Mission Action

What Mission Action does

Mission Action is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit social services organization headquartered at 938 Valencia Street in San Francisco's Mission District. Founded in 1986 (per the legal timeline; one firmographic source cites 1982), it has served low-income and immigrant communities in the Bay Area for over 40 years. In 2024, the organization rebranded from Dolores Street Community Services to Mission Action (Misión Acción) while preserving its programs and mission.

The organization operates a portfolio of interconnected direct-service programs across four core areas: Housing & Shelter (including the Richard M. Cohen Residence and Casa Quezada), Community Engagement & Organizing, Community Services (food distribution of ~36,000 boxes annually, health & wellness programs such as Nuestro Bienestar), and Immigration Legal Services (including the Deportation Defense and Legal Advocacy Program, or DDLAP, and a 24/7 ICE activity hotline). It also runs workforce programs — the SF Day Labor Program and the Women's Collective (La Colectiva) — and LGBTQ+ programs including Arcoíris Food Program and Jazzie's Place. Mission Action is a member of the San Francisco Immigrant Legal and Education Network (SFILEN), established in 2005.

Mission Action does not operate proprietary technology platforms; services are delivered through human staff, including attorneys, paralegals, and hotline dispatchers. The organization's revenue model is overwhelmingly reliant on contracts from the City and County of San Francisco, which spent approximately $17.9 million on services in Mission Action's service category (deportation defense and immigration arrest verification) and budgeted $18.2 million for the next year, supplemented by donations and philanthropic grants such as a $500,000 Citi Foundation award in September 2024. Services are offered free or at low cost to clients, so pricing is not a commercial lever; instead, the business model is grant- and contract-driven.

Name

Mission Action

Legal name

Mission Action LLC

Website

https://missionaction.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1986

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Mission Action is a San Francisco-based nonprofit providing housing, immigration legal services, food distribution, and workforce programs to low-income and immigrant communities in the Mission District, funded primarily by city government contracts.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Community Social Services

NAICS

Community Food and Housing, and Emergency and Other Relief Services (6242), Emergency and Other Relief Services (624230), Community Food Services (624210)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Legal Aid & Client Advocacy Services (BPAGAEAM)

akta.pro secondary industry

Community Development & Social Impact Programs (EDAIAGAA)

Keywords

• Community social services
• Immigration legal aid
• Housing assistance programs
• Food security services
• Workforce development programs

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Others, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Government Contracts and Funding: Mission Action receives the majority of its funding from the City and County of San Francisco through service contracts. The city spent approximately $17.9 million on services including deportation defense and immigration arrest verification, budgeting $18.2 million for next year. Funding is used to maintain services including attorneys, paralegals, and hotline dispatchers serving the immigrant community.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Mission Action is a nonprofit social services organization that delivers direct, in-person community programs to low-income and immigrant residents of San Francisco's Mission District. Its core offerings span transitional and emergency housing, food distribution, free immigration legal representation and deportation defense, community organizing, and workforce development through the SF Day Labor Program and Women's Collective (La Colectiva). Services are provided free or low-cost at its 938 Valencia Street headquarters and supplemented by a 24/7 hotline for ICE activity reporting.

Product overview

Mission Action (formerly Dolores Street Community Services) is a nonprofit social services organization providing a portfolio of interconnected community programs. The organization operates as a unified service provider with four core program areas: Housing & Shelter (including the Richard M. Cohen Residence and Casa Quezada), Community Engagement & Organizing, Community Services (including food distribution and health & wellness programs like Nuestro Bienestar), and Immigration Legal Services (including the Deportation Defense and Legal Advocacy Program). Additionally, Mission Action operates workforce programs through the SF Day Labor Program and Women's Collective, and supports LGBTQ+ programs including Arcoíris Food Program and Jazzie's Place. The organization also participates in the San Francisco Immigrant Legal and Education Network (SFILEN), a collaborative network of nonprofits serving migrants.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Women's Collective: A program for women domestic workers that provides job placement and support services.
• SF Day Labor Program

