The Portola Garden District Tour awarded a work project to the City College of San Francisco to transform the Gracenter’s grounds. Coined “The Grace Full Garden,” their design embraces the wonders of nature and provides a safe and nurturing space for women, all while supporting essential pollinators and local wildlife. This space is not just a garden, it is a place of serenity and harmony where the beauty of nature unfolds in all its glory.

Residents, staff, and volunteers work together for this grounds improvement project.

Volunteers assemble arch for Gracenter’s main sidewalk entrance.

Over 100 volunteers have worked tirelessly over several weekends this spring and summer to bring this vision to reality. We are deeply grateful to Portola Garden District Tour, the City College of San Francisco, Rebuilding Together SF and She Builds, a women-powered crew that renovates community spaces, for their time and talents.

Learn more about the project and see its progress through this video.

The success of our residents and graduates is possible thanks to the generous support of many grantmaking organizations, including:

RHE Charitable Foundation
Trust Funds Inc.
VC Fund
The Celebrate Foundation

To holistically and effectively serve the needs of each woman, Gracenter collaborates with 11 government, 1 for-profit, and 28 non-profit organizations.

Many of our residents are referred to us by shelters and addiction centers, including Friendship House, Healthright 360, Progress Foundation, Salvation Army, Epiphany Treatment Center, and Walden House.

Upon enrollment, each woman is assisted in the process of enrolling in healthcare. We also begin the process of gaining a framework for financial resources through S.F. Consumer Credit Counseling Center.

Once established in our program, our residents grow their workforce skills. For women who have not completed high school, they typically attend 5 Keys Charter (GED) School. If a woman has graduated from high school and is interested in furthering her education, she is supported in enrolling in college, most frequently at San Francisco City College.

Residents often go to school and have an internship or job simultaneously. Some can work in their chosen field with credentials they’ve already earned or can gain through on-the-job training, often found through the Clean City Coalition Work-Paid Internship Program and the University of California San Francisco Workforce Development Program.

As each woman completes her recovery goals, Gracenter works with The Department of Public Health, Tenderloin Housing, and John Stewart Properties to help her secure stable, long-term housing.

We are so thankful for our network of support as they assist us in setting our residents up for long-term recovery. We could not do it without them!

We are looking to add to our team! We are currently looking for on-call Resident Assistants for day, swing, evening, and graveyard shifts. In this role, you will need to promote a positive environment, engage in program-related activities, be available for the needs of the participants, be familiar with the house guidelines, maintain facility logs, and other duties as assigned. If you are interested in doing meaningful work, have great interpersonal skills, and have the ability to work different times of shifts we would love to hear from you! For more information and to express interest, contact Sister Marguerite Bartling here.

The history of Good Shepherd Gracenter is rich and deep, going back 200 years to France and the founding of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd Order in 1835 to help women experiencing hardship. In 1932, a group of these Sisters arrived in San Francisco to build a new high school for girls involved with the juvenile justice system. The Sisters often needed to care for girls from the school who had nowhere to go upon graduation. Therefore, in 1961, the Sisters and the donors gained the support of local unions, and along with the girls, built transitional housing for the young women who had no home to go to. It was then that Good Shepherd Gracenter (originally The Grace Cottage) was founded. However, in 1988, the Good Shepherd Gracenter transitioned to a licensed primary drug and alcohol treatment program as they recognized a dire need for drug and alcohol treatment programs for women. Later, in 2010, Gracenter became a Licensed Recovery Residence to meet the gap in services for homeless women seeking to achieve long-term sobriety after completing primary drug and alcohol treatment. We are so proud of our history and how we have evolved over the years.