April 2025 eNews

Save the Date! SDA CommUNITY Celebration – August 14

SDA Annual CommUNITY Celebration
Putting the UNITY in Community Through Collective Resistance
Thursday, August 14, 2025
6 to 8pm
First Unitarian Universalist Church
1187 Franklin St, San Francisco, CA 94109

 Food, drink, and a community variety show
Tickets and sponsorship opportunities coming soon!

Note: This location has both indoor and outdoor space. Masks will be required inside, and food and drink will be consumed in the outside courtyard. The variety show will be livestreamed for those unable to make it in person!

Join us for our next Member Orientation – Monday, April 7

If you’re interested in being part of our organizing work, join us April 7 for an orientation to SDA – our history, our values, and our campaigns. Learn more about the campaigns we’re working on, our approach to organizing, and how you can get involved! 

If you're wanting to find a political home and organize around local and state issues that impact our communities, our orientation is a great place to start. If you've been involved with SDA in the past and want to reconnect, you're also very welcome!

Our April orientation session is on Monday, April 7, 2 to 3:30pm in-person at our office – 222 8th St, SF. RSVP for the orientation here. Masks will be required. If you’d prefer to attend a virtual orientation, we will be holding one in May. Stay tuned for details!

Please email grace@sdaction.org if you have any questions.

Hands Off Protest – Saturday, April 5

Join this virtual event organized by UC Berkeley Disability Cultural Center and featuring Executive Directors from four Bay Area disability advocacy organizations, including SDA’s own Erik Greenfrost. This conversation will center on the future of disability advocacy, what work each organization is focused on and plans to continue, and will provide insights into the current state of disability advocacy, particularly in light of the recent changes to the rights and freedoms of disabled individuals.

Panelists include:

• Nicole Bohn - Executive Director, Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund 

• Erik Greenfrost - Executive Director, Senior and Disability Action 

• Victor Pineda - Executive Director, Center for Independent Living

• Carmen Varela - Executive Director, Disabled Students’ Program, UC Berkeley

ASL and CART will be provided by DREDF. RSVP here to the Disability Organizing Panel.

In late February, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a budget resolution that could lead to Medicaid cuts of $880 billion or more, to fund tax breaks for the wealthiest in the country. While this is deeply concerning to our senior and disabled communities, there is still a lot we can do to fight these cuts! Right now we’re directing people to join our coalition partner California Alliance for Retired Americans (CARA) for weekly phonebanks to key CA legislative districts, every Wednesday at 4pm. Sign up for CARA phonebanks here. 

There will also be more actions, both in-person and virtual, coming up through the LTSS4All (Long-Term Services and Supports) Coalition, of which SDA is a part. To stay in the loop about actions to protect our healthcare, fill out our Defend Medicaid interest form so we can keep in touch about future opportunities.

Thursday, March 27, more than 15 people from the SDA community, along with a broad coalition of organizations representing poor and working people in California, gathered at Airbnb headquarters to call on Congress to stop Trump's billionaire-first budget. The action was targeting Airbnb’s CEO Joe Gebbia, who is a new member of Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

At SDA, we are deeply concerned about the proposed cuts to the Medicaid budget. Eliminating Medicaid/Medi-Cal would be a disaster. Millions of seniors and people with disabilities in California rely on Medicaid funding for essential health and long-term care services. "One-third of California's budget comes from federal funds, and one in three Californians relies on Medicaid," said Lealani Manuta, an organizer with the National Union of Healthcare Workers, at the rally. 

This is the time to build our people's power through solidarity and empowering each other. We heard powerful messages from our speakers. Alma Santana, the Director of Immigrant Rights and Participation Civic Politics with Mujeres Unidas y Activas, said, “We pay taxes; that’s why we demand that our money be used for the well-being of our communities, not to line the pockets of billionaires or expand ICE's repressive apparatus.” The action was covered in SF Public Press.

