The Purpose of This Website

This website exists to give donors, community members, families, partner organizations, and the general public a clear and honest account of the events that led to the closure of the Bay Area Women's and Children's Center (BAWCC). After more than 40 years of service in San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood, BAWCC has permanently closed its operations. 

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The organization's leadership — including the Board of Directors and Executive Director — believe that the community deserves a full and transparent explanation of what happened, why, and what comes next. This website is that explanation. Each section of this website includes supporting documents. Portions of those documents that are not relevant to the information being presented have been redacted. Names referenced throughout this website are included because they are directly tied to the events being described — they do not represent a complete list of every individual who has served on the board or contributed to the organization over its 45 year history.

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​The events listed are specific to the closure of BAWCC and do not represent all programs conducted or services provided by the organization.

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Each section of this document is assigned a number. Supporting documents are labeled with the corresponding section number followed by a letter (e.g., 2.A, 2.B, 2.C), so you can easily find materials related to any specific section.

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All supporting documents and relevant materials can be accessed through the following link.

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1. History of BAWCC

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The Bay Area Women's and Children's Center was founded in 1981 in San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood. Its mission was to provide supplemental education and direct support services to women, children, and families in one of the city's most underserved communities.

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Over its four decades of operation, BAWCC built and sustained two primary programs:

The first was the Resource Center, located at 318 Leavenworth Street, San Francisco, CA 94102. The Resource Center offered a range of direct services including food distribution, clothing support, and community programming for women and families in transition.

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​The second was the Dental Clinic, which operated within Tenderloin Community School (TCS) in partnership with The University of San Francisco (UCSF). BAWCC played a founding role in establishing both the first elementary school in the Tenderloin and the full-service dental clinic that served students in the neighborhood out of the basement in the school for more than 20 years.

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​Both programs became defining pillars of the organization — and both would eventually face the challenges that contributed to BAWCC's closure.

 

2. Founder and First Executive Director

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Midge Wilson founded the Bay Area Women's and Children's Center in 1981 and led the organization as Executive Director until 2020. The articles of incorporation which is the document that solidifies the purpose of the organization states “ The specific purpose of this corporation is to assist women, children, and families in transitional periods of their lives, with a special emphasis on residents of San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood; and to do local and city wide educational work on the issues that are critical to this target population. This corporation serves as a multi-faceted resource center for low income women, children, and families” (2.A)

In 2020, Wilson stepped back from day-to-day responsibilities. However, she did not formally announce her resignation until June 2021. Prior to her departure, Midge Wilson expressed that it was her wish for the Resource Center to close. (2.B & 2.C) That desire was part of the broader board discussions that began in late 2020 around the future of the organization. At this point Bay Area Women’s and Children’s Center was in conflict around the direction of programs and if it should remain open after Midge’s departure, and it simultaneously began offering reduced services. There was much discussion around closing the organization from the years of 2020- 2023.

Alongside Wilson, Diane Van Stralen served as Operations Manager until 2023 and began with BAWCC in 1998. Together, Wilson and Van Stralen were the primary operational leaders of the organization, working alongside the Board of Directors to sustain BAWCC's programs and services.

Note: The Board of Directors began discussions about potential closure in late 2020. As part of those conversations, several staff members were laid off in 2020 and offered severance at that time. (2.D)

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3. The Transition Period: 2020–2023

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Following the 2020 staff layoffs and Midge Wilson's departure, the Board of Directors continued evaluating the organization's future. Options under discussion included identifying new executive leadership, restructuring operations, or closing the organization and distributing its remaining funds to aligned nonprofit causes.

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From 2020 through 2023, BAWCC continued limited operations — this included dental and support services at The Tenderloin Community School. And the resource center provided services on average two days a week. At times completely closing due to staff shortages. (3.A) At this point the resource center is offering limited support. The food pantry had a limit of 8 food items per year. (3.B & 3.C) The center also offers clothing and household items with the only additional program being ice skating in partnership with Yerba Buena. (3.D)

In 2022 the Board engaged a national recruitment firm to search for new leadership capable of carrying the organization's mission forward. 

