Dawn Stueckle
Co-Founder & Executive Director
Dawn has worked with young people in San Francisco for more than two decades, starting campus-based girls’ support groups at Lincoln High School and A.P. Giannini Middle School in the early 1990s and co-founding in 1992 the organization that would later become Sunset Youth Services. In addition to providing leadership for the nonprofit, managing staff, connecting with donors, and building relationships with young people served by Sunset Youth Services, Dawn partners with numerous community coalitions and city agencies as an advisor, change agent, and voice for the disenfranchised youth of the city.
In 2018 Dawn was elected to co-chair the Juvenile Justice Providers Association (JJPA)–– a consortium of community-based organizations that she helped establish in 2004 and which plays an important role in local policy-making, youth advocacy and has a strong voice in how funds are used to meet the needs of vulnerable youth.
Enjoy the live music, delicious bites, and bring your kids to the Kids Zone for life-sized games, inflatables, face painting, balloon animals, and more!
A Bridge-Building Community Event
With help from community partners, for every year since 1995 Sunset Youth Services has organized the annual Sunset Community Festival, celebrating the unique DNA of a region that boasts over 13 languages and cultures and an Asian population with ancestry from over 7 different countries. This free family-friendly event draws over 3,500 residents and celebrates the diversity of the region, building bridges among neighbors and providing performance opportunities for local residents.
Young people from our Sunset Youth Services community assist with setup and clean up, engineer sound for live music, and perform original songs on the main stage. Supporters and friends of SYS volunteer in the Kids Zone and at the beer and wine garden.
The festival features Sunset Mercantile’s pop-up marketplace––showcasing local merchants, makers, and artisans––and also serves as town hall and valuable gathering place for police, fire department, city officials, and nonprofits to meet with and get to know local residents.
Our event partner Sunset Mercantile manages the vendor registration.
Sign up to be a festival vendor here: https://sunsetmercantilesf.com/festival/.
For Kids Zone volunteer information and to sign up, please fill out this form.
FESTIVAL SPONSORS
Ocean Beach Level
Wah Mei Schools
Chinese Community Health Plan
POPS
Golden Gate Park Level
Great Highway Park Initiative