Physical Activity

A Community-Based Participatory Action Effort to Improve Health Outcomes for Filipino-American Residents

Established in 2000, the South of Market Community Action Network (SOMCAN) is a multi-issue and multi-strategy organization that nurtures the lives of youth, families, individuals and workers in the South of Market neighborhood.  SOMCAN was formed by community leaders to address gentrification and displacement issues in the South of Market (SOMA) community.  Over the last twenty years, SOMCAN has worked on a wide range of issues from tenant rights to community planning to Filipino language access to worker’s rights, providing culturally competent direct services that include tenant counseling, family support, youth empowerment, and employment.   

Kalusugan ng Bayan/Our Health, Our Community is a three-year initiative developed by Filipinos and Filipinas at SOMCAN to improve the well-being of Filipinos in San Francisco.  The initiative seeks to address the community’s chronic health issues such as hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, Type 2 diabetes, overweight/obesity, in addition to improving built environment conditions that contribute to these conditions.  The initiative aims to understand the community’s knowledge, attitudes, behaviors and risk factors related to chronic diseases; increase community awareness of chronic disease prevention and advocate for policy and environmental strategies that support health.

 SOMCAN have been recipients of the SDDT Healthy Communities Grant since 2019.