About Us Programs News and Events Youth For Educators Get Involved




For an up-to-the-second status report, check out the Ecocenter Blog.

Visit the EcoCenter Facebook Page!

Virtual EcoCenter Tour: Learn about health issues affecting Bayview Hunters Point through the perspective of local youth by watching this video made by BAYCAT's youth!

Take an EcoCenter PhotoTour!!

WELCOME TO THE NEIGHBORHOOD --  This public art project matched artists with LEJ Youth to create new work for the EcoCenter using found and recycled materials. For more information, go to the project website.

Watch Kristine Enea's short film "Off the Grid" about the EcoCenter groundbreaking!

     

The EcoCenter at Heron's Head Park:
Where Learning Comes Alive

The EcoCenter has been recognized with a US EPA Environmental Justice Achievement Award

The EcoCenter IS OPEN for public programs and community rentals. Download the rental packet.

Contact the EcoCenter Rental Coordinator if you have questions or need further information about the EcoCenter.

The EcoCenter at Heron's Head Park is the first environmental justice education facility in the Bay Area and San Francisco's first 100% “off-grid” building, modeling solar power and alternative wastewater technologies. Nearly every feature of this 1,500-square-foot facility is innovative and used to educate the public about renewable energy, pollution and greenhouse gas reduction, wastewater treatment, “green” building materials, and the green economy.

The EcoCenter is:

Helping to create an empowered and eco-literate youth corps in southeast San Francisco

Making a positive impact on the environmental, public, and economic health of southeast San Francisco

Providing an inspiring model for green building and environmental education in EJ communities

Green Building Features

  • Eco Machine wastewater treatment. This series of wetland cells and ultraviolet sterilization lamps treat wastewater and recycle treated water for landscape irrigation.
  • A Green Living Roof to reduce building needs for heating and cooling, provide retention of stormwater on site for reuse, reduce heat island effect of building on site, and encourage wildlife habitat.
  • Solar panels and wind turbine to meet all electricity demands of the building.
  • Structurally Insulated Panels (SIPs) that provide high energy efficiency and strength in the walls and roof as well as seismic support and fire resistance.
  • Native landscaping to help promote water conservation, the elimination of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, and encourage education around native plant propagation.

To learn more about the EcoCenter's low impact design features that help reduce the building's water footprint, download this factsheet (.pdf).



Thank you!!!

...to everyone who made this project possible.  It took more than 10 years of community-based, intergovernmental, and multi-industry partnerships to give life and integrity to the EcoCenter.  We couldn't have done it without you!

Designed by Toby Long Design, the EcoCenter is a collaborative project between Literacy for Environmental Justice, the Port of San Francisco, San Francisco Environment, and the State Coastal Conservancy.


Project Partners:
Port of San Francisco
San Francisco Department of the Environment
San Francisco Department of Public Health
Toby Long Design/Clever Homes

Habitat Gardens
Occidental Power
Lorax Development

Eckman Environmental Corp.
H20 Envirotech

Industry Partners:
Bode Concrete

Fulcrum Structural Engineering

Heliodyne

Ryan Engineering
Urban Ore, Berkeley
Sylvania Lights

Warm Homes
Waste Solutions


Funding Partners:
San Francisco Department of the Environment
State Coastal Conservancy
State Water Resources Control Board

Pacific Forest and Watershed Lands Stewardship Council

Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund
The Live Oak Fund of Horizons Foundation

Mitchell Kapor Foundation
Walter & Elise Haas Fund
S. H. Cowell Foundation
Flora Family Foundation
Morris Stulsaft Foundation
San Francisco Community Challenge Grant Program

Adobe Foundation Fund of Silicon Valley Community Foundation
Bothin Foundation
Rose Foundation for Communities and the Environment

Numerous private individuals

Community Volunteer Partners:

Bayview Mobilization for Adolescent Growth in Our Communities (BMAGIC)

College Track

Communities in Harmony Advocating for Learning and Kids (CHALK)

Rebuilding Together San Francisco

Salesforce.com

Countless additional community organizations, individual volunteers, and friends of Heron's Head Park

Living Classroom