'It takes the hood to save the hood': United Playaz expands its work in San Francisco

On June 12, Filipino Independence Day, the hood in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood got a little stronger.

Rudy Corpuz, the founder of United Playaz – a violence prevention and youth development organization – along with community members and local politicians, were on hand for the opening for UP’s new building at 1044 Howard Street. United Playaz is expanding right next door to its original location. It’s a violence prevention and youth development organization.

“We’re stakeholders because we own land and property,” Corpuz said.

Corpuz grew up and still lives in San Francisco’s SOMA neighborhood.

“You got families who’ve been here since the 60s who are still here, Filipino families,” he said. “I actually live on the next alley, Minna Street.”

Near his home is the new United Playaz facility on Howard Street.

“This is our new building that’s going to be cut June 12, 2025, the same day that my mom was born, Filipino Independence Day and the day I got arrested as an adult, June 12,” Corpuz said.

Outside the building on Howard Street, a mural of faces. People, Corpuz said, that have been involved in the community, whether they have passed away from gun violence or are helping to shut down and stop gun violence.

The new UP facility will be used to help build children’s literacy and for restorative justice services.

In the alleys of SOMA, the Filipino history dates back more than 100 years when the first generation of immigrants arrived in the United States.

Carla Laurel is the executive director of West Bay Pilipino Multi-Service Center, which is located a couple blocks from United Playaz.

“West Bay Filipino Multi-Service Center has been serving the community since 1968,” Laurel said. “We own in full. This is our hub. Got the blueprint from Rudy here in United Playaz. We’re in the Filipino Cultural Heritage District known as Soma Pilipinas that was named more recently because of the 120-year history of Filipinos in San Francisco.”

West Bay and United Playaz collaborate as one community, offering programs for kindergarten through eighth grade. They serve 150 to 200 children a day.

“How West Bay even started was a lot of the Filipinos that had already been born and raised here seeing recent immigrant Filipinos coming and saying, ‘How do we help too?’” Laurel said.

Corpuz said growing up in SOMA meant having to grow up fast.

“Drugs, gangs, just a lot of fast money moving around and survival,” he said.

That lifestyle sent Corpuz on a destructive path and to prison. His experiences from the past are now shaping how he’s moving his community forward. United Playaz owns both its buildings on Howard Street. Many of the people who work with United Playaz today are former felons and lifers.

At the new building, Corpuz is dedicating it to the women who work alongside him.

“The women, I believe, are like the backbone to the movement,” he said. “Women work harder than men. You guys will go harder than men, I don’t know, for some reason. And they’re the ones who make the change happen.”