Bernal Gateway Apartments (BGA) in SF
The Bernal Gateway Apartments (BGA) is a permanent supportive housing complex for formerly homeless families located in San Francisco’s Mission District. Lutheran Social Services provides onsite support services to the families who live at BGA. Our team is led by a full time case manager and includes a youth activities coordinator, working together to provide the families with resources necessary for family stability.
The case manager provides services crucial to ensuring that families can remain housed by helping families toward self-sufficiency and emotional and financial stability. Services include individual and group counseling, psycho-social education, community building, tenant organizing, serving as a liaison and advocate to property management, and also providing referrals for medical and mental health care and community resources.
This center is a safe, educational, and enriching after-school environment to the at-risk youth in the BGA community.
More about BGA
Youth activities include an after-school program at the youth center located onsite at BGA. Our youth activities coordinator provides support and encouragement to the young people at BGA, supporting academics through tutoring and creating incentives for academic improvement. The coordinator also takes BGA young people on summer recreational and educational outings. The coordinator also provides counseling on youth-related issues and makes referrals to the case manager and or other services as needed.
The LSS service team provides a weekly Food Bank distribution to all BGA residents, giving each household a bag of fresh produce and cooking staples, such as beans, pasta, eggs, chicken or rice. The team facilitates a monthly community meeting, hosting a presentation from a community resource helpful to the residents. LSS also hosts events for all major holidays—parties with food, entertainment, and raffle prizes, including our Winter Holiday Party, Thanksgiving Potluck, Halloween Party, End of the Summer BBQ, Mother’s Day Celebration, and more.
2010 Program Outcomes
- 100% of families have retained their housing for at least one year.
- 85% of households participate in the weekly food pantry, which provides food stability for each household each week.
- 80% of families participate weekly or monthly in our case management services.