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The overall direction of BAWCC remained uncertain throughout this period.

Leadership during this time included Christina Huizar who was elected board chair in 2021 and served as interim Executive Director.

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Additional Documents:

3.E  Resignation notice of interim Executive Director Molly 

 

4. The Dental Clinic: A Timeline of Closure

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The dental clinic at Tenderloin Community School was one of BAWCC's most impactful and long-standing programs. It operated for more than 20 years and served hundreds of students in the Tenderloin. Its closure marked a turning point in the organization's trajectory. (4.A)

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2002 — The Clinic Is Established

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The dental clinic began operating within Tenderloin Community School under a three-party arrangement: the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) provided dental and medical services; BAWCC financed and organized the clinic's operations; (4.B) and the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) provided the facility space within the school.

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Early 2023 — SFUSD Orders an Immediate Halt

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In early 2023, SFUSD notified BAWCC and UCSF that the dental clinic needed to stop operating immediately. According to the district, there was never a valid Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on file between SFUSD, BAWCC, and UCSF. (4.C) Without a formal agreement in place, the district concluded the clinic had been operating without proper authorization — despite more than 20 years of service. (4.D) It was at this point BAWCC was notified that it had been operating without legal permission from the district. And was never approved to render dental services. BAWCC held an updated agreement with UCSF (4.B) and a separate updated agreement with SFUSD (4.C)  but failed to disclose to each party the role of the other in facilitating dental services on district property — leaving no valid tripartite agreement in place.

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April 2023 — New Executive Director Hired

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Shortly after the dental clinic closed, Erica Burrell was hired as BAWCC's new Executive Director, following the Board's nationwide search. Upon joining BAWCC in April 2023, Burrell engaged in discussions with SFUSD and UCSF aimed at reaching a new agreement that would allow the clinic to reopen. (4.E & 4.F)

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June 2023 — UCSF Withdraws

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In June 2023, UCSF formally notified BAWCC that it would not continue any partnership related to the dental clinic's reopening. (4.G & 4.H) This effectively ended the existing operational model and required BAWCC to identify an entirely new dental partner while simultaneously seeking approval from SFUSD to agree to render services if such partner was found.

Note: SFUSD Never agreed to reopening the clinic if a new dental partner agreed to take over rendering services. 

 

2023–2025 — Efforts to Reopen

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Over the following two years, Executive Director Erica Burrell and members of the Board of Directors including Kara Wright and Board Chair Christina Huizar actively pursued alternatives. BAWCC met with multiple dental providers and organizations to explore new partnerships and operational agreements.

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Despite these sustained efforts, no viable partner was secured, and SFUSD did not grant authorization to reopen the clinic under a new arrangement. The absence of a definitive answer from SFUSD compounded the challenge of securing a new dental partnership. Without the ability to guarantee prospective partners that they would receive district approval upon completion of the required paperwork, many were unwilling to move forward. (4.I & 4.J)

 

Summer 2025 — Closure Acknowledged as Permanent

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By the summer of 2025, the organization concluded that — despite entensive time, effort, and resources invested — the dental clinic would not reopen. The loss of the clinic, which had been a cornerstone of BAWCC's community impact for over two decades, significantly reduced the scope of services the organization would provide going forward.

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5. The Resource Center

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The Resource Center at 318 Leavenworth Street was the heart of BAWCC since the organization's founding in 1981. It is the program most central to BAWCC's Articles of Incorporation and its stated mission of supporting women, children, and families in transition within the Tenderloin. The Bay Area Women and Children’s Center Resource Center was located at 318 Leavenworth Street, San Francisco, California 94102, on the ground floor of the Cadillac Hotel, a larger residential hotel situated at the corner of Leavenworth and Eddy Street. The Resource Center occupied a street-facing commercial suite within the building’s ground-level business corridor. (5.A)

In 2023, following the hiring of new Executive Director Erica Burrell, one of the organization’s first steps was conducting a comprehensive assessment of the Resource Center at 318 Leavenworth Street. That assessment revealed significant health, safety, and facility concerns that ultimately required the immediate temporary closure of the center while the organization evaluated how to address the conditions safely and responsibly. (5.B & 5.C)

