TEAM LST LET’S STOP TOBACCO VIETNAMESE YOUTH DEVELOPMENT CENTER

OUR AREA OF CONCERN THE ENVIRONMENT OF OUR TENDERLOIN NEIGHBORHOOD The Vietnamese Youth Development Center is located on 166 Eddy Street, in the heart of the Tenderloin neighborhood in District 6 of San Francisco. The negative physical environment and reputation of the Tenderloin community overwhelms its positive strengths (community centers, parks, services, diversity). High amount of litter and group solicitation on the streets High concentration of liquor and tobacco outlets

COMMUNITY DIAGNOSIS & TOP FINDINGS 1) High Amount of Litter & Cigarette Litter in the TL Cigarette Pack Sales & the Cigarette Litter Abatement Fee Ordinance Cigarette Litter Collection 2) High Density of Corner Stores Selling Unhealthy Products like tobacco, alcohol and junk food Focus Groups & Surveying on How Corner Stores Impact the Community Corner Store Assessments in the Tenderloin Team LST broke up into Project Teams and learned how to lead research projects to diagnose our community. Our main research projects focused our areas of concern:

AREA OF CONCERN: HIGH AMOUNT OF CIGARETTE LITTER IN THE TENDERLOIN

There are 270 tobacco outlets in District 6 (27% of the city’s tobacco outlets!). The average number of permits per district is 91 – District 6 has almost 3 TIMES as many! CIGARETTE PACK SALES IN SAN FRANCISCO October 2011, 1001 total outlets

In most Districts: The higher number of tobacco outlets, the more cigarette packs sold. The Cigarette Abatement Fee Ordinance, passed in SF in 2009, added 20 cents per pack, and is used to OFFSET the costs already incurred by DPW in abating cigarette litter Since District 6 has a much higher concentration and number of tobacco permits, cigarettes pack sales, and therefore tobacco litter BURDEN, there should be a higher proportion of resources allocated to tobacco litter clean up in this district. Data from the San Francisco Office of the Treasurer & Tax Collector, November 2011 CIGARETTE PACK SALES IN SAN FRANCISCO

CIGARETTE LITTER COLLECTION In October 2011, for 3 sessions of 45 minutes, the youth advocates illustrated this BURDEN in the Tenderloin: 4-5 groups of 2 youth advocates picked up 2072 cigarette butts from a total of 24 blocks of sidewalks in the Tenderloin neighborhood. The youth concentrated on picking up cigarette litter on blocks that contain schools, parks, and youth-serving agencies. Project Lead by: Ruth, Jazmine, Michelle

MAP OF CIGARETTE LITTER FOUND IN THE TENDERLOIN Bright red line – over 150 cigarette butts collected Dark red line – over 100 cigarette butts collected Orange line – over 60 cigarette butts collected Yellow line – under 60 cigarette butts collected School Park Youth-Serving Agency Other Services

Eddy St. (between Taylor & Mason) Eddy St. (between Jones & Taylor) Jones St. (between Turk & Golden Gate) These are the blocks that had the most cigarette butts collected (BRIGHT RED), with OVER 200 butts collected at each block. These blocks SURROUND the VYDC. There is a great need in our neighborhood for increased cleaning services and use of the “public outreach and education” funds of the Cigarette Abatement Fee

AREA OF CONCERN: HIGH DENSITY OF CORNER STORES SELLING UNHEALTHY PRODUCTS

According to data from SFDPH & Environmental Health, the District 6 has 110 tobacco outlets that are classified as “Retail Food Markets With or Without Food Prep” that are less than 5,000 square feet. Our project has defined these as “corner stores”. The Tenderloin neighborhood (the boundaries that our project has defined as the “Tenderloin”) has 46 tobacco outlets. Corner stores are the primary point-of-purchase for cigarette packs, accounting for HALF of the cigarette sales city-wide. The youth advocates were very concerned that their community has the highest density and how it is affected by the saturation of tobacco, alcohol, and junk food sales. DEFINITION OF “CORNER STORE”

FOCUS GROUPS & SURVEYS ON HOW CORNER STORES IMPACT THE COMMUNITY Youth advocates conducted three focus groups in the Tenderloin community: Tenderloin After School Program (TASP) – Middle School aged Community Youth Center (CYC) – High School aged Vietnamese Youth Development Center – College aged Youth advocates also collected about 50 surveys from residents/families aged 9-99 years at the Tenderloin Recreation Center or outside the VYDC Lead by: Elle, Michelle, Julie

