Who can make the Bay Area better? College students.

As San Francisco rebounds, the city is discovering a hidden asset: a quarter-million college students. Many are already volunteering their educational, entrepreneurial and artistic skills to help residents eager for tutoring, job training and elder care. 

We know about students’ power because we’re proud to be associated with one of the dozen colleges in the city – the newest, 12-year-old Minerva University. We’re a global nonprofit with students from more than 100 countries. Our students spend the first year living and studying in the Tenderloin before rotating around the world, from Asia to Europe to South America, for the next three years. Then the students, with far-flung family members, return to San Francisco for graduation.

This coming Tuesday, August 13, Mayor London Breed will host college executives and students to explore creative ways to revitalize downtown. That’s why we’re writing this from two perspectives. Mike Magee is Minerva’s president; he’s a leader in the movement of schools giving back to communities. Aknur Abdikarim is a student who grew up in Kazakhstan and founded a nonprofit during her year here, which just ended.

First, a note about why Minerva’s education model: our curriculum weaves together academic studies and hands-on experience. We prepare young people to address the world’s most difficult problems. And because we see San Francisco as our home base, we invest our greatest student expertise and enthusiasm here. 

Within four weeks of starting classes here, each Minerva student engages in service with a local organization. Some examples: tutoring at the children’s center of Compass Family Services, which helps at-risk families find housing and become emotionally and physically healthy and economically self-sufficient; serving food with Project Open Hand, which prepares 2500 meals daily for residents dealing with serious illnesses, isolation or the health challenges of aging; and coaching teenage writers at 826 Valencia.

This commitment continues throughout the year. Each student takes on what we call a City Experience, delving into the life of San Francisco. One example: our students take early-morning ferries to Alcatraz to volunteer with the Golden Gate National Parks Conservatory, restoring gardens on the island.  

When we tell students “the city is the campus,” we mean it. During this formative year in San Francisco, every Minerva student must complete an immersive Cornerstone Civic Project, joining a nonprofit group or government agency to contribute their skills. 

That’s where Aknur comes in. "Growing up in Kazakhstan, I loved coding and robotics competitions. Arriving at Minerva, I decided on a double major: computer science and business. I volunteered for a couple of months with a Palo Alto co-working and networking group, Silkroad Innovation Hub, which nurtures Central Eurasian startup entrepreneurs."

"As I got to know the Bay Area tech population, I found Central Asian women brimming with ideas who felt left out of networking events. I met two women working for tech companies and last November, we founded the nonprofit Central Asian Ladies Initiative with one of my Minerva classmates, Amina Tushakova, also from Kazakhstan." 

"So far, we’ve hosted seven events and workshops for women, and we have 380 members doing software engineering, AI/ML (artificial language and machine learning), early-stage startups as well as product, program and project management. Next month [September] we’re launching a mentorship program."

And that’s where Magee comes in: "As president of the San Francisco’s youngest university, I’m lucky to have leading board members and donors who live here. Our students learn that this city embodies urban America’s problems: The population of people without homes increased more than 7.3% in just two years, from 2022 to this year. While the office vacancy rate hovered around 18 percent in New York City and 27 percent in Los Angeles this spring, the rate reached 32 percent here – meaning one of every three office spaces is empty."

"College students in San Francisco care about the place they chose to live. Many want to stay here after graduation. We – higher education and community leaders – need to harness this force for good to make San Francisco better. For our students, and for everyone."