San Francisco plans to cut Pacific Islander services in budget deficit

Jaytee Mauia, a beloved community leader who served for San Francisco Housing Authority, was diagnosed with cancer in 2013. Rather than wallowing in despair, Mauia sprung into action to address the chronic health conditions his Pacific Islander community of Hunter’s Point in San Francisco face. 

From organizing blood drives to supporting families facing cancer, Mauia and his brothers, he calls his usos in Samoan, aimed to heal their community through no-cost, culturally-relevant programs. This vision of love and commitment formed the organization, All My Usos. 

Mauia passed away in 2018, but he left a legacy that his wife, Christine Mauia, continues as the executive director of All My Usos.

But just a week after All My Usos’ ribbon cutting of their new office in May, San Francisco Mayor London Breed released her proposed city budget, in the face of an estimated $789 million two-year deficit. As deductions were made across the board, community-based organizations such as All My Usos were impacted.

All My Usos was promised a yearly $250,000 grant from 2023 to 2026 to address diabetes, cardiovascular disease and more. But the deductions to the Department of Public Health have wiped out the $500,000 dedicated to addressing health disparities in their Pacific Islander community in 2025 and 2026.

“We didn’t matter,” Mauia said. “Although I don’t believe the budget cuts were targeted… as San Francisco is facing a deficit, we still feel devastated by the fact that the promises we made to the community may be broken.”

Pacific Islander-led organizations, like All My Usos, primarily serve communities in District 10 and 11 of San Francisco. According to District 10’s Supervisor Shamann Walton, Pacific Islanders have resided in this district for over 100 years, mostly in the Sunnydale and Visitacion Valley neighborhoods. 

After World War II, a U.S. Naval Base relocated from American Samoa, leaving a dire economic situation for Pacific Islanders. Many families moved to San Francisco seeking military jobs at the now inactive Hunter’s Point Naval Shipyard. 

Government data on Pacific Islander communities is inaccurate because communities from the Pacific Islands in Oceania, have historically been grouped with Asian Americans into a single race category in Census numbers. This has made it difficult to distinguish the unique needs of Pacific Islander communities. As a result, social and health-related disparities that exist within the demographic are often masked and left unnoticed. 

According to the 2022 1-Year American Community Survey, there are over 1.6 million Pacific Islanders living in the United States. The survey shows that only 17.2% of the Pacific Islander population has obtained a Bachelor’s degree or higher in comparison to 23% for white populations. 78.4% of Pacific Islanders work a minimum wage job and 11.4% of families live in poverty. 

In 2022, the Regional Pacific Islander Task Force developed the Bay Area Pacific Islander Demographics Report to address the lack of specific data and reporting on Pacific Islanders living in the Bay Area. According to this study, Pacific Islanders in the Bay Area are disproportionately impacted by financial, educational and social disparities.

To help their communities navigate through these disparities, the Samoan Community Development Center has served the Pacific Islander community with dedication for over 30 years.

Known as the mother Pacific Islander organization in San Francisco, the Samoan Community Development Center provides culturally-enriching programs for youth, families and seniors. The center also refers Pacific Islanders to other partner organizations that address their specific needs like All My Usos.

With the vast range of disparities their communities face, the center’s executive director, Patsy Tito, said making the organization’s programs culturally significant helps keep them accessible. 

“Our community is high in everything that is considered ‘bad’ health-wise, financially, educationally,” said Tito, a lifelong San Francisco resident. “Growing up, we didn’t have much help or access to resources as SCDC provides now. Living is harder for us.”

In collaboration with the Samoan Community Development Center and other organizations, an initiative called Pasifika Urban Roots wanted to better understand these existing disparities and how they affect their community across San Francisco. In 2022, this initiative sought out community perspective and created the 2022 Kāpasa Fetu’u Community Needs Assessment Report. 

This assessment report showed that the community struggles to deal with the loss of loved ones as resources and tools are inaccessible. Additionally, the high cost of living in San Francisco affects their access to basic needs like housing, food and healthcare. The community also reported experiencing a lack of support in education and mental wellness, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the U.S. Office of Minority Health, leading causes of death among Pacific Islanders include cancer, heart disease, stroke and diabetes. Those pre-existing conditions worsened COVID-19 symptoms amongst Pacific Islanders. Despite this, this group lacks access to cancer prevention and health education programs.

Levalasi Loi-On, Kāpasa Fetu’u’s community research consultant and educator, said the community continues to normalize the negative impacts of these disparities. 

“I already saw this during the pandemic, but there were so many funerals, so much grief and loss in my own life,” Loi-on said. “There has been so much damage in our community that dying has become the status quo and it continues to be overlooked.”

Under the Department of Public Health’s Healthy Communities grant, funded by a tax on sugary drinks, All My Usos received funding to address Type 2 diabetes and obesity in the Pacific Islander community.

In the first year of the Health Communities grant, All My Usos provided healthy eating classes, fitness classes, culturally relevant food distribution boxes, grief counseling and mental health resources. All My Usos program coordinator Tina Sataraka Faitala said the organization hosted blood drives with Stanford Medical Center and their Pasefika Health and Unity Day, which over 100 people attended.

In hopes of addressing the community’s need for nutritional awareness, All My Usos enrolled eight Pacific Islander community members at the City College of San Francisco to become community health workers. Graduating this past spring, community health worker and San Francisco native Shirley Peleseuma said this was an empowering opportunity for her to serve her neighbors, family and community.

“I never thought I would go back to school after 36 years and becoming a community health worker gave me hope. It gave me a purpose,” Peleseuma said. “Going through school again was difficult, but I had All My Usos to support me. It’s time for us to help heal our people.”

After experiencing the loss of her brother, Peleseuma felt inspired to pursue the role of community health worker to help others going through the loss of a loved one. Pelesauma said she was hurt by the proposed decision to cut All My Usos’ work in health.

“We’re dealing with so much already,” Pelesauma said. “It was really devastating to hear because we needed this. We need to let our community know that they don’t have to deal with these issues alone.”

Her sister and fellow community health worker Sonia Pelesauma was also devastated by the news. Without the support of the grant, she said All My Usos may not have the resources to amplify the community as they planned. However, no matter if there is funding or not, Pelesauma said All My Usos will stand for the community regardless.

“We’re here to give our Pasefika community the same opportunities that everyone else has,” Pelesauma said. “Money or not, we’re going to make sure that our people are taken care of because no one will do it unless we do.”

While All My Usos awaits for San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors to approve final budgets for various city departments, the organization will continue to advocate for its community’s needs and priorities.

“We’re on the frontlines, serving our community despite the structural inequalities that continue to exist and have an impact on… low-income communities of color,” Faitala said. “These spaces can be intimidating but our presence and advocacy is necessary for change.”

For now, Samoan Community Development Center’s halls echo with choral music as youth practice their dance moves and sing Samoan songs in harmony. Serving over 300 youth, the Samoan Community Development Center’s youth program continues to grow, year by year.

As for All My Usos, the organization will continue to plan their annual Family Day on August 17th in memory of Mauia’s late husband, Jaytee. From face painting to catering Samoan food, Family Day will continue to be cost-free for the community despite the organizations financial uncertainty. Moving forward, Mauia said she is hopeful the outcome will sway their way.

“I am praying over those who are in charge of making decisions, that they will think of how it will impact our communities,” Mauia said. “As of now, retaining the [Healthy Communities] grant is in our favor, but we still don’t know what can happen next.”