Uplifting stories, images, and lived experiences of San Francisco youth

Foster Youth Museum and Freedom Forward’s HYPE Center (Helping Young People Elevate) present a new exhibition, revealing the often hidden lives of San Francisco youth at Community Works Restorative Hub at 986 Mission Street, San Francisco, starting July 9, 2026 and running through September 9, 2026.

Open Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.—with extended hours for special programming and by appointment—this exhibition will tell the stories of system-involved youth: their smarts, talents and struggles. This exhibition will include items from the Foster Youth Museum collection and also include photographs, original art, narratives and artifacts from HYPE Center members. Hear directly from young people whose experiences are too often overlooked in San Francisco and beyond; including foster care, incarceration, homelessness, trafficking, and CSEC (commercial sexual exploitation of children). Learn how youth navigate systems, build connections and community, raise children and fur babies, get educated, create art, heal and grow.

Funded by Zellerbach Family Foundation, this exhibition has been co-organized over the last two years by Foster Youth Museum and an Exhibition Youth Advisory Committee (EYAC) of Freedom Forward’s HYPE Center. These young people gave the exhibition its name, participated in storytelling and photography workshops, learned the art of matting and framing, learned museum installation skills, and regularly met to create original installations in this unique exhibition.

Important Exhibition Details

Dates: July 9 to September 9, 2026
Times: Monday – Thursday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and by appointment.

Opening night is on Thursday, July 9 starting at 5 p.m.

Location: Community Works Restorative Hub, 986 Mission Street, San Francisco

Getting there: Street parking is limited on Mission and surrounding streets. It is highly recommended that you take public transportation or use rideshare services.

Parking: There are local garages in the area:

Yerba Buena Garage (833 Mission St.) is located roughly three blocks (0.3 miles) east of Community Works.
SOMA Hub Garage, which is about a 15-minute walk (255 12th St.) located about 0.7 miles from Community Works Restorative Hub.

Private tours: Are you an organization or an organized group of people that would like to see the latest Foster Youth Museum exhibition up close and personal? We are happy to provide private tours, discuss the art and artifacts and stories with groups who want to focus, and learn and experience together. A private tour can be for as few as two people and as many as 50. It is appropriate for classrooms, child welfare agencies and teams, community groups, and other groups. Please contact us to book a private tour. Available dates:

Monday, July 20, 2026
Tuesday, July 21, 2026
Wednesday, July 22, 2026
Monday, August 31, 2026
Tuesday, September 1, 2026
Wednesday, September 9, 2026

Opening Night Details

On July 9, 2026, we will celebrate the opening of our exhibit with light refreshments and remarks from Freedom Forward leadership, members of the HYPE Center Youth Advisory Board, and other special guests.

Date: Thursday, July 9, 2026
Time: 5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Speaker Program: Begins at 6:15 p.m.
Location: Community Works Restorative Hub, 986 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94103
RSVP by: June 25, 2026

Guests are welcome to arrive anytime during the reception. We encourage guests who would like to attend the speaker program to arrive before 6:15 p.m.

For more information, please contact: hans@freedom-forward.org

About Foster Youth Museum

Foster Youth Museum (FYM) is the largest collection of art, artifacts and video portraits about youth experiences in foster care. Conceived by current and former foster youth, the museum offers a unique opportunity to understand foster youth perspectives and how youth can heal and grow with supportive relationships, collaborative decision‐making, positive encounters, and respect. FYM has multiple traveling exhibitions that cover the following things: Foster Youth Lost Childhoods, Foster Youth and Higher Education, Foster Youth and Houselessness, Foster Youth and Tattoo Stories and Foster Youth and their Chosen Families. In addition to FYM solo exhibitions, FYM collaborates with agencies and organizations to support new and unique museum exhibitions.

For more information about FYM, please contact FYMuseumED@gmail.com.

About Freedom Forward’s HYPE Center

Freedom Forward’s mission is to collaborate with Bay Area youth, ages 14-24, to transform systems and prevent their exploitation.

Our initiatives enable young people to have agency over their bodies, relationships, choices, and lives—ultimately helping them live free from exploitation and thrive.

The HYPE Center is a multi-service drop-in center designed by and for young people to easily access the services and resources they want from multiple providers under one roof.

About Community Works

Community Works has generously shared their space for this special exhibition.

Community Works seeks to transform justice through programs and policies rooted in humanity and healing. Honoring the lived experience of survivors, incarcerated people, and their communities as expertise, our programs are culturally responsive, trauma-informed, and rooted in Restorative Justice and the Arts. Changing Systems is how we translate the lessons from our direct service work. By honoring lived experience as expertise, the people in our community lend their voices to collective actions that seek a future where justice heals rather than harms.