Tagged: youth

Lorenzo Bynum has the “baller" build you might see on the cover of GQ, without the swagger. He’s clean-cut, 5’10”, wears two small earrings and has a muscular frame. It’s a Wednesday afternoon in Marin City, and the 23-year-old is digging frantically through a 10’ by 10’ closet. He’s hunting for a parachute large enough for a game with 15 third graders.

Wednesdays are busy days for Bynum. He clocks in at three part-time jobs: two hours directing elementary school children, two hours coaching track and field, and two hours coaching middle school boys basketball.

The Visitacion Valley Middle School is located in the southern part of San Francisco – one of the poorest residential areas of the city. It's recess and kids are outside playing the typical sports: football, basketball. But at this school, there's also golf.

Tony Anderson, Visitacion Valley's site director, works with 20 to 30 kids every day at the schools practice range. One is a 13-year-old named Faletui Manu. “Manu is one of our students who's been with us. He's just walked up to practice on his little chip here,” says Anderson, before congratulating Manu on a nice shot.

A few weeks ago, we aired a story about San Francisco students' access to public transportation. The piece discussed possible legislation that would provide free Muni passes to local youth. Here are some responses that came through the Crosscurrents voicemail line.