Social Justice Academy Graduate Erik Preciado: Opportunities Unlocked, Dreaming Big

GLIDE’s Social Justice Academy (SJA) is a fellowship for people who have navigated tough times, and provides advocacy opportunities and skill training. Lawmakers benefit from hearing the lived experiences of the people their policies are intended to serve. Today we spotlight SJA fellow Erik Preciado, whose cohort was sponsored by a grant from Kaiser Foundation Hospital Fund for Community Benefit Programs at the East Bay Community Foundation. From suffering early hardship in childhood, to choosing community service as a young man, to obtaining an internship with Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, Erik has had an incredible journey– and he’s just getting started.

From Drug Dependency to Social Justice Advocacy in San Francisco

“What does GLIDE mean to me? When people ask what GLIDE has meant to me, I always come back to this: GLIDE will love you until you can love yourself. GLIDE meets you where you’re at and helps put you on a path toward a life that feels meaningful and worthwhile. I wholeheartedly recommend the Social Justice Academy to anyone interested in advocacy, leadership, and self-empowerment. It can transform how you see yourself. You go from being someone who feels invisible, someone people won’t even look in the eye, to recognizing the power of your own lived experience.”

Social Justice Academy Graduates Make Crucial Recommendations to Lawmakers

The graduation ceremony for GLIDE’s Social Justice Academy on June 26th was both triumphant and bittersweet. Triumphant, because of all the truly remarkable things our cohort accomplished– and bittersweet because the funding for our Social Justice Academy was cut by the city, and there will not be another cohort unless we find a way to […]

Claudia Garcia: Social Justice Academy Alumni Profile

Claudia’s political background extends beyond union activity. “I got involved with the Mission community, I started volunteering with DAHLIA to help people apply to low-income housing, I got involved with the Mission Neighborhood Center Children’s Services– I started helping them too. I was on the Board of Directors for Mission Neighborhood Center for two years. I learned a lot.” All of that gave her the confidence to apply for the Social Justice Academy.