





window._taboola = window._taboola || []; _taboola.push({ mode: 'thumbnails-c', container: 'taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails-3', placement: 'Interstitial Gallery Thumbnails 3', target_type: 'mix' });



Photo: Interior Architects Image 1 of / 4 Caption Close Image 2 of 4 This rendering shows the Twitter NeighborNest classroom. This rendering shows the Twitter NeighborNest classroom. Photo: Interior Architects Image 3 of 4 This rendering shows the Twitter NeighborNest reception and living room. This rendering shows the Twitter NeighborNest reception and living room. Photo: Interior Architects Image 4 of 4 Twitter-funded learning center for homeless set to open next summer on Market Street 1 / 4 Back to Gallery

The Chronicle has learned that Twitter has moved a one step closer toward opening a $1 million learning center where company employees will teach tech skills to some of the city’s poorest residents.

They’ve got a location now for what’s being dubbed The NeighborNest. It’s right across the street from Twitter HQ at the Essex Fox Plaza, 1390 Market Street. And they’ve got a projected opening date: Sometime next summer.

Twitter is investing $1 million in the facility, which will be a partnership with Compass Family Services, which serves 3,500 homeless families, many of whom are from the surrounding neighborhood. Compass is the main nonprofit agency serving homeless families in San Francisco, overseeing an $8 million annual budget and seven programs, including a family shelter, a rent-subsidy program and Clara House, a 35-resident center in Hayes Valley.

Twitter leaders have met for several months with homeless families, service providers and other stakeholders to riff ideas on what the center will look like. Check out some early renderings of the center in the slide show above.

“Nobody went into this with any preconceived notions,” said Erica Kisch, executive director of Compass Family Services. “The collaboration has been great.”

The hope is that the center will provide a safe place where Twitter employees can volunteer their time to teach tech skills and resume-writing to homeless folks. It would also provide space for children to play and learn while their parents are being taught new skills.

Now, Kisch said many homeless folks have to use the public library’s computers to go online. “And there’s often a long line and a time limit on how long you can stay,” she said.

Twitter CEO Dick Costolo said he’s “been impressed” with Compass.

“We’ve put down deep, enduring roots in San Francisco and are committed to transforming lives right here in the neighborhood where we work,” Costolo said in a statement to The Chronicle. “I’ve been impressed with Compass Family Services’ track record and can’t think of a better partner for this.”

The partnership will continue on Dec. 18 when Twitter will host the holiday party for Compass at its Market Street offices. Typically, Compass holds the party at an indoor facility in Golden Gate Park. But it is hard for many of its clients from the Tenderloin to get across town. Kisch said having the party in the neighborhood will enable many more of its clients to participate.

The learning center will also count toward fulfilling Twitter’s community benefit agreement obligations.

In a deal to keep the company from leaving San Francisco, the city allowed certain Mid-Market companies — like Twitter — to avoid payroll taxes for six years by signing a community benefits agreement promising contributions to nearby areas, some of the poorest parts of the Bay Area. The Compass partnership will not count toward Twitter’s obligations for this year’s agreement, but company officials say it will count toward future obligations.