SF Filipino community centers celebrates 10 years of service

SAN FRANCISCO – Kababayans call many neighborhoods in San Francisco their home.

As Pinoys spread throughout the area through the years, the Bayanihan and Filipino Community centers have also provided a welcoming home to them to celebrate Filipino culture and assists in the fight for equal rights and opportunities.

“Over ten years we built a stronger legacy for the Filipino community in terms of the politics of what we are fighting for: tagalog language access, worker’s rights, immigrant’s rights – all of those things that the politicians are now responding to,” said Terry Valen, the Organizational Director of the Filipino Community Center.

The centers have been instrumental in providing programs for kababayans such as free health clinics, support to low-income Filipino World War II veterans, victims of wage theft, and more.

“We hope to continue the engagement of our communities to see more of the residents in the neighborhood to be part of their own community to have a voice in the neighborhood, to not be afraid,” said Bernadette Borja Sy, the Bayanihan Community Center Executive Director.

Assemblymember Rob Bonta, the first and only Filipino-American elected to the California legislature, says that the Bayanihan and Filipino community centers are testimonies of Filipino perseverance.

“Some of the greatest change we made as a Filipino-American community, as society has made, is when everyday people come together working with other everyday people and they are committed to a common cause and accomplish extraordinary things,” said Bonta.

And San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee honored their accomplishments by giving the Bayanihan and Filipino community centers their own day in San Francisco.

The Bayanihan and Filipino Community Centers say that their longevity rests in the continuing support of other Bay Area organizations in order to serve the Filipino community for another ten years and more.

You can contact Rommel Conclara at rommel_conclara@abs-cbn.com and follow him on Twitter @rommelconclara for more information.