Coleman Advocates For Children and Youth

What Coleman Advocates For Children and Youth does

Coleman Advocates for Children and Youth is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 1975 and headquartered in San Francisco. The organization builds grassroots power among children, parents, and youth to influence local public policy on child welfare, education equity, juvenile justice, and family economic security. Its core product is a structured leadership-development pathway that moves community members from individual engagement into district advisory roles, citywide parent councils, and youth commissions, producing a sustained advocacy base that engages San Francisco policymakers and school-district leadership.

The organization operates six named programmatic lines: a Youth Making a Change (YMAC) cohort, San Francisco Student Advocates (SMAC), Coleman Member Action Council (CMAC), the Parent Making a Change (PMAC) Academy, a Youth Justice Initiative, and a civic engagement program. Delivery is conducted in partnership with the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD), the City College of San Francisco (CCSF), the Immigrant Parent Coalition, and community-based clinical and legal partners, giving Coleman a direct in-school and in-clinic distribution channel into low-income and immigrant families that competing advocacy groups would struggle to replicate.

Coleman's business model is donation-funded, with revenue drawn from individual donors and a recently introduced Legacy Circle planned-giving program. The organization's most significant economic lever is external: as the architect and ongoing steward of San Francisco's Children's Amendment (Proposition C), Coleman has secured more than $125M annually in dedicated public funding for the city's children, youth, and family services ecosystem. This is public-sector money routed through city agencies rather than Coleman's own budget, but it materially expands the addressable market Coleman serves and underwrites its long-term policy influence. The organization employs 11-50 staff and is currently undergoing a leadership transition, with long-tenured executive director Steve Bingham retiring and Mfalme Mashairi taking the role in 2026.

Name

Coleman Advocates For Children and Youth

Legal name

Coleman Children and Youth Services (DBA Coleman Advocates for Children and Youth)

Website

https://colemanadvocates.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1975

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Coleman Advocates for Children and Youth is a 501(c)(3) founded in 1975 in San Francisco that organizes low-income families, parents, and youth to influence city policy on education, child welfare, and juvenile justice through school- and community-based leadership programs.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Community Advocacy and Nonprofit Services

NAICS

Child and Youth Services (62411), Civic and Social Organizations (81341)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300), Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Youth Justice, At-Risk Youth & Violence Prevention Nonprofits (BPAGADAM)

akta.pro secondary industries

Youth Mentoring & Positive Youth Development Nonprofits (BPAGADAD), Family Advocacy, Parent Training & Support Services (EDAJAKAK), Child Protection & Child Rights (BPAGABAG)

Keywords

• Youth advocacy services
• Community organizing programs
• Education equity advocacy
• Civic engagement programs
• Nonprofit policy advocacy

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco, California

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Individual Donations: The organization accepts individual donations through its website, with a 'Coleman Champion' monthly giving program and one-time donation options.
2. Legacy Circle (Planned Giving): Planned giving program where donors can include Coleman in their estate plans or long-term financial planning, offering various donation types including money, property, stocks/bonds/securities, 401K contributions, and life insurance.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Coleman Advocates For Children and Youth is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that provides free grassroots organizing programs for youth, parents, and children in San Francisco. Through its YMAC, SMAC, CMAC, PMAC programs and the Youth Justice Initiative, it develops leadership and advocacy skills and runs member-led campaigns focused on education equity, school discipline reform, community safety, and policy change for children and families.

Product overview

Coleman Advocates For Children and Youth is a nonprofit advocacy organization offering a portfolio of member-led community programs focused on youth development, civic engagement, and educational equity. The core programs include Youth Making a Change (YMAC) for youth leadership, Students Making a Change (SMAC) for community college student organizing, Children Making a Change (CMAC) for younger participants, and Parents Making a Change (PMAC) for parent advocacy. The Youth Justice Initiative addresses school discipline reform and dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline. The organization also conducts civic engagement campaigns including voter registration and voter education. These programs are unified by a grassroots organizing approach aimed at improving public schools, strengthening community safety, and shaping public policy for children and youth in San Francisco.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• YMAC (Youth Making a Change): Youth-led program focused on developing young leaders and advocating for systemic change
• SMAC (Students Making a Change)
• CMAC (Children Making a Change)
• PMAC (Parents Making a Change)
• Youth Justice Initiative

