Discover the Lower Polk!

The Lower Polk Community Benefit District is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit that works to improve the lives of ALL people in our Lower Polk community. We do this by keeping our neighborhood clean, by performing street outreach, by doing beautification projects, and by providing other much-needed services. Click here to view our interactive annual report and learn more about how we support the Lower Polk.

We also sponsor the popular SF First Thursday Art Walk, the Polk Street Wine Walk, and the Polk Street Blues Festival. We are honored to be working with the City to become the official sponsor of Sgt. John Macaulay Park.

However, we can’t do all of this without your help. Please consider making a generous tax deductible donation today!

“I love working for the CBD, and am happy they gave me an opportunity to get back into the workforce after some serious life-challenges. It’s a great organization and they do much-needed community work.”

Kevin, The Lower Polk Community Benefit District

“Thanks for all that you are doing to improve the neighborhood!”

Sheryl, The Natural Mattress Store

“Thank you for all the work that you’ve done so far. I’m grateful daily for the street cleaning that helps make our neighborhood more inviting when often feces and trash blowing in the wind were a normal greeting at my business door!”

Erik, The Blue Buddha
36,800+
Population
37.8
Median Age
2,761
Businesses
24,000+
Households
$52,684
Median Income

Support our residents.

The Lower Polk Tenant Landlord Clinic (TLC) is a unique interdisciplinary program designed to help prevent homelessness by keeping people housed in their current places of abode. If you live in the Lower Polk or surrounding areas, and are experiencing problems with your current housing, you are urged to contact the TLC now at [email protected].

By donating to the Lower Polk Community Benefit District, you will help people stay housed and help prevent homelessness.

Get Help

Support our outreach.

The Lower Polk Community Benefit District monitors the JCDecaux public restroom located at Sgt. John MaCaulay Park. Not only do we monitor this public bathroom for cleanliness and safety, we also maintain a rest station that offers refreshments and resource materials for jobs, housing, medical care, and other community needs.

The implementation of the staffed JCDecaux bathroom has caused a large drop in human waste and improperly disposed of needles in the neighborhood. Throughout the Lower Polk CBD human waste 311 calls are down by 34% (2015 vs. 2016). Likewise 311 needle reports in the Lower Polk CBD are down a whopping 58% (2015 vs. 2016).

Learn More

Support our workers.

Our services are made possible by a City program that focuses on hiring people who have faced life-challenges. We believe that everyone deserves opportunity, and we work hard to provide that opportunity.

In addition to hiring people who have faced life-challenges, we also create opportunity via a robust on-the-job training program.

Learn More

Support Open Data.

Bonayo is a free web application that helps our local citizens visualize and use civic open data.

Bonayo enables you to see every 311 service call in San Francisco for up to the last 12 months. You can plot this data on a map, and sort by Neighborhood, Supervisor District, Police District, and more.

We developed this application with the generous support of a grant from CPMC/Sutter Health.

See Bonayo

Support our local artists.

We are proud to sponsor the famous SF First Thursday Art Walk!

The First Thursday Art Walk // Lower Polk Art Walk // Tenderloin Art Walk is a community led monthly event hosted by the Gallery Owners in the Lower Polk // Tenderloin neighborhoods of San Francisco and the Lower Polk Community Benefit District. The Art Walk is every first Thursday of the month from 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm. Each gallery hosts a unique selection of art spanning multiple mediums and styles. For more information, please download this map and feel free to contact us with any questions or comments.

Visit the Art Walk

Support our public spaces.

Working with SFMTA, Lower Polk Neighbors, TLHIP, La Voz Latina, and other stakeholders, we are involved in the activation of numerous public spaces here in the Lower Polk. As many long-time residents know, The Lower Polk has few public spaces. We are working hard to remedy that.

Examples of our projects include holding regular events at Sgt. Macaulay Park, working with Lower Polk Neighbors (LPN) and SFMTA on the Polk Streetscape Project, and working with TLHIP on upcoming new resources for our local artists and our community in general.

Visit LPN