Are you excited to volunteer in San Francisco’s more than 220 parks and recreation facilities? Volunteers like you contributed 260,000 hours of service this past year, representing an invaluable contribution to our city through activities like planting California native and drought-tolerant plants, teaching Zumba at a local Rec Center, or painting faces at special events. Find opportunities in every corner of the city that are as diverse as your interests, skills, and abilities. Our volunteers include individuals and school, community, business, and international groups.
Volunteer in our Parks Try out your green thumb or help clean up your neighborhood park. From Mission Dolores Park to Golden Gate Park, there’s a wealth of exciting volunteer opportunities in our parks. Volunteers participate in a variety of park maintenance projects, including weeding, planting, mulching, habitat restoration, trash pickup, painting, and trail work.
Habitat restoration work happens primarily in the undeveloped outdoor spaces managed by our Natural Resources Division. Volunteers can participate in a wide variety of restoration activities, such as planting and propagating native plants, controlling erosion, and monitoring wildlife habitat.
We welcome drop-in volunteers! We can accommodate individuals or groups on a one-time or ongoing basis any day of the week.
For individuals or small groups of up to nine people: Check out our regular work party calendarto sign up for an event.
For groups of 10 or more: Fill out a Group Park Volunteer Request Form. Please allow up to five weeks to process your request. For groups of 100 or more, please allow up to three months for processing.
Volunteer for Special Events Volunteers assist staff with arts and crafts, game booths and sports activities at special events such as spring fairs, family fun days, holiday events and ribbon cutting ceremonies. Sign up to be notified of upcoming special event volunteer opportunities.
Volunteer in our Recreation Centers and Programs Do you have a special talent you’d like to share with youth, teens, adults, or seniors at a local recreation center? Do you enjoy arts and crafts, theater, sports, dance, music, or tutoring? Contact your local recreation center or playground staff for a range of opportunities and find an available program to match your interests.
Volunteer at our Swimming Pools Volunteer at one of our nine pools in the city. All Aquatic Volunteers must be between the ages of 12 and 18, or be a graduating senior from high school. Prospective aquatics volunteers must fill out an Aquatics Volunteer Pre-Approval Form and receive approval from Aquatic Staff prior to getting a fingerprinting appointment.
HOW TO BECOME A RECREATION VOLUNTEER
(for recreation center, program and pool volunteers only)
+ Find a program, recreation center or swimming pool you’re interested in + Contact the respective program or facility coordinator and gain pre-approval to volunteer + Prospective swimming pool volunteers must also fill out an Aquatics Volunteer Pre-Approval Form
+ Download, read and complete a Recreation Volunteer Application (PDF) + Bring a hard copy of your completed application to your fingerprinting appointment (Step 3)
+ A mandatory fingerprinting appointment is necessary prior to volunteering + Make an appointment online at Appointment Plus + Appointments available on Tuesdays (9:30 to 11:15 a.m.) and Thursdays (3:30 to 4:15 p.m.) at McLaren Lodge, 501 Stanyan Street + Appointments available on Saturdays (11 a.m. to 1:50 p.m.) at the Millwright’s Cottage at the west end of Golden Gate Park
Why do I need to get fingerprinted? State law requires all volunteers to pass a background clearance with the Department of Justice prior to supervising sensitive populations, including youth and seniors
+ Bring with you: a) A completed Recreation Volunteer Application; and b) A picture ID (CA Drivers License, School ID, Government ID, etc.) + Please do not be late to your appointment. Your appointment may be canceled if you are more than five minutes late.
+ Background checks take approximately 1-2 weeks for processing + Once cleared, please contact the facility program coordinator to arrange your schedule. + You will be asked to keep track of your volunteer hours with the Volunteer Hours Log.
The Volunteer Division’s Youth Services team coordinates and runs a variety of programs that offer youth and educators opportunities to connect with the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department’s parks and open spaces city wide.
The Youth Stewardship Program (YSP) runs from October through June of each year and engages youth and school groups, grades K-12, in environmental education and service-learning field trips in parks citywide. Our program mission is to foster in youth an understanding of their important role in building healthy social and natural communities.
