About us

The Department of Children, Youth and Their Families (DCYF) envisions a strong San Francisco where all young people are:

• Supported by nurturing families and communities
• Physically and emotionally healthy
• Ready to learn and succeed in school
• Ready for college, work, and productive adulthood

DCYF funds programs serving young people up to age 24 and their families.

We’re committed to advancing equity and healing trauma. We bring together and work alongside:

• Community-based organizations
• Government agencies 
• Schools

Together, we make San Francisco a great place to grow up.

Learn about our grantmaking cycle

Learn about programs we fund

Learn about our initiatives

Strategic funding

• We promote practice- and research-informed programs
• We seek to address inequities in access and opportunity 
• We seed innovation

Quality services

• We support high quality programs and strong community-based organizations to promote positive outcomes. 

Engagement with San Francisco’s communities

• We use young people and their families’ voices to set funding priorities.
• We are present in neighborhoods across San Francisco.

Collaborative partnerships

• We work with city stakeholders to set funding priorities, practices, and policies.­

We make sure that the Children and Youth Fund serves young people with the highest needs.

Ways we pursue equity:

• Provide funding with input from the City’s diverse communities
• Break down data by race, ethnicity, and other categories
• Fund service providers that understand the community and speak their languages
• Discuss and learn about equity concepts through our internal equity committee
• Take part in the Office of Racial Equity’s (ORE) Racial Equity Action Planning process

Read DCYF’s racial equity action plan and our latest progress report.

The San Francisco Department of Children, Youth and Their Families (DCYF) acknowledges that it carries out its work on the unceded ancestral homeland of the Ramaytush Ohlone, the original inhabitants and stewards of the San Francisco Peninsula. As the government agency that stewards the Children and Youth Fund, we accept the responsibility that comes with resources derived from property taxes upon unceded and colonized land. We recognize the history and legacy of the Ramaytush Ohlone as integral to how we strive to make San Francisco a great place for life to thrive and children to grow up.

Learn more about the Ramaytush Ohlone

In 1991, San Franciscans passed the Children and Families First Initiative. It set aside property tax revenues for our City’s young people and their families. DCYF is in charge of distributing the Children and Youth Fund.

We are charter-mandated to:

• Fund services for children up to 18 years old and disconnected transitional-aged youth (TAY) up to 24 years old
• Engage in a 5-year planning cycle
• Dedicate 3 percent of the Children and Youth Fund to youth-initiated projects
• Focus on young people with the highest need

Read our charter