- More than two dozen business leaders, including Sam Altman and Jony Ive, launched the Partnership for San Francisco to support city revitalization.
- The coalition will collaborate with Mayor Daniel Lurie on public safety, the city’s drug crisis, and economic recovery initiatives.
- The San Francisco Downtown Development Corp. aims to raise hundreds of millions to rejuvenate the city’s struggling downtown core.
- Major business figures, including Alphabet President Ruth Porat and Laurene Powell Jobs, are leading the initiative.
- Corporate leaders and city officials hope private-public partnerships will drive long-term economic stability and social improvements.
San Francisco’s top business leaders have formed a coalition to revitalize the struggling city, tackling public safety, economic decline, and homelessness, according to Bloomberg.
Mobilizing For Change
In an effort to restore San Francisco’s economic vitality, more than two dozen of the city’s most influential business leaders have formed the Partnership for San Francisco.
Led by Katherine August-deWilde, former president of First Republic Bank, the group aims to act as a civic booster rather than a lobbying entity, working directly with city officials to address the city’s most pressing challenges.
With record-high office vacancies, a severe fentanyl crisis, and persistent homelessness threatening the city’s long-term outlook, newly elected Mayor Daniel Lurie has prioritized public-private collaboration.
“San Francisco will rise to new heights, and that requires all of us working together,” Lurie said in a statement.
Who’s Working Together?
Key figures in the coalition include OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, former Apple (AAPL) design chief Jony Ive, Alphabet (GOOGL) President Ruth Porat, and Laurene Powell Jobs, founder of Emerson Collective.
Other members include TPG (TPG) founder Jim Coulter, Ripple Labs co-founder Chris Larsen, and the CEOs of companies like DoorDash (DASH), Gap (GPS), PG&E (PCG), Levi Strauss (LEVI), UCSF Health, and DocuSign (DOCU).
“There are companies that have been here since the gold rush,” said August-deWilde. “For the first time, we’ve all come together as stewards in the city.”
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Revitalizing Downtown
The Partnership for San Francisco will work closely with another emerging initiative, the San Francisco Downtown Development Corp.
This initiative, which seeks to raise hundreds of millions of dollars to fund downtown recovery efforts, is expected to be spearheaded by David Stiepleman of Sixth Street Partners.
While New York and Chicago’s business communities have historically mobilized quickly in times of crisis, San Francisco has been slower to react, August-deWilde noted.
However, the city’s ongoing struggles have prompted corporate leaders to step in, echoing past efforts like the multimillion-dollar ad campaign aimed at restoring the city’s image ahead of the 2023 APEC summit.
P3s in Action
Mayor Lurie, an heir to the Levi Strauss fortune, has been leveraging his extensive network of tech and finance leaders to drive change.
His early outreach includes meetings with JPMorgan Chase (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon, Goldman Sachs (GS) CEO David Solomon, and Blackstone (BX) President Jon Gray.
One of Lurie’s first initiatives—approved by city supervisors—seeks private donations to fund shelter beds and an overdose prevention center. Additionally, the mayor is drafting a ballot measure to secure funding for the struggling public transit system.
Looking Ahead
August-deWilde believes the Partnership for San Francisco will not only support Lurie’s initiatives but also contribute its own ideas, resources, and expertise to accelerate the city’s recovery. “We will be encouraging the mayor in the things we think are most important to revitalize the city,” she said. “And he may come to us with things he hopes for us to do.”
As the coalition gains momentum, San Francisco’s ability to rebound from its economic and social challenges may depend on the sustained commitment of its business elite and their willingness to work alongside city officials for long-term progress.