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​The center had been running continuously since 1981 with no significant renovations or structural upgrades in the decades since. The audit revealed conditions that made it unsafe to continue serving the community without intervention. Food being distributed to families was found to be contaminated and unfit for use. There was a severe pest infestation throughout the facility, including the discovery of eggs, indicating an active and widespread problem. Clothing available for distribution was also found to be compromised. Electrical systems were outdated and not up to current safety standards. The bathroom was not ADA compliant. Taken together, the facility required a complete overhaul before any services could responsibly resume. (5.D & 5.E)

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​The decision to stop operations was the only responsible course of action. Leadership made the call to pause, address the conditions properly, and rebuild the center into a space that met basic health, safety, and accessibility standards.

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The Board of Directors approved a substantial renovation of the BAWCC resource center, led by Executive Director Erica Burrell — a significant commitment given that BAWCC leases rather than owns the property. Renovations included new flooring, ADA bathroom improvements, painting, pest mitigation, furniture replacement, electrical safety upgrades, beautification of the space, reorganization of the clothing closet, and general facility repairs. ( 5.F & 5.G) 

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The center reopened in February 2024, and services resumed in the newly remodeled space. (5.H)

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Despite these improvements, persistent and recurring problems continued. The facility experienced repeated flooding from upper floors, ongoing rodent and pest activity, continued safety concerns for staff accessing the building, and frequent operational disruptions. The structural and environmental challenges proved too significant to resolve within the organization's means. 

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The challenges at the Resource Center were not limited to conditions inside the building. Staff and community members regularly encountered encampments set up directly outside the entrance at 318 Leavenworth Street. Individuals were sleeping in the doorway, using drugs, and using the area outside the building as a bathroom, making it difficult — and many times impossible — to safely enter and operate the facility. What began as an intermittent issue became a persistent barrier to daily operations, to the point where simply getting into the building posed a real safety concern for staff and the families BAWCC served. (5.I, 5.J, 5.K)

 

Following two serious staff incidents, BAWCC established a policy prohibiting staff from asking individuals to move. In the first incident, a staff member's arm was dislocated when someone attempted to yank her bag. In the second, a staff member was threatened with an axe after asking someone blocking the doorway to move. Under the new policy, staff were directed to call the city's non-emergency line when entrances were blocked. However, city response times were often several hours, leaving mattresses and blankets piled in front of the center and rendering the entrance inaccessible. Police were equally unhelpful, as officers declined to intervene due to a local ordinance preventing them from moving individuals.

Despite being around the corner from the Tenderloin police station there was limited city support around making the space safe and accessible. 

 

This was a direct result of a federal court order. In December 2022, U.S. Magistrate Judge Donna Ryu issued a preliminary injunction that barred San Francisco from enforcing its so-called "sit/lie/sleep" and anti-camping ordinances against involuntarily homeless individuals while there was a shortage of available shelter beds. SFPD officers were prohibited from using, enforcing, or threatening to enforce six specific laws and ordinances related to sitting, sleeping, or lying on public property — and while the injunction did not prohibit enforcement of drug activity, officers were often slow to respond and could not permanently clear encampments. (5.L, 5.M) Staff and clients both faced challenges entering and exciting the resource center daily.

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For a small nonprofit with limited staff, this created genuine safety barriers to simply entering and operating the facility on a daily basis.

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Over time, the financial and operational burden of maintaining the Resource Center began diverting critical resources away from direct community support services — the very thing the center was designed to provide.

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In July 2024, after extensive discussion and evaluation, the Board of Directors voted unanimously to permanently close the Resource Center despite all efforts to stay. The board at the time included Kara Wright, Mika H and Christina Huizar as board Chair. Erica Burrell did not vote. The decision was made to protect the organization's sustainability and ensure that remaining resources could be directed toward meaningful community impact through other channels. ​

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Additional Documents:

5.N Mayor Breed Declares State of Emergency for The Tenderloin

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6. Tenderloin Community School 
 

For decades, BAWCC’s work centered on two programs within the Tenderloin neighborhood: the Resource Center at 318 Leavenworth Street and the programming it maintained within Tenderloin Community School (TCS). After the dental clinic closed in 2023 and the Resource Center permanently shut down in 2024, TCS became the prominent space where BAWCC continued delivering services directly to students and families.

