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Dolores Park on a warm Fall day. (image: olu johnson)
19-year-old Henry Bran takes special pride in the Mission District neighborhood where he grew up. As an intern with the Neighborhood Parks Council, he is helping other youth — and residents of every age — appreciate the neighborhood’s vibrant parks. For the last two years, Henry has served as an Outreach Intern with the NPC, helping cultivate a new generation of park stewards in his neighborhood. Henry found the NPC internship through MatchBridge, a community project of United Way of the Bay Area that connects San Francisco youth with entry-level jobs and internships in business.
Below is an interview with Matthew Silva, NPC’s Outreach Coordinator, about his experience working with Henry. The interview is from the MatchBridge monthly bulletin.
Why did you decide to hire a youth?
Youth are often the forgotten constituency of our city’s parks, particularly teens. Unfortunately, teens have come to represent much of what is wrong with parks, namely as the perpetrators of graffiti, litter and other kinds of vandalism. Hiring a teen Outreach Intern presented a great opportunity to both confront and contradict that perception, while providing the youth with an opportunity to better know their community and nonprofit work in general. Henry was an excellent role model for what teens in parks could be. An active athlete, and a warm personality, Henry engaged park users all over the city and made them see what an asset teens could be to our city’s parks.
What benefits did you feel Henry brought to your workplace?
More than anything, Henry brought a fresh and unique perspective to our work at NPC. In particular, Henry’s background in the Mission District helped inform our understanding of park users’ feelings about their neighborhood parks. Being a citywide organization, we rely on our partners on the ground to provide neighborhood context for our work. Henry’s background helped us better understand our work in the Mission.
What was something, if any, that happened that was unexpected?
I was continually surprised and impressed by how Henry took initiative on projects, offering suggestions on how to perform better outreach and more effectively engage park users. Henry’s warm and engaging personality has helped bring many Mission residents to NPC’s programs and activities. He is helping cultivate a new generation of park stewards in his home neighborhood.
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