Colin Kimzey

Community Engagement Specialist | Communications Team

Colin takes his experience as a third-generation San Francisco into his role on DCYF’s Community Engagement & Communications Team, feeding his love of the City’s history, culture, and neighborhoods. Formally educated as a studio artist and informally educated as a student organizer, he has previously worked for local community-oriented cultural organizations like Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Kearny Street Workshop, and Stanford University’s Institute for Diversity in the Arts. He first joined DCYF as a San Francisco Fellow in 2017. He is an avid secondhand book collector, a hyphy music aficionado, and an amateur Chinese cook.

What inspires you to do this work?

I’m always inspired by the beautiful struggle of our people to survive and build and protect community in San Francisco. The philosopher Grace Lee Boggs said, “A revolution that is based on the people exercising their creativity in the midst of humankind.” I absolutely believe that the poetry, literature, music, murals, art, organizing, pedagogy, institutions, and spirit of San Franciscans in resistance, which today’s youth are constantly adding to, represent such a revolution.

DCYF’s tagline is “Making San Francisco a Great Place to Grow Up.” Do you believe this? Tell us why.

As someone who grew up in Frisco, I know that we are lucky to be the inheritors of a singular tradition of activism, resistance, and creativity. Our actions are the continuation of movements that have always had youth at the forefront. When I see young people coming up with this awareness and education from the previous generation, I know that despite the struggle to maintain our place in an increasingly unequal and gentrified city, San Francisco is still a great place to grow up.

Is there a song or anthem that inspires your grind and motivates you to serve our communities?

“I’ll Be Around” by Rappin’ 4-Tay.