Affiliate Alumni

AfroLA is a nonpartisan, nonprofit digital news outlet. AfroLA is solutions-focused, data-driven, and community-centered journalism for Los Angeles, told through the lens of the Black community, and with emphasis on how news may disparately impact L.A.’s most vulnerable groups and communities of color.

AfroLA’s mission is to find, celebrate, and share intersectionality and universality in the Black experience. “Afro Angeleno,” or AfroLA, celebrates diversity in backgrounds and unity in culture and experiences within L.A. and beyond. In 2023, AfroLA was issued its 501(c)(3) status.

BALONEY follows San Francisco’s wildly popular Gay All-Male Burlesque show over 18 months as the group rehearses for New Year's Eve of 2020. Told through the eyes of the group's co-founders, as well as the larger ensemble, the film contemplates the struggles that come with being a performing artist in San Francisco, the most expensive city in North America.

Through a mix of interviews, rehearsal footage, and filmed performances, BALONEY captures the group's unique combination of humor, confession, and sex positivity in ways that directly reflect the private fantasies of people who come to the show.

A core program of the Foundation for the Future of Literature and Literacy, the Bay Area Book Festival is a major indoor/outdoor free literary event that takes place in downtown Berkeley on the first weekend of June each year, all day Saturday and Sunday. It presents 300 leading authors – from Northern California and around the nation and world – in nearly 150 keynotes, interviews, panels and performances, all with opportunities for the audience to interact with the authors. In 2016, the Foundation was issued its 501(c)(3) status.

Chinese Whispers is an ongoing research and storytelling project about the Chinese who helped build the railroads, enterprises, and settlements of the American West. Chinese Whispers looks beyond this historical amnesia to reclaim and retell forgotten community memories, and reinvigorate cultural heritage. Our storytelling productions uncover stories that have been passed down over generations at different sites, and engages members of local communities in the retelling of their local Chinese whispers.

Our research and interdisciplinary art expedition Chinese Whispers: Bay Chronicles uncovers the overlooked 100 year history of Chinese shrimp fishing around SF Bay, through sailings on a replica 19th c. shrimp junk, along with place-based public programming. A pilot production, Chinese Whispers: Sierra Stories, took place in the Sierra Nevada Foothills in 2009.

Circus Bella is a full-force, non-stop kaleidoscope of thrilling feats of balance and strength, elegant demonstrations of grace and poise, and outrageous humor of slapstick antics. The circus showcases static trapeze, rope walking, a 9-person juggling act, contortion, hula hoop, original clowning, and more. Founded in 2008 by Abigail Munn and David Hunt, Circus Bella brings the magic of the open-air, single ring to audiences of all ages. Circus Bella was granted 501(c)(3) status in 2016.

Code Tenderloin is a workforce development nonprofit that aims to secure long term employment for underserved communities in San Francisco. Founded in 2015 by Del Seymour as part of Tenderloin Walking Tours, Code Tenderloin removes barriers that keep people from securing long term employment, such as finances, legal, soft skills, childcare, transportation, and education. Code Tenderloin currently offers two programs that incorporate both soft and hard skills training - Job Readiness + Interview Course and Code Ramp. Our goal is for our students to gain and retain permanent jobs with strong growth prospects. All classes are 100% free and run by volunteers. 

Established in 2010, Colors of Connection is an organization working with youth and public art that enables connections between people and communities through creative expression. Colors of Connection envisions a world where the arts are universally accessible and celebrated. Their mission is to nurture hope, cultivate well-being, and promote development in disadvantaged youth and societies worldwide through community-based art and through advocacy for art in education. Colors of Connection was granted 501(c)(3) status in 2016.

The Dolores Huerta Elementary Mural Project began because the library wall was graffitied while the school site was closed during the pandemic. The students of Dolores Huerta Elementary use the patio outside the library for many activities now that it is safer to gather outside. The outgoing 5th-grade class designed and painted a mural in collaboration with local muralist Josue Rojas.

KALW Public Media, the Bay Area's 91.7 FM station, serves the public with independent, innovative, and trusted local and global news, music, and cultural programming. KALW has an incredible 80-year history and a promising future built on decades of contributions from dedicated volunteers, listeners, leaders, donors, programmers, and producers.  IAM supported KALW's transition to becoming a separate and independent 501(c)(3) organization in 2019.

KidNuz is a fun, fresh, first-of-its-kind kids’ podcast that delivers top-of-mind news every weekday morning. It's age-appropriate, nonpartisan, and produced by Emmy-winning broadcast journalists who believe in the importance of engaging kids in current events, encouraging critical thinking, and sparking meaningful conversations. Together with parents and teachers, KidNuz introduces kids to issues that are relevant to them. In 2022, KidNuz was issued its 501(c)(3) status.

The Nichi Bei Foundation is an educational and charitable nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting Japanese American community organizations, shedding light on community issues, and documenting the community’s history.  The Nichi Bei Foundation is the parent organization and publisher of Nichi Bei Weekly, the first ethnic nonprofit newspaper of its kind in the country.  Born in one of the worst economic climates in decades, with virtually no seed money, the pioneering rebirth of the Nichi Bei Foundation and the Nichi Bei Weekly has become one of the most inspired community movements in recent memory.  The Nichi Bei Foundation was granted its 501(c)(3) status in 2014.

NOW FOR NOW was a multimedia physical theater piece about embarrassing things, created and performed by theater artists Mark Jackson and Megan Trout.  Three relationships between a woman and man a generation apart – a daughter and father, a student and teacher, a romance – are explored over 40 years of life. NOW FOR NOW premiered at Z Space in San Francisco in July 2015, with a second outing in February 2016 at the Ashby Stage in Berkeley.

San Francisco Public Press is a local nonprofit, noncommercial news organization that publishes a website and quarterly newspaper.  We do for print and Web journalism what public broadcasting has done for radio and television.  In six years, we have established a reputation in the community for producing high-impact in-depth reporting projects on a wide range of topics.  Our teams of seasoned journalists explain complex local policy issues in an accessible way, investigating problems and reporting on ideas for tangible solutions.  In 2010, the San Francisco Public Press ­was awarded the SPJ Northern California Award for Excellence in Journalism and Freedom of Information Award.

Through personal testimonies told by the people who lived it, SURVIVING THE SILENCE delves deeply into the complex and closeted relationship of Colonel Pat Thompson and Barbara Brass and their basis for being such engaged activists for LGBTQ Equality. When it comes to their early years, they candidly share how they wrestled with heart-wrenching choices in both public and private, hiding their relationship, speaking in code on the phone during long separations, and struggling to protect their love while preserving Thompson’s career.

Their story also includes the as yet untold aspects of the heartbreaking dismissal of Cammermeyer and reveals why Cammermeyer candidly calls Thompson a ‘hero’. Cammermeyer makes a present-day appearance in the film in direct conversation with Thompson. Together, the three women offer up nuanced portraits of the difficulties that came with being a lesbian in America throughout the 20th century. This film honors them—and the countless women like them—who made similar sacrifices. 

The Writers Grotto is a community of working writers and narrative artists who connect in physical and virtual space, pooling our talents to support each other, mentor and teach others, and engage the wider world. The Grotto fosters a literary culture that is generous in spirit and deeply inclusive, elevating writers of all backgrounds.