Products and services

• Housing & Shelter Safe shelter and housing resources for individuals and families in need, including transitional housing support and emergency shelter services for low-income San Francisco community members.
• Community Engagement & Organizing Community organizing initiatives that build collective power among low-income and immigrant communities in San Francisco's Mission District to create social change.
• Community Services Direct services including food support, health and wellness programs, and work resources for community members in the Mission District.
• Immigration Legal Services Free immigration legal services for immigrant community members, including deportation defense, immigration arrest verification, and community education, delivered by attorneys and paralegals. Includes the Deportation Defense and Legal Advocacy Program (DDLAP).
• SF Day Labor Program Program connecting day laborers with employment opportunities for general handywork in the San Francisco area.
• Women's Collective (La Colectiva) Program connecting domestic workers with employment opportunities and offering support services for women workers in the Mission District.
• Food Distribution Food box distribution program providing food support to households facing food insecurity in the Mission District and surrounding neighborhoods.
• Health & Wellness Health education and access services for community members, including the Nuestro Bienestar health promoter program.
• Richard M. Cohen Residence LGBTQ+ housing program operated by Mission Action providing safe living spaces for LGBTQ+ residents.
• Arcóíris Food Program LGBTQ+-focused food access program serving LGBTQ+ community members in San Francisco.
• Jazzie's Place Support service for LGBTQ+ individuals in San Francisco, offering a safe space and community resources.
• Casa Quezada Supportive housing facility operated by Mission Action supporting individual wellness and community building among residents.
• San Francisco Immigrant Legal and Education Network (SFILEN) Collaboration established in 2005 among nonprofit organizations providing critical resources to the undocumented community; Mission Action participates as a member organization.
• 24/7 ICE Activity Hotline 24/7 emergency hotline (415-200-1548) for community members to report ICE activity and access urgent immigrant support and dispatch services.

Quantifiable outcome

• 17,460 people received safe shelter and housing resources
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• City and County of San FranciscocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe City and County of San Francisco is the primary funder of Mission Action's immigrant legal services. The city spent approximately $17.9 million on services including deportation defense and immigration arrest verification, budgeting $18.2 million for next year. Organizations like Mission Action provide services under contract to the city to serve the immigrant community.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Catholic Charities of San Francisco: Catholic Charities SF provides a comparable portfolio of social services — housing, immigration legal services, food assistance, and refugee support — to low-income and immigrant communities in San Francisco, making it the closest direct peer to Mission Action in both service mix and target population.
• Glide Foundation: Glide operates in San Francisco's Tenderloin with a similarly integrated portfolio of services — meals, housing, harm reduction, and social support for low-income residents — sharing Mission Action's model of direct human services delivery to vulnerable urban populations.
• St. Anthony's Foundation: St. Anthony's provides food, clothing, healthcare, and social services to low-income San Franciscans through a comparable integrated direct-service model, with overlapping program areas in food distribution and social support for homeless and low-income populations.
• Hamilton Families: Hamilton Families is a San Francisco-based nonprofit focused on housing and shelter for families experiencing homelessness, directly overlapping Mission Action's Housing & Shelter program area and its target low-income demographic.
• Centro Legal de la Raza: Centro Legal provides free immigration legal services, housing advocacy, and community education to low-income immigrants in the Bay Area, closely mirroring Mission Action's Immigration Legal Services and Deportation Defense program area and its immigrant target population.
• Larkin Street Youth Services: Larkin Street serves San Francisco youth experiencing homelessness with housing, education, and workforce programs — overlapping Mission Action's workforce development programs (SF Day Labor, Women's Collective) and housing services for vulnerable populations.
• Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Asian Law Caucus: Advancing Justice - ALC provides immigration legal services, civil rights advocacy, and community education for Asian and immigrant communities in the Bay Area, paralleling Mission Action's immigration legal and community organizing services for Latinx/immigrant populations.
• International Institute of the Bay Area: IIBA provides immigration legal services, citizenship support, and refugee resettlement across the Bay Area, with overlapping immigrant legal services mission and similar culturally competent service delivery to Mission Action.
• SF-Marin Food Bank: The SF-Marin Food Bank is a regional food distribution nonprofit serving the same San Francisco low-income population as Mission Action's Food Distribution program, operating a complementary (not directly competitive) food access model.

Regional players

• La Raza Community Resource Center: La Raza CRC serves Latino immigrant communities in the East Bay with immigration legal services, workforce development, and community programs — comparable mission and program mix to Mission Action but operating in a different Bay Area geography (Oakland/Fruitvale).

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks1 record

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/MissionAction
• Instagraminstagram.com/missionactionsf

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Mission Action