Products and services

• Youth Making a Change (YMAC) Youth leadership program where young people develop advocacy skills, learn to speak publicly, and organize campaigns for educational equity and systemic change in San Francisco. Free to participants.
• Students Making a Change (SMAC) Student-led organizing program supporting City College of San Francisco student leadership to promote educational access, equity, and student participation in campus decision-making at Mission and Ocean campuses.
• Children Making a Change (CMAC) Program for children that develops leadership skills and engages young people in advocacy work within their communities and schools.
• Parents Making a Change (PMAC) Parent leadership program where parents and caregivers build advocacy skills to fight for their children, schools, and communities within San Francisco's education system, including immigrant parents.
• Youth Justice Initiative Initiative focused on dismantling policing, criminalization, and pushout of Black and Brown students in San Francisco, including advocacy for restorative practices and school discipline reform.
• Civic Engagement Program Door-to-door voter registration and turnout efforts, voter engagement events at schools, pre-registration for youth aged 16+, and non-partisan voter guides for local and statewide propositions.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over $125 million in annual funding secured for children and families
• +4 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Immigrant Parent CoalitioncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFounding member of the Immigrant Parent Coalition working to ensure immigrant families' voices are heard in their children's education through voting rights advocacy.
• Sea Trek (Sausalito)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommunity partner that hosts YMAC and CMAC members for team-building activities including kayaking at their Sausalito location.
• San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPrimary institutional partner for deploying leadership development curriculums, advocating for policy changes, and conducting civic engagement work within district schools.
• San Francisco City College (CCSF)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner institution where SMAC (Students Making a Change) program operates at Mission Campus and Ocean Campus, supporting student leadership and advocacy.
• Golden State Warriors (Thrive Center)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerWarriors hosted Coleman Advocates staff retreat at the Thrive Center, providing space for team building and strategic planning.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Urban Peace Movement: San Francisco community- and youth-led organization addressing violence, criminalization, and school pushout in communities of color. Strong overlap with Coleman's Youth Justice Initiative, target population, and SF-based organizing model.
• Chinese for Affirmative Action: San Francisco civil rights and community-advocacy organization advancing equity for communities of color. Overlaps with Coleman's communities-of-color organizing model, civic engagement campaigns, and SF policy advocacy approach.
• RYSE Center: Bay Area youth development organization serving marginalized young people with leadership, civic engagement, and justice programming. Comparable in target population, age cohort, advocacy orientation, and regional footprint.
• Boys & Girls Clubs of San Francisco: SF-based youth development nonprofit delivering programs across schools and neighborhoods. Operates in the same communities, serves overlapping youth populations, and partners with SFUSD — comparable target base and program footprint.
• Mission Economic Development Agency (MEDA): San Francisco community organization advancing equity through family economic development, civic engagement, and immigrant integration. Overlaps with Coleman's PMAC parent-leadership work and immigrant-family civic engagement.
• San Francisco Education Fund: SF-based nonprofit working directly with SFUSD on equity, family engagement, and student support. Directly comparable geography, school-district partnership model, and child/youth education equity focus.
• Californians for Justice: Statewide, youth-led advocacy organization advancing racial and educational justice in California schools. Closely comparable mission, youth-development methodology, and policy-advocacy model to Coleman's YMAC and Youth Justice Initiative.

Broad incumbents

• YouthBuild USA: National nonprofit focusing on opportunity youth leadership development, education, and civic engagement. Comparable in youth-leadership development orientation, but operates at national scale across a different service domain (education-to-career pathways).
• Children's Defense Fund: National child advocacy organization with deep policy, legislative, and convening infrastructure. Operates at much larger scale and broader geography on a substantively similar mission — child/youth policy advocacy and educational equity.
• Bay Area Legal Aid: Bay Area-wide legal services and advocacy organization. Directly connected as a Steve Bingham-associated institution and aligned with Coleman's child-and-family advocacy on systemic issues, but a much larger legal-services incumbent rather than a peer-sized organization.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@ColemanAdvocatesSF
• Facebookfacebook.com/ColemanAdvocates
• Instagraminstagram.com/colemanadvocates
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/coleman-advocates-for-children

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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

Frequently asked questions about Coleman Advocates For Children and Youth