Hallidie Plaza: SDA members have been showing up to the Capital Planning Committee meetings to demand the money from last fall's Prop B be put toward creating more accessibility at Hallidie Plaza, at the Powell BART station. Our hope has been for the plaza’s broken elevator to be replaced. The Mayor's Office on Disability worked with the designer of the circular ramp in the Ed Roberts Center in Berkeley to design a circular, long, ramp for Hallidie Plaza that would go from street level to the Bart/MUNI concourse. We are open to this proposal. We still need people to attend Capital Planning Committee meetings on Mondays to ensure we get the accessibility improvements we deserve. Email Mia at mia@sdaction.org if you'd like to attend online or in person to make a public comment or send in an email. 

Muni Forever: Our campaign to save Muni from disastrous cuts continues, in coalition with other organizations like the SF Transit Riders Union. On March 18, over 250 people rallied at City Hall to oppose these cuts, and 65 people gave public comment at the SFMTA Board meeting, urging them to vote against summer service cuts and find funding for Muni from the city’s general fund. The SFMTA board is deciding on summer cuts on April 15. Join us to give public comment between now and then, Mondays 1pm at City Hall. To get involved and for more up-to-date details, email Mia at mia@sdaction.org or visit the Muni Forever website.

Tell the Board of Supervisors: Restore Remote Public Comment for committee meetings!

Do you care about public access to democratic participation in San Francisco? Have you ever wanted to give testimony at a Board of Supervisors (BOS) or committee meeting, but been unable to because you can’t make it there in person? Contact the BOS and urge them to restore Remote Public Comment for committee meetings! You can send them a message through our letter-writing tool.

Our members and allies have been writing, and Supervisors have been feeling the pressure! Our main target now is Board President Rafael Mandelman. Call his office at 415-554-6968 to ask him to reintroduce the remote public comment measure, and tell the office why remote public comment is important to you!

Senior and Disability Survival School: Access @ Balboa High School Graduation

Last Monday marked the final class day of our Senior and Disability Survival School series at Balboa High School. Congratulations, graduates!! Our courses educated youth with disabilities about their rights in housing, healthcare, and transportation, and provided training in self-advocacy skills. Interested in bringing our free Senior and Disability Survival series to your community? Contact SDSS program manager Liza Mamedov at liza@sdaction.org. 

Alice Wong is an iconic disabled writer, activist, and community organizer based here in the Bay Area. Inspired by the beauty and power of the tiger in Chinese culture, Alice tells her story through a collection of original essays, previously published work, conversations, graphics, photos, and commissioned art by disabled and Asian American artists.

The Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights is providing free legal advice and referrals to low-income individuals connected to San Francisco. Services are available on a first-come, first-served basis with interpreters available.

Trump, Musk, and their billionaire cronies are gutting Social Security, slashing Medicaid, and looting our government to bankroll their latest tax scam—unless we stop them. On April 5, we’re taking to the streets to say Hands Off. Join us! This protest is organized by Indivisible SF, and many of our allies from Bay Resistance will be there. RSVP for the Hands Off rally here. 

Access info: the location for the rally is wheelchair-accessible and located at the flat outdoor park near City Hall. There will not be a march element. 

Palestine & Zionism 101
A 7-week workshop by Jewish Voice for Peace Bay Area

Wednesdays, April 16  through May 28
6:30 to 8:30 pm
In person in Oakland at Laney College

Amidst the escalated genocide of Palestinians, we hold close to heart our responsibility to continuously sharpen our analysis of Zionism and settler-colonialism. Palestine & Zionism 101 is an opportunity to deeply engage with the history of the colonization of Palestine as well as the history of Palestinian resistance to Zionism. 

Register here for Zionism and Palestine 101 (access info linked in registration)
Sliding scale $25-$100 NOTAFLAF (no one turned away for lack of funds)

This session will feature both lecture style classes and weekly discussion groups to allow more opportunities for reflection and community building. 

Palestine & Zionism 101 is designed to provide a robust introduction to the history of Zionist settler-colonialism in Palestine; all educational backgrounds are welcome.

SDA continues to stand in support of Palestinians and call for an immediate end to the genocide Israel is inflicting on Palestinian people and their land. Go to our website for some resources on disability and Palestine and opportunities to support. If you know of other resources or action opportunities to share, please let us know!