Located in the historic Fillmore Jazz District, the African American Art & Culture Complex is one of the premier African-American arts and cultural institutions in the San Francisco Bay Area. The organization’s co-executive directors, Melonie and Melorra Green were noted in a 2019 San Francisco Chronicle headline as “Twin sisters who had a singular vision for art and culture” and for more than a decade have been the only City-owned arts and cultural center in San Francisco dedicated to Afrocentric culture, traditions, and values becoming an integral part of the African-American community's social fabric and the city of San Francisco's cultural landscape.

Founded in 1854, the Mechanics’ Institute is one of the oldest institutions on the West Coast of the United States. Its mission is to provide a center for intellectual and cultural advancement. Located in the financial district of San Francisco, it serves individuals and families throughout the Bay Area offering a vibrant library with full-time professional staff, expert instruction and competition in chess, and a full calendar of engaging cultural events, programs, and classes.

In 2009, Sean Ticknor started his own design consultant business, obtained his Bachelor of Engineering in Structural Civil Engineering from Vanderbilt University in 1999, and has been working in the construction industry ever since. His organization, Big Skills Tiny Homes provides self-discovery, and skill development to students interested in the trades. Sean leads a team of high school graduate team members to build a Tiny Home from scratch to completion, with the goal of giving the tiny house to help someone in need. Through the process of building a tiny home, students are exposed to a variety of trade disciplines and are empowered to identify their future career path. 

Girls Garage gives young women tools they need to build and shape their future. Berkeley-based builder and designer Emily Pilloton-Lam imagines a world where young women grow into powerful change-makers who are unafraid to speak up, stand out, and shape the world. In her quest to empower future leaders, Pilloton-Lam merged her passion for architecture with education to found Girls Garage which opened in 2013 to become the first-ever design and building program for girls and gender-expansive youth ages 9-18. To date, participants have built 171 projects ranging from furniture for a domestic abuse shelter to a greenhouse for a community garden and fruit stand for an organization serving refugee families. All teen participants attend the program at no cost to their families.

The mission of the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at UC Berkeley is to formulate bold strategies to house families from all walks of life in vibrant, sustainable, and affordable homes and communities. Established in 2015, the Terner Center has quickly become a leading voice in identifying, developing, and advancing innovative public and private sector solutions to the nation’s most intractable housing challenges and addressing with urgency the multiple, layered crises of housing affordability, entrenched inequities, and climate change. Named after Don Terner, a housing pioneer whose ambitious “no limits” spirit lives on in the ethos and approach to the Center’s work.

Mercy Housing California is headquartered in San Francisco, with regional offices in Sacramento and Los Angeles. They are one of the nation’s largest affordable housing organizations and participate in the development, preservation, management and/or financing of affordable, program-enriched housing across the country and serve families, seniors, and people with special needs with the full spectrum of affordable housing, including supportive housing for the formerly homeless, transitional housing, permanent rental, and affordable homeownership opportunities.