Tanya can’t stay away from the Tenderloin
She has lived and worked in other places, but for Tanya Chanthavong, 21, the Tenderloin is home. And she loves it.

Her parents came from Laos to the US in 1980, the year Tanya was born. The family lived in the Tenderloin where her father ran a video store and her mother worked as a cook. They experienced the language and cultural problems that immigrants usually face, but for Tanya it was a great experience.

“It was exciting to grow up here,” she says. “My friends and I played in the street, climbed fences to play in the park, and had lots of fun.” Although the family home was not a TNDC property, Tanya discovered TNDC’s Tenderloin After-School Program at age 14 and became a regular. At the age of 15 she was placed in a foster home in another part of the city. She lived with her “foster mom” for three years, “the best three years of my life,” she says.

Despite her new neighborhood and home, Tanya says she took every opportunity to return to the Tenderloin. “I have so many memories from growing up here,” she says. “It just feels like I’m coming home.”

Tanya became a youth worker at the Tenderloin After-School Program through the Vietnamese Youth Development Center in 1994. At the same time she also began working at a YMCA youth program targeting Tenderloin cleanup. “We worked weekends,” Tanya says. “Lots of kids from the Tenderloin cleaning up the streets and parks.”

In 1996 she was hired directly by TNDC for the after-school program and in 1998 began working in the TNDC accounting department.

From 1998 until early 2001 Tanya had jobs outside the Tenderloin including the GAP, Cost Plus, Northeast Community Federal Credit Union and others. But her heart still longed for her old turf.

Finally, the job of TNDC receptionist and office assistant was open and Tanya applied. Not only did she get it, she is now known as “Front Desk Super Star” and also “Smooth Operator.”

The job is not easy. Being a receptionist in the Tenderloin can involve handling some very dicey characters from time to time. But Tanya handles everything with a calm professionalism that is far beyond her years.

While Tanya once again lives in the Tenderloin and calls her TNDC job “the best job I’ve had,” she does want to further her education and explore career possibilities. She is a graduate of Galileo High School.

Tanya may go for advanced degrees and find employment in some new and exciting field. But whatever else does in the future, you can bet she will keep her ties to the Tenderloin and her family of TNDC friends.