Pam David Recognized with Neighborhood Excellence Initiative Award
Walter & Elise Haas Fund executive director Pam David has been named a “Local Hero” by Bank of America’s Neighborhood Excellence Initiative. The bank recognizes Pam for her over 30 years of community activism on behalf of civil rights and social justice.
As part of the Initiative, the bank also is giving $200,000 grants to LYRIC and to the Booker T. Washington Community Service Center.
LYRIC, a San Francisco organization that works with LGBT youth, nominated Pam for her Local Hero award. In 1991, while at the Mayor’s Office of Community Development, Pam was instrumental in helping LYRIC secure a home in the Castro.
In addition to Pam’s work with LYRIC and at the Walter & Elise Haas Fund, she serves as co-chair of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. The Task Force is dedicated to training the next generations of LGBT activists. Pam has chosen the Task Force as the recipient of a $5,000 grant from Bank of America.
Pam began her career teaching Women Studies at San Francisco State University and as a community organizer and activist. She was one of the key organizers of the 1987 National March on Washington for Lesbian/Gay Rights. She then became a policy advisor to Rev. Jesse Jackson on LGBT and other issues. Returning to San Francisco, Pam was appointed to the city’s Domestic Partners task force, helping craft the first local ordinance of its kind.
In 1990, Pam was appointed to the Mayor’s Office of Community Development. She has held a variety of leadership roles in local government for three mayors, helping build resources for community-based economic development in low-income neighborhoods, and addressing capacity and sustainability issues for non-profit organizations. She launched the public-private Partnership for Affordable Non-Profit Space and initiated the ongoing San Francisco Neighborhood Centers Together collaborative (of which the Booker T. Washington Community Service Center is a member).
Nadine Burke, Teresa Goines, Toan Lam, and Donna Sachet are also being honored as San Francisco Local Heroes.