FOCUS GROUPS & SURVEYS ON HOW CORNER STORES IMPACT THE COMMUNITY According to the survey data, younger people tended to shop at a corner stores much more often. On average, survey respondents shopped at a corner store 2.4 times a week, with ALMOST HALF of them stating that they had shopped a corner store THAT DAY or the day before. The most popular item bought by youth at corner stores are chips (by far!), cheap beverages, and candy. The most popular products respondents would like to see sold at corner stores would be fresh produce, meat, dairy and eggs.  When asked if there were two things they would like to see change at the corner stores, the most frequent answers were: 1) more healthy groceries for reasonable prices 2) less loitering 3) less alcohol and cigarettes sold in the community 4) bringing in a full-service grocery store in the Tenderloin

We received lists and maps of tobacco retailers in the city and in our neighborhood District from SFDPH/Environmental Health Youth advocates developed observation questions and survey tool, checking for: 1)Advertising 2)Fresh Foods 3)Signage 4)Ashtrays & Litter Receptacles 5)Loitering SFDPH staff training and practice at the fake example “Susana’s Liquor Store” For 3 Tuesday sessions in November 2011, the youth advocates collected 33 assessments out of visiting 46 stores CORNER STORE ASSESSMENTS IN THE TENDERLOIN Team LST’s biggest research project, Lead by: Isis, Simon, and Adriana

Youth project leaders then created a scoring system to rate the stores, scored each store, inputted the data, and rated each store based on a 6 point “apple” scale A store receives a total of 6 points for complying with city policies (that we checked for) that are already in place: the Lee Law, posting their Tobacco Permit, posting their “No Smoking” sign, posting their S.T.A.K.E. Act signs, and maintaining a litter receptacle Lastly, the youth project leaders created a Google map of each corner store in the Tenderloin, visually representing “good apples”, “half apples” and “bad apples” CORNER STORE ASSESSMENTS IN THE TENDERLOIN

APPLE MAP OF CORNER STORES IN THE TENDERLOIN

CORNER STORE ASSESSMENT RESULTS 65.6% of the corner stores were rated “rotten apples” 15.6% of the corner stores were rated “half apples” 18.8% of the corner stores were rated “good apples” Also, 23. 8% (5 of the 21 “rotten apple” corner stores) received a NEGATIVE POINT SCORE

CORNER STORE ASSESSMENT RESULTS 75.8% of the corner stores had OVER 1/3 of their outside storefront covered by advertising 87.5% of the corner stores did not display the “No Smoking, Only at the Curb” signs outside their stores 60.0% of the corner stores DID NOT maintain a litter receptacle 0% of the corner stores had an ashtray outside their stores

42.4% of the corner stores had NO fresh fruits or vegetables for sale Many of those stores that did carry some options did not maintain their supply well – much of the produce was wilted, old, or placed in the back of the store CORNER STORE ASSESSMENT RESULTS

ACTION Team LST Retreat in March 2012 Fun, Food & Games! Review of our research/diagnosis findings Discussion of selecting an action based on our community findings, developed an action plan CHOSEN ACTION Increased compliance and enforcement of Tenderloin neighborhood corner stores of city- wide policies 1) The Lee Law (no more than 1/3 of storefront can be covered by any type of advertising) 2) Tobacco Retail Licenses properly posted 3) “No Smoking” signs properly posted 4) Litter Receptacles maintained outside stores

ACTION PLAN Media Campaign – Article in the Central City Extra Created a Video & Held a Community Viewing Event Presented Findings to Community Organizations to Gain Support Wrote Letters to City Agencies and Met with Various Stakeholders: 1) IMPACT Program of Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control 2) San Francisco Department of Public Health & Environmental Health 3) Department of Public Works

MAINTAIN & ENFORCE ACTION

Community Meeting in April, with 60 TL residents present! Team LST met & presented their work to a many organizations and stakeholders in the community, with a lot of support! Held a Community Meeting to hear from residents Establishment of the Tenderloin Healthy Corner Store Coalition (TLHCSC) Grants to offer corner store redesigns in the community, and also hire resident Food Justice Leaders. Also working towards a city-wide program legislation in the near future ACTION Tenderloin Healthy Corner Store Coalition

WORKING TOGETHER DiverseFamiliesTenderloin ServicesUnique FoodCultureHome In December 2012, Team LST, the Tenderloin Healthy Corner Store Coalition, and the newly hired Food Justice Leaders organized a community-wide PRESS CONFERNCE EVENT. Over 60 residents and community members attended to learn about Team LST accomplishments and the TLHCSC’s new corner store redesign project.