YSP exposes urban students to an outdoor learning environment that proves to be engaging and challenging. Students are taught science, environmental education, local natural and cultural history, social responsibility, a personal connection to their communities, and fundamental life skills. Each trip is between 1.5-3 hours and includes an environmental education and restoration component.
The program is free of cost and available to any youth group or classroom in San Francisco.
If you’re interested in incorporating a youth stewardship component to your curriculum, please complete a Youth Stewardship Program application. Someone from our Youth Services Volunteer Team will contact you within two weeks of receiving your application.
Group Community Service Projects To organize a service-only project for your group or class year-round, please complete a Group Park Volunteer Request Form.
Not sure how or where you’d like to volunteer? No problem! Get in touch with staff at recparkvolunteers@sfgov.org.
Greenager Program The Greenager Program is a San Francisco Recreation and Park Department and Port of San Francisco youth stewardship and leadership program that runs from June through November each year. The program was created and designed to offer teens a chance to play an important role in the community by improving the city’s green spaces, raising awareness, creating place-based projects and/or projects based on issues or themes participants value and are interested in.
The Greenager Program is for teenagers that live in or attend a school in the southeast or northeast neighborhoods of San Francisco. Greenagers are trained and provided with multiple leadership opportunities. They facilitate workshops, lead public volunteer service projects, participate in community events, go on fun team excursions and more.
Our goal is to create a safe atmosphere in which youth can learn about the importance of the preservation of our parks and open spaces, voice their concerns about their environment and community, and take action while gaining fundamental job and life skills, push and challenge their perceived limitations, bond with like-minded peers and have fun all in their own backyard!
Quick Facts
Program established in 2012 with a crew based in southeast SF
In 2017, added a second crew based in northeast of SF
87 teens have successfully completed the 8-month program, 21 have returned as leaders for a second year
Coastal Clean Up site captains since 2013
Engaged with over 500 community members and key stakeholders
Service provided in over 20 different parks and opens spaces in San Francisco
8,300 hours of service to our city’s parks and open spaces, community events and rec centers
Received Board of supervisor’s program commendation on July 29, 2014
Annual sailing excursion with Blue Water Foundation and other fun adventures including camping to get youth outdoors
Program Incentives
1st year Greenagers can earn up to $200/month
2nd year Greenager leaders can earn up $250/month
Earn community service credit (varies by school)
Forge new long-lasting friendships
Gain valuable and transferable job skills
Advance your leadership & public speaking skills
Gain professional work experience
Explore new parks, rec centers & open spaces
Learn about SF’s native flora and fauna
Looks great on your resume
Who can be a Greenager? To be a Greenager you must meet the criteria below:
You must live in or attend a school in the Southeast Sector of San Francisco (Excelsior, Portola, Bayview, Hunter’s Point, Visitation Valley, Crocker Amazon, or Potrero Hill) or Northeast Sector of San Francisco (Western Addition, Tenderloin and Chinatown); or you must be referred to us by one of our direct partners
The EcoCenter at Heron’s Head Park is a unique treasure in the Bayview Hunter’s Point Community. It is a space for environmental education, workshops, assembly and place where youth, families and community can gather and engage with nature. The EcoCenter facility was designed to be a classroom and serve as a model of green building technology. It is an off-the-grid facility with its own solar energy system including a living roof, sustainable building materials, on-site wastewater treatment and rainwater harvesting and reuse systems. In July of 2013, the EcoCenter was certified by the U.S. Green Building Council and Green Building Certification Institute with LEED PLATINUM-Leader in Energy and Environmental Design.
The EcoCenter was designed by Toby Long Design and was a collaborative project between Literacy for Environmental Justice (LEJ) the Port of San Francisco, the San Francisco Department of the Environment and the California Coastal Conservancy for the benefit and enjoyment of the Bayview Hunter’s Point Community and beyond.
The Park and Facility is owned and maintained by the Port of San Francisco and operated by the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department.
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