origin story, get inspired by young people about the impact that Beacons have had on their lives, and look toward the future from Beacon champions today. It was an evening that filled me with renewed passion about why SFBI works tirelessly to ensure this strategy continues on for another 30 years.