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In August 2024, BAWCC renovated and transitioned into a first-floor space at Tenderloin Community School that included the family room, lobby, and back office following the closure of the Resource Center.

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Bay Area Women’s and Children’s Center collaborated with Paul Lister, who was the principal at the time, to renovate the family room and first-floor lobby at the school. The project was undertaken for several reasons. First, the areas were in need of deep cleaning, painting, and general improvements. Second, the renovation aimed to create designated desks and workspaces for the Family Support Team located at the school. (6.A & 6.B)

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The Family Support Team members are district employees of San Francisco Unified School District. Although they are not classroom teachers, they work directly with families to provide support and resources. As a result of the remodel and beautification efforts agreed upon with Paul Lister, each Family Support staff member received a designated desk and workspace for the first time. (6.C)

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Following the completion of the work, Bay Area Women’s and Children’s Center received notice that the renovations had not been properly authorized and had not gone through the required San Francisco Unified School District approval process. The district indicated that a specific application and permitting procedure should have been completed before any physical changes were made to the space, regardless of whether the improvements were related to safety, cleanliness, appearance, or functionality. 

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 In order for outside organizations to operate on San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) property, a formal Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) must be approved and executed by the district. The MOU outlines the services an organization is authorized to provide, establishes operational responsibilities, and requires compliance with district policies, including insurance coverage requirements and mandatory staff background checks before working with students. Without an approved MOU, organizations do not have formal authorization to operate on school grounds.

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BAWCC’s most recent MOU was not approved until December 2024, four months after the school year had already begun. During that period, BAWCC maintained limited on-site activities while awaiting final district approval. SFUSD required BAWCC to stop services while pending approval (6.D). This created ongoing challenges regarding how the organization could continue supporting students and families through donations, holiday programming, giveaways, and other forms of community assistance while remaining within evolving district compliance expectations. BAWCC worked carefully to balance its longstanding commitment to TCS with adherence to SFUSD operational requirements and this resulted in BAWCC changing some of their community supports such as delivering food boxes, something BAWCC did not have the capacity to sustain long term.

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A significant factor contributing to the delay was a change in SFUSD insurance requirements implemented after BAWCC’s prior agreement. SFUSD now requires all organizations operating on district property, regardless of level of student contact, to carry Sexual Abuse and Molestation insurance coverage with a $2 million aggregate limit. Under previous agreements, this requirement could at times be modified depending on the nature of services being provided. SFUSD later identified incomplete or insufficient insurance documentation as one of the primary causes of delays in MOU approvals districtwide. When it came time to renew the MOU, BAWCC found that obtaining the required coverage was challenging given the organization’s size decrease and scope of services. Multiple appeals were required before an insurer agreed to issue the policy, at over three times the cost previously paid by BAWCC for insurance. (6.E) 

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Restrictions surrounding programming, facility usage, and operational approvals continued to increase over time, further limiting the organization’s ability to effectively provide services within the school.

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After-school programming faced similar limitations. Specialty clubs had long been a cornerstone of BAWCC’s programming at TCS, providing students with opportunities to learn new skills while allowing teachers to receive compensation for sharing their hobbies, artistic talents, and specialized interests. Past clubs included yearbook, art club, cooking, and other enrichment activities. BAWCC maintained a minimum enrollment requirement of ten students per club each semester. Over the previous five years, teachers increasingly struggled to meet that enrollment threshold. This was primarily due to the options now available to TCS students. When clubs began there were not many afterschool programs within the Tenderloin. Now - families have alternatives. The cooking club remained the only program that consistently maintained participation but was ultimately suspended following a report from Principal Lister for the 2024-2025 school year identifying rodent activity within the school kitchen.

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Staffing losses further compounded existing operational challenges. In June 2024, longtime Family Advocate Kara Wright retired after serving with BAWCC since 1995. Kara continued her involvement with the organization as a member of the Board of Directors. The Family Advocate position had long been central to BAWCC’s work within the school community, and replacing the role proved extremely difficult.

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Recruitment efforts became significantly more difficult while the MOU approval remained pending. Because the agreement with SFUSD had not yet been finalized, BAWCC was unable to provide applicants with a reliable start date or operational timeline. As a result, the position remained vacant. Remaining staff and leadership absorbed substantial additional responsibilities in order to continue after-school programming, field trips, emergency family support services, holiday programming, and day-to-day operations. Despite continued recruitment efforts, including the use of a recruitment firm, the position was never filled.

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On July 30, 2025, the Board of Directors — Mika, Christina, and Kara — elected new board members, with Executive Director Erica Burrell abstaining from the vote. Following the election, longtime board members Christina Huizar, Mika Hiramatsu, and Kara Wright stepped down from their positions, after which the incoming board assumed oversight of BAWCC through the remainder of its operations and closure process.
While changes have occurred since that vote, all current board members were selected by the prior board. BAWCC's current Board of Directors consists of Erica Burrell, Freddie Keefer, Jason Phillips, Josiah Collins, and CeCe Gordon.

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By this stage, the cumulative impact of the dental clinic closure, the permanent loss of the Resource Center, increasing compliance barriers within SFUSD, prolonged staffing shortages, rising operational costs, and shrinking program capacity had fundamentally altered the scope of services BAWCC was able to provide. 

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As a small nonprofit organization that operated through private donations rather than city or state funding, BAWCC ultimately reached a point where continuing operations was no longer sustainable.

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Over time, increasing organizational resources, funding, and staff capacity were being directed toward maintaining operations rather than delivering the level of direct community services the organization was originally created to provide.

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In April 2026, the Board of Directors retained legal counsel and voted to complete the 2025–2026 school year before formally winding down operations. The decision was made intentionally in order to provide stability for students and families through the end of the academic year and to ensure the organization could conclude its work responsibly, ethically, and with integrity.

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7. What Happens Next

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Bay Area Women's and Children's Center officially concluded its Memorandum of Understanding with the San Francisco Unified School District as of June 2026, marking the end of the organization's final active programming operations.

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Following this transition, the Board of Directors voted for Executive Director Erica Burrell to  serve as Board Chair, effective May 29, 2026. This decision was made to ensure continuity and accountability throughout the formal wind-down and closure process.

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Remaining staff responsibilities — including closing storage, distributing donations, managing organizational records, overseeing finances, and ensuring compliance — will continue through approximately July 2026. After that, Erica Burrell will remain involved strictly in an unpaid volunteer capacity as Board Chair to guide the final legal and administrative steps required to formally dissolve the organization under California law. Upon completion of this closure process Burrell will surrender her work laptop and cell phone to administration at Tenderloin Community school for use as they see fit. 

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BAWCC is currently working with the California Attorney General's Office and all required state agencies to properly dissolve the organization in accordance with California nonprofit law. All outstanding debts and financial obligations accumulated over the course of the organization's history must be settled in full before any remaining funds can be distributed.

Once approved, assets will be directed to nonprofit organizations whose missions closely align with BAWCC's original charitable purpose. This process is governed entirely by state oversight, and final determinations about distribution have not yet been made.

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After more than 40 years of service, the loss of both core programs — the Resource Center and the dental clinic — combined with compounding financial, operational, and staffing challenges, left the organization unable to fulfill the services described in its Articles of Incorporation. Continuing under those conditions would not have served the community, the organization's donors, or the integrity of BAWCC's mission.

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The Board's decision to complete the 2025–2026 school year before formally winding down was made to honor the organization's obligations to students and families, conclude its work responsibly, and ensure that every remaining asset and resource is handled ethically, transparently, and in full compliance with state law.

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BAWCC thanks every donor, volunteer, partner, staff member, and community member who made 45 years of service possible. The Tenderloin community was, and will always remain, the reason